Overheating in the tropics

[malawijim]

Hey there,

Not seen anything else about this in the forum so i thought i'd mention it. I have a 92, 2.4lte ssr-x surf, i've had it about 4 months and recently took it 6500 kms from home (blantyre, malawi, africa) to dar es salaam in tanzania, all the way to ngorongoro then down the indian ocean coast through mozambique and back home. about 2000km's were dirt/sand and there were a good 200kms of deep sand along the way. just after i bought the surf i had the thermostat removed from the engine to try and protect myself from cracked-head syndrome, its hot here pretty much all year so we don't really need the heater on short journey's (the engine runs cooler and it takes a while for the temp to register on the gauge, the negligible difference it makes to economy on short journeys is of no interest to me).

For 3000kms we were 4 up with 20 litres of diesel and 40 litres water + luggage camping gear and a full tank. The car never missed a beat, the temp never budged over half way, even in 4x4 with a/c on in deep sand. I suppose what i'm saying is it might be worth removing the thermostat before long summer journeys in europe and full stop taking it out if you live in a hot climate.

I do a full oil, radiator flush and filter change every 7000km's.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, thought i'd note down my experiences anyway!

Cheers,

Jim

[joe112]

So Let me just clarify my understanding - You can take the thermostat out of the engine and it will run fine - in fact stop it overheating? I always thought that te thermostat was to stop the engine overheating. I have a 2.4 92 surf and am worried about the problems they have with the head. When puylling heavy loads the temp can raise quite quickly - especially in warm weather - would removing the thermo help me? do you need to put it back in in winter??? exactly what does it do.....

I Know I moght sound a bit stupid but would really like to know

Thanks

Joe

[BUSHWHACKER]

It basically raises the boiling point of the coolant by pressurising it.
When the coolant temp goes beyond that, it opens up and releases the coolant / pressure into the expansion tank.
Then when the engine temp has gone down sufficiently, the coolant is sucked back into the engines cooling circuit.

[BUSHWHACKER]

Some more info. here....

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question248.htm

[TonyN]

I wouldn't, generally, the stat regulates water flow, without the stat in place water can circulate through the rad to fast and may not get cooled properly.

Praps the Surf is OK, maybe you got lucky, but I would never advocate leaving the 'stat out if someone asked my opinion, its not professional, and its not how engines are designed to operate.

But, its a free world, do whatever you feel helps.