Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance where can i find a thermostat?

i'd like to get a thermostat for my 2.5 so it will run a little cooler. where can i find a non-stock thermostat? thanks in advance!

Will not help.

The temperature is computer controlled; Irregardless of thermostat chosen.

By chosing a lower temp thermostat you only prolong engine warm up time (extended period of excessive wear) and amount of time it stays in closed loop mode (Limp mode)

If the temps are cold enough, your engine will Never reach proper operating temperature and stay in these 2 conditions the entire time you are driving it. (I.E. thermostat removal = stupid move)

If your 2.5 is running hot it's most likely another problem...

Mine runs below half way always. If it ever changed I'd probably R&R the waterpump.

Ive got the oposite problem.. my car runs at perfect temp when warmed up... BUT.. it takes about 3 years to get warm. Would a hotter thermostat help me? Are you saying the car has not thermostat? Im not questioning you at all... just thought it did is all.

We went through this before. A lower thermostat will help, unless you are living where ambient temp is very low year round. I have a 180 stat in my SVT, it helps when the weather get warm and when the engine is working hard. If you use a 180 stat, the ecu will not even knows if there is a different, so there is no richer fuel mix-ture or longer warm up crap. The ecu does not controls the engine temp, it controls the electric fan and fan speed when it sense the temp. is about 205 degree. So even if you have a lower stat, during idling, the temperature will still be 200-205 because the fan is off. To remedy this problem, modified the engine temp sensor to tell the ECU turn on the fan at 180. If your car takes longer to warm up, your engine is not putting out as much power as it should.

I read somewhere that the hotter an engine runs, the better and more efficient the burn. I thought it was noteworthy at the time because it's the opposite of computers. Anyone know if this is true? Take note I didn't say hot air, just a hot engine...

Fit an electric w/pump with electronic control re warm up/peak(optimum opereating temp) & control of 'heat soak'/hot shutdown...easy!

So could said electric waterpump have enough control over the engine warm up and operating temps as to run without a thermostat slowing down the water flow through the block? (slower flow = more heat pulled out of block into coolant to be dissipated by radiator)

The reason that hot rodders used to run cooler thermostats in their cars (Mustangs come to mind) is that in the pre-DIS days, you could gain ~10 hp by running a cooler thermostat, bumping the ignition timing (since with a cooler engine, the fuel charge was not as likely to detonate) and running premium gas. Our cars have a DIS system, and hence you cannot change the base ignition timing setting unless you use a computer chip....

Hell, I ran a 160 degree stat with ~19 degrees advance base timing on my 88 GT for a while w/ preminum gas. You could definitely tell the difference.

The problem with this is that cooler running engines do tend to wear more....

Simple high school Fizix:

The hotter an internal combustion engine runs, the more efficiently it operates. Do not mistake efficiency for power here. And DemonSVT is correct- simply running a cooler thermostat in these cars with the computer controlled fans and whatnot will just cause delay of the fans operating to get the car back up to specs, and so to get it to run cooler you are looking at monkeying with a little more than just a thermostat. Unless your car has cooling problems, I would not defer from stock specs on this, but then again, this is your car and you can decide to do as you wish with it, but running the engine cooler IMO just wears down the engine faster. Just my 2 cents worth.