I know it keeps the engine cooler, but does it have any side effects? I mean whats so bad about coolant cyling through the engine all the time? I am not looking for things like you lose hp. I am looking for a real logical explanation why its bad to remove the thermostat... Does it reduce the life of the engine? If so, how?

I have a car that I cannot for the life of me figure out the problem with the coolant. I swear its either a headgasket or I am being dumb and installing the thermostat in upside down.

I replaced the waterpump on it because it went bad. Now it works like a charm without the thermostat in. The heating temp still gets to 1/2 way after about 5 minutes or so and it doesnt overheat. This car is just a daily driver and I want to get to work and back. I dont have the time or money to be replacing a head gasket at this point and time. So thats why I am looking for a good explanation of it being bad to remove the thermostat.

 

Well, you obviously have a cooling problem... by removing the thermostat you're letting as much coolant run through there as possible, lucky for you it's enough.
There is nothing really wrong with running without a thermostat, I've done it, it just takes FOREVER for the engine to warm up...
But in your case it's a band-aid solution.

 

If you were to drive the car you would never be able to tell i took the thermostat out. It acts like a normal car should, just without a thermostat installed.

 

Tried doing it with my '89 Formula when I had cooling problems. Ended up causing more cooling problems in the long-run. I'd do proper diagnostics with the help of our tech forums and get it fixed correctly.

 

No, no, no, guys. Running w/out a thermostat is not good. Without the thermostat (nothing holding resistance on the flow of water) the back cylinders don't get the proper cooling they need. You never see this on the temperature gauge because it's not taking the temperature reading from the back cylinders. Plus, I've heard that it eventually sludges up the oil.

If you insist on running w/out one, atleast punch the center section out of one and install to get some of that resistance back.

 

Its possible your radiater is plugged up.Without a stat it will flow enough.Get an infared temp gun and check the rad. in all different places.Temp shouldnt vary much.

 

This subject has been covered numerous times. Search.

 

Thanks shoebox.


Ok, so now that I know its a bad idea.... Any ideas on what might be my problem?

The car has 129k miles on it. Here are the things that were just done.

126k miles

timing belt replaced, serpentine belts replaced, radiator flush, headgaskets replaced.

129k miles

water pump replaced, thermostat replaced.

The fans come on like they should, i can burp the system if i push on the upper radiator hose, so it looks like it is flowing through the radiator fine. I get hot air from the vents when I remove the thermostat.

I currently have the thermostat pulled because it seemed to fix the cooling problem. Any ideas what could cause this weird overheating problem?

Since I installed the new waterpump I havent tried putting the thermostat back in because im afraid its going to over heat again. If I do put the new thermostat back in and it overheats what could it be? There isnt any white smoke coming from the exhaust and the oil isnt milky looking. I have checked for leaks and I cant find any... The car is parked in my clean garage, so if there was a leak I would see it on the floor.

Oh yah, and I initially replaced the tstat with a new one from Napa because the top radiator hose was warm but the lower radiator hose was cool.

 

the thermostat regulates the flow so the coolant can absorb the heat -
with no stat - no time for coolant to absorb any heat... this can cause you to overheat and not even know it

 

I agree.

 

HOw are you not going to see the temp gauge move..

or for that matter...with the scan master

 

Did you get the correct LT1 thermostat? It's different from the small block Chevy thermostat.

 

It is the correct thermostat. The only thing I can think of is that the new thermostat is bad as well... which seems really odd.... but could be?

Running without a thermostat could cause me to overheat without me knowing it? How so? My temp gauge looks like it is working correctly. I can put the new thermostat back in, but I think I am going to have the same problem again.

 

Your thermostat was probably sticking. Take it and put in a pan of boiling water and see at what temperature it opens, if it opens at all.

 

your coolant cant really absorb the heat from the block/heads
so ur coolant will not be anywhere near the temp of ur heads/block
so for example - ur coolant is 190.... i think it would be safe to asume ur block is 240-260

again - this is my personal thoughts..i may be wrong... but i built enough motors to know why they sell flow restrictors for those that do not want to run a stat