Running no thermostat?

[drifter808]

I was wondering what would be the cons on running no thermostat. I searched but didn't find anything like this. Im asking cause in Hawaii you dont need them and a couple of friends suggested to take it out. Would the ECU be in safe mode because the engine temp would be so cold? This is also in a SR if it makes any difference.

thanks.

[spoolin240sx]

i dont know much about it because i run an oem thermostat. if you dont run one you have to run a resistor. ie; a washer that fits in there with a hole so water isnt just constantly getting cooled as fast as it can or else the water temp wont rise to normal operating temp. the good thing about it is you wont ever have a thermostat fail, the bad thing is without an accurate water temp gauge there is no way to find out what size hole to run on the washer to get it to normal operating temp. i dont know much about it so maybe someone can elaborate on it..

[projectRDM]

Car won't reach operating temperature, resulting in more wear on bearings/rings and in the cylinder walls. Basically there's 'slop' in most of the moving parts when cold because they haven't expanded to their allowable tolerances, this creates a lot of extra wear if they remain like this for longer than normal periods.

[SpeedMonkeyInc]

Why would living in Hawaii make any difference? You don't want to make the engine run too cool. The engine was designed to run with a thermostat, so just leave it in. Are you having over heating problems?

[drifter808]

No i wasn't having over heating problems. Just plenty of people in Hawaii have no thermostats. I'll just leave mine in. Plus the friends who recommended it have V8's or older cars with no computers. But its just a pretty common thing around here to not have one. I forget the reason why we dont really need one in Hawaii but i think it had to do with the air temperature. We dont get very cold weather like the mainland. Or something like that. Thanks for the help though.

[warriortch]

Being a mechanic I wouldn't recommend it. The thermostat stops coolant from flowing until the car reaches operating temperature then lets it flow, but if it wasn't there the engine could overheat, because when you have cold coolant flowing through a hot engine block, the hot engine doesn't get to transfer the heat to the coolant. You have to stop the coolant from flowing to actually let it absorb heat from the engine block.

[DJPimpFlex]

well at operating temperature the thermostat stays open all the time. Also you can buy lower temp thermostats to lower the temp of your car safely.

[Irukandji]

hmm searching would've been nice

[drifter808]

Did search, cant you read? I didn't find anything about anyone running no thermostat. Just what happens when its stuck or replacing it. Any ways im just gonna keep it in the car and maybe buy a nismo thermostat further down the road. Thanks though.

[bdeisle]

I ran no thermostat for 3 months , daily driven. My oem thermo went up and i have having a hard time bleeding the system and was waisting alot of my time, so i took it out. Takes a little longer to heat though no problems. the block and the water reaches 180, normall temp and stays there. I had a ir heat gun for the block temp and water temp... so it ran fine.. though when it got colder here i put the thermoback in and just drilled a hole in it so i didnt have to worry about air pockets. Either way... just operated better with a thermo.

[the head]

The other problem you run into is the t stat (even when open) impedes flow through the engine and radiator. without this coolant does not spend enough time in the engine to efficently extract heat and it does not spend enough time in the radiator to cool properly. Thus decreasing the thermal efficency of your cooling system.

[drifter808]

Good info there. So will the nismo thermostat lower the coolant temperature? thanks

[DriftSpecial180]

A friend of mine is on Oahu right now and says that everyone would kill for 240sx's. Is that true? Are there only a handful on the island?

[420sx]

Good info there. So will the nismo thermostat lower the coolant temperature? thanks

no. it will just open at lower temp making the cooling system more efficient

[ni[x]it]

no. it will just open at lower temp making the cooling system more efficient

Wow. A genious.

It absolutely will cool.
If you run a 110degree thermostat, it will open at 110degrees, maintaining 110 degrees.
If you run a 185degree thermostat, it will open at 185 degrees, maintaining 185 degrees.
it's not rocket science.

[drifter808]

Theres only a couple of 240's in Hawaii. Im selling mine in the next week or so. Alot of them are already taken for drifting. I found mine wrecked in this guys backyard and it was still a high price. Its a good time to sell cause you can get triple what you payed for it. People want them so bad right now. Im selling mine for quite a nice price tag.

[the head]

it']Wow. A genious.

It absolutely will cool.
If you run a 110degree thermostat, it will open at 110degrees, maintaining 110 degrees.
If you run a 185degree thermostat, it will open at 185 degrees, maintaining 185 degrees.
it's not rocket science.

Actually you are not totally correct The temp rating on a thermostat represents the temp at which it opens fully that may or may not be the temp the car maintains on a regular basis (could be lower most likly will be higher)but a thermostat is progressive so it is partially open at about half of its temperature

[pr240sx]

I live also in the a tropical area, Puerto Rico to be exact.
My stock thermo went south 2 years ago. I ran the car with out it and wasted so much fuel that was insane.
What I did was to remove the center section of the thermo and use it as a restrictor. One pf the purposes of the thermo is to reduce water speed thru the engine so it can trap the heat, then bw in the readiator long enought so the water can release the heat away. If you run with no thermo you will basically have a big hot water circulator with little or no water cooling efect. Will like to add that I scraped my mech fan at the same time so maybe thats why is working great now.
My fans turn on at 185~190 range and shut of at 170 or sooner depending on conditions.
See my post regarding this here...

[420sx]

it']Wow. A genious.

It absolutely will cool.
If you run a 110degree thermostat, it will open at 110degrees, maintaining 110 degrees.
If you run a 185degree thermostat, it will open at 185 degrees, maintaining 185 degrees.
it's not rocket science.

so you wanna tell me i'm wrong? :mephfawk:
all thermostat does is open up at certain temperature. it does not maintain anything besides the flow of coolant. all its there for is to let the car warm up properly and keep it at operation temperature safely and efficiently.

[wootwoot]

This was said once I think but I'm going to repeat it.

If you run no thermostat you have more of a chance over overheating compared to a car with one because the water will move to fast to be able to dissipate heat

[projectRDM]

Actually you are not totally correct The temp rating on a thermostat represents the temp at which it opens fully that may or may not be the temp the car maintains on a regular basis (could be lower most likly will be higher)but a thermostat is progressive so it is partially open at about half of its temperature

Correct. OE thermostat opens at 170, stabilizes the coolant temperature at about 185-190, depending on conditions.
The Nismo opens at 144 (IIRC), but still stabilizes at about 175-180, it just allows more coolant flow at a higher temp and opens quicker to eleviate sudden overheating.

[ryan hagen]

your temp sensor when it hits operating temp lets the ecu do its job, until temp it run on a preprogramed system, closed and open loop, i know it does this on obd1+2 and im almost positive it does on pre obd1, cause my car used to run bad when it had a bad temp sensor, and it used to run really bad when cold cause of some of the stuff i did to it, then when i hit about 165ish it would idle better. so if you dont hit operational temp it can be very bad for performance.

[Silverbullet]

This was said once I think but I'm going to repeat it.

If you run no thermostat you have more of a chance over overheating compared to a car with one because the water will move to fast to be able to dissipate heat


uhh... W T F.
It has to be moving REALLY REALLY fast for there to be enough friction to not decipate heat from the engine. If anything, you will have problems not warming up to optimal temp. I live in northern VA where it can be a tad chilly durring the winter. My car would NOT warm up when i had a bad thermo in my SR last winter. To get it even near op temp, i had to be racing someone lol.

[wootwoot]

what are you talking about with the friction thing?...
Just incase you were confused to because it sort of seemed like it to me,
dissipate
1.To drive away; disperse.
2. To attenuate to or almost to the point of disappearing: The wind finally dissipated the smoke.
4. To cause to lose (energy, such as heat) irreversibly.

It will take longer to reach running temperature but then it will have trouble controlling heat more after it has reached said temperature.
Not trying to be a dick! Just trying to explain