Thermostat question

[whitespider]

Anyone know what the effect of running a 2.4 without the thermostat in would be?

[TonyN]

probably not alot, but you may find it over heats easier, as the 'stat controls the water flow through the rad, with no stat in, the water passes through the rad to quickly, and doesn't get cooled enough before going back into the engine.

And it will take longer to warm up in the morning.

Stats are cheap, just buy a new one and look else where if it still gets hot.

[Nipper]

nothing untoward - it will take longer to get upto temperature, which means you don't wanna thrash her to soon and your fuel consump may drop a tad.

But if you have a new thermo its better option as an engine at the correct running temp will run better.

PLUS if you did have some latent problem, running without thermo will hide the problem and ultimately compund it even more!

New thermo is about £6, at that price i would do that and replace every six months if your really worried!

[whitespider]

What does a thermostat actually do/control?

My garage that did me head refit have done a strange thing, he has purposely left the stat out completely.
He says as the car is 'on probation' after major surgery he thought it better to run it as simply as possible, until we are sure the head and gasket are fine, then he's happy to fit it. He has also left out any antifreeze, its just plain water.
This all sounds very odd. The guy has a lot of experience and is a sound bloke but not sure about this at all.

Any ideas?

[Tallyman]

An engine works most efficiently within a set temperature range. The thermostat governs the flow of water round the engine, stopping all but a trickle when starting from cold, so that the engine block heats up quickly. Once it gets to the right temperature, the bi-metalic strip in the thermostat expands to open the valve, allowing water to flow round the engine and therefore into the radiator to be cooled, thereby keeping the engine at or around the correct temperature.

Running without a stat may be Ok if you live Down Under, where air temp is so much hotter than here in the UK, allowing the engine to warm up quicker, but it's still not a good idea to run too long without it, as the whole engine set-up is designed with the stat in place.

Also, don't run an engine too long on just plain water. Antifreeze also contains corrosion inhibitors which basically help stop your engine from rusting from the inside out, despite all the oil in the engine. The water galleries don't benefit from an oil film to stop corrosion (unless you'e got a 2.4 with a blown head), so need the inhibitors in the antifreeze to do this job. Antifreeze also raises the boiling point of the water, so that your coolant doesn't suddenly turn into steam and shoot out of the expansion bottle when the temp hits 100C.

[JimL]

He's left the thermostat out so that he can rule it out of the list of suspects if she boils again, no biggie short term

I reckon he's put water in coz he's fed up wasting coolant on a system he reckons he's gonna have to drain again

He doesnt ooze confidence does he??? dont blame him though