83turbomon
Starvin Like Marvin...
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2009
can you?
Can you run a car without a thermostat?
- Thread starter 83turbomon
- Start date
mikestertwo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2006
Not a good idea. You won't have any temp control on the motor. It will run too hot when the weather is warm and too cold when the weather is cool.
machinegun
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Can you physically Yes.
Should you? heck no
The thermostat controls the flow of the coolant through the block heads and radiator. With no folow control your fluid would circulate through the cooling system at a much higher rate. This means that heat soak or the ability of the fluid to transfer thermal energy will be reduced. This will actually lead to higher combustion chamber temperatures and less heat transferred from the coolant at the radiator. It will make your cooling system much more ineficient.
Hope this helps.
Should you? heck no
The thermostat controls the flow of the coolant through the block heads and radiator. With no folow control your fluid would circulate through the cooling system at a much higher rate. This means that heat soak or the ability of the fluid to transfer thermal energy will be reduced. This will actually lead to higher combustion chamber temperatures and less heat transferred from the coolant at the radiator. It will make your cooling system much more ineficient.
Hope this helps.
williambavila
William Avila (The Buick Guy)
- Joined
- May 11, 2010
what is your car doing that would make you ask such a question?? there is a reason that you ask this correct?
Little6pack
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2002
beside motor issues it could have your trans fluid overheat and possible trans failure.
I know some trans fluid has to be a proper heat range.
I know some trans fluid has to be a proper heat range.
xxTurboTxx
New Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2010
Mine didnt have one in it when I first got it,and it wasnt to noticeable in the warmer weather,but when late fall came around and it got cold, it wouldnt get warm enough to let the torque converter lock up..
justcrusin'
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2009
Yes, you can.
With a street car the flow would be fast and would'nt be in the radiator long enough for cool down...This may make things worse in warm weather.
With two of my "track only" cars I leave it out. One car has nothing in it and the other has a large washer to restrict a little flow.
With a street car the flow would be fast and would'nt be in the radiator long enough for cool down...This may make things worse in warm weather.
With two of my "track only" cars I leave it out. One car has nothing in it and the other has a large washer to restrict a little flow.
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
Another take on this..........
Our experience on T-R's has not shown this to be a problem, but just the reverse.
On race cars we certainly do not run antifreeze or thermostats. The higher flow rate will help cool critical areas like the heads, especially around the exhaust valves. Experiments with a protype high flow water pump from TA Performance also provided data to verify more cooling/flow to the heads gave a slight increase in HP.
It is also easier to maintain a consistent water/engine temp between rounds.
For many street GN's we have run them w/o a t'stat for many years and have found no problems. Granted, our freezing temps are very rare here.
Our day-to-day cooling situation is most likely more critical here than any metro area in the country, and we have NEVER found the water circulates or flows too fast through the radiator.
At 115 degrees, it WILL run cooler w/o a thermostat. :biggrin:
I do agree, if you are in an area of the country where the coolant temp will not reach a normal operating range w/o a t'stat, that is not good, and one should be used.
Like many questions posed here on the board, it is so broad and not defined so a specific answer is impossible without many qualifying criteria. :smile:
Our experience on T-R's has not shown this to be a problem, but just the reverse.
On race cars we certainly do not run antifreeze or thermostats. The higher flow rate will help cool critical areas like the heads, especially around the exhaust valves. Experiments with a protype high flow water pump from TA Performance also provided data to verify more cooling/flow to the heads gave a slight increase in HP.
It is also easier to maintain a consistent water/engine temp between rounds.
For many street GN's we have run them w/o a t'stat for many years and have found no problems. Granted, our freezing temps are very rare here.
Our day-to-day cooling situation is most likely more critical here than any metro area in the country, and we have NEVER found the water circulates or flows too fast through the radiator.
At 115 degrees, it WILL run cooler w/o a thermostat. :biggrin:
I do agree, if you are in an area of the country where the coolant temp will not reach a normal operating range w/o a t'stat, that is not good, and one should be used.
Like many questions posed here on the board, it is so broad and not defined so a specific answer is impossible without many qualifying criteria. :smile:
Just a Six??
OK! Who Farted??
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2003
Our experience on T-R's has not shown this to be a problem, but just the reverse.
On race cars we certainly do not run antifreeze or thermostats. The higher flow rate will help cool critical areas like the heads, especially around the exhaust valves. Experiments with a protype high flow water pump from TA Performance also provided data to verify more cooling/flow to the heads gave a slight increase in HP.
It is also easier to maintain a consistent water/engine temp between rounds.
For many street GN's we have run them w/o a t'stat for many years and have found no problems. Granted, our freezing temps are very rare here.
Our day-to-day cooling situation is most likely more critical here than any metro area in the country, and we have NEVER found the water circulates or flows too fast through the radiator.
At 115 degrees, it WILL run cooler w/o a thermostat. :biggrin:
I do agree, if you are in an area of the country where the coolant temp will not reach a normal operating range w/o a t'stat, that is not good, and one should be used.
Like many questions posed here on the board, it is so broad and not defined so a specific answer is impossible without many qualifying criteria. :smile:
Back in 91-92 I never ran one & raced every weekend. I had a quick cool down valve for after each run. Im drove it home & did some city driving without any issues?
machinegun
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
I like good conversation
Personally from my experience and limited testing I have found that no thermostat in an engine seems to create more hot spots then one with a thermostat.
I would agree that there are many contributing factors, ambient temp, engine / head materials type of coolant.
My personal experience has been though that if the coolant flies by the engine and radiator surfaces that it does not transfer the thermal energy as efficient. Basically what I am saying is it does not stick around long enough to absorb heat from surfaces such as the engine block or heads and transfer the heat to the radiator for disipation as efficiently.
If you have some testing information I would really like to look at it. My testing with a simple infrared gun and shooting areas of the block and heads we saw temp differences of 5 -7 degrees. Grant you this is not much but I would think that anytime you can reduce hot spots cant be bad.
Let me know what you think.
Personally from my experience and limited testing I have found that no thermostat in an engine seems to create more hot spots then one with a thermostat.
I would agree that there are many contributing factors, ambient temp, engine / head materials type of coolant.
My personal experience has been though that if the coolant flies by the engine and radiator surfaces that it does not transfer the thermal energy as efficient. Basically what I am saying is it does not stick around long enough to absorb heat from surfaces such as the engine block or heads and transfer the heat to the radiator for disipation as efficiently.
If you have some testing information I would really like to look at it. My testing with a simple infrared gun and shooting areas of the block and heads we saw temp differences of 5 -7 degrees. Grant you this is not much but I would think that anytime you can reduce hot spots cant be bad.
Let me know what you think.
Chris Hogeland
TWISTED 6 RACING
- Joined
- May 28, 2006
Thermostat
Like Nick said I never use them in mine or my Customer Engine I build
Our experience on T-R's has not shown this to be a problem, but just the reverse.
On race cars we certainly do not run antifreeze or thermostats. The higher flow rate will help cool critical areas like the heads, especially around the exhaust valves. Experiments with a protype high flow water pump from TA Performance also provided data to verify more cooling/flow to the heads gave a slight increase in HP.
It is also easier to maintain a consistent water/engine temp between rounds.
For many street GN's we have run them w/o a t'stat for many years and have found no problems. Granted, our freezing temps are very rare here.
Our day-to-day cooling situation is most likely more critical here than any metro area in the country, and we have NEVER found the water circulates or flows too fast through the radiator.
At 115 degrees, it WILL run cooler w/o a thermostat. :biggrin:
I do agree, if you are in an area of the country where the coolant temp will not reach a normal operating range w/o a t'stat, that is not good, and one should be used.
Like many questions posed here on the board, it is so broad and not defined so a specific answer is impossible without many qualifying criteria. :smile:
Like Nick said I never use them in mine or my Customer Engine I build
Ive always considered it a big no no as it accelerates ring wear , and other parts. Ive experienced some cars burning oil for no apparent reason with otherwise great maintenance. Ifound them to have stuck open stats, probably for years. Even if engine gets up to temp, it spends too much time getting there with no stat. Bad for mpg too. I read along time ago that wear can be 2X as much on a cold engine ....probably below the 160 range. And it is a golden rule of longevity to never whack on a cold motor. Other parts of car need to warm up too, almost like humans.
mikestertwo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2006
I agree with the above. Remember, the original post lives in Tacoma, Washington
dr_frankenstein
Mad Scientist
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
was 107* over here not to long ago....
I run a T-stat..... granted it maybe a 160* but I do always drill a 3/32 hole or two in the unit as well. never had a problem climbing the san augustine pass at 4500 rpm to and from work, on a 19x18 radiator.
A.j.
I run a T-stat..... granted it maybe a 160* but I do always drill a 3/32 hole or two in the unit as well. never had a problem climbing the san augustine pass at 4500 rpm to and from work, on a 19x18 radiator.
A.j.
A higher temp will make for a more effecent engine David. Up to boiling temps of course.:biggrin: You're south of me and it gets much warmer here on average.
2 things on mpg-You want engine to get up to temp fast...better burn/closed loop. And , better burn period because of atomization of fuel droplets...not as big of a deal with dry manifold/efi. Big deal on carb cars.
