Remove thermostat permanently?

[DelxE]

A friend of mine keeps telling me to just remove the thermostat completely that way you don't have to worry about the car overheating. My thought is that the thermostat is there for a reason. I figure it has to do with keeping the engine at the right temp for better combustion resulting in better fuel economy and power. Can someone set me straight? Are there other consequences or benefits of doing this? Does anyone else do this?

Thanks

Jim

 

[barefoot]

it would seem...removing the thermostat would not allow the coolant to cool off properly before recirculation. the thermostat lets coolant into the radiator when it reaches a certain temp. if it is constantly circulating then the water in the radiator is not in there long enough to cool off. however...one might think that if coolant was constantly circulating it would reachsome sort of homeostasis (temp wise). but there are other variables like: stop and go traffic, idling, highway etc...

forgive me...im just thinking while im writing. but it doesnt sound like a good idea..??

whay are you worried about your truck overheating? just put a new one in and dont worry about it for a few yrs...

 

[netjaws]

Useful contribution:

Once I felt a slight 'clink.' I thought I had hit a small rodent and shrugged it off. The engine was running perfectly fine. That the temperature shot up a minute later was the only indication that my idler tension pulley had sezied, sheared in half, and the belt had jumped off. Had I continued to drive without the belt running the water pump I would have been seriously fucked.

 

[maxyedor]

The thermostat holds the coolant in the engine so that it can heat-up more quickly. Then when the coolent heats up and expands it blows open the t-stat and lets the coolent flow freely. You can remove the thermostat and then you don't have to worry about the valve getting stuck and the engine overheating. However if you just replace it ever time you flush the radiator you won't have any issues. Barefoot, the thermostat does the opposite of what you are getting at, it holds coolent in the engine so that it gets hotter, not in the radiator. Netjaws is right throwing a belt will cause the engine to overheat, but it will also kill your powerstearing, and alternator, so most of the dash will light up. Without a fan belt you can really only travel about 5-10 minutes without overheating.

DelxE, just keep track of when you last replaced the t-stat and you should be fine, on the D2 I beleive it's plastic so you don't even have to worry about it rusting.

 

[scottjal]

Interesting no one is mentioning the computer will detect a cold engine and be in an endless warmup mode or at least be in that mode for much more than necessary.

 

[deiaggie]

if you live in a warm climate you should be able to get away without a thermostat...if you live in an area where it will get very cold, the engine might take forever to get to a normal operating temp

 

[98 WI disco]

Put a thermostat in. Haven't had to buy one yet for a Discovery but I'm sure Napa sells a fail safe one. It will stay open if it malfunctions.

 

[kellymoe]

Doesn't the rover tstat have a small bypass hole in it to let a small constant flow to circulate when the motor is cool? Gas motors run more efficient when cool as opposed to diesel, right? My tstat has been removed for the last 2 years and runs great. The heater runs a little cooler than it used to but that's about the only change I have found. I'll get around to putting one i someday.

 

[disco4x4]

i've heard of people in warmer climates running no t-stats...even a dealer recommended it to somebody i know.

personally i'd say x2 to everybody else....put one in

 

[PHARAOHDISCO]

I have been running my D1 without a thermostat for over 8 years and it's the same case with all Discovery vehicles here. It is even recommended by our LR dealership. They remove it at first service. Ofcourse the climate here in winter is much warmer than in the States, but summer temperatures are similar. If I were driving in the States, I would remove the thermostat in summer and reinstall it in winter. You will avoid alot of overheating problems.

 

[maxyedor]

If I were driving in the States, I would remove the thermostat in summer and reinstall it in winter. You will avoid alot of overheating problems.

I have one in my D1 here in SoCal and even driving through Death Valley, Baja, and the Mojave I have never overheated, hell my temp gauge has never gotten past halfway. I know the gauge works because when I trew my fanbelt it went all the way to the top. It seems like way too much work to remove and install it before and after each summer.

 

[discoute]

someone please correct me if I am wrong. Colder running engines wear faster internaly mainly in the combustion area "pistons and cylinders"
the lucus injection in aussie content rover v8s use the second temp sender to regulate fuel supply, eg cold engine rich fuel supply, removing the thermosate to compensate for overheating is just masking another problem. Fuel economy will be way up if the engine does not come up to what the ECU considers normal temp as well.

glen

 

[scottjal]

someone please correct me if I am wrong. Colder running engines wear faster internaly mainly in the combustion area "pistons and cylinders"
the lucus injection in aussie content rover v8s use the second temp sender to regulate fuel supply, eg cold engine rich fuel supply, removing the thermosate to compensate for overheating is just masking another problem. Fuel economy will be way up if the engine does not come up to what the ECU considers normal temp as well.

glen

I think you have it right on two counts, but lets take it a step further.

First the mechanical issue, on a water cooled engine they can engineer tighter tolerances due to the operating thermal expansion being pretty much under control. But I don't think this engine is one of those modern ultra tight tolerances designs so we probably have a good size window temperature wise so in a warm climate you would likely be fine as everyone here is saying. I think we can all agree though that I don't want to do this in New Hampshire in the snow though. End result being maybe a little more wear.

Then we have the electronic engine management side of the equation. On some vehicles these things can be sensitive and if they don't see the correct operating temperature they go into open loop (mapped fuel injection) warm-up mode. Now I don't know enough to say but maybe the ECU we are dealing with has a big temperature window that satisfies the warm-up requirement and lets it go to closed loop (using the MAFS/O2 to regulate fuel) or even better someone smart put in the couple lines of code it takes to say you know we have been driving for five minutes now and we really should not be in warm-up open loop mode and force closed loop. End result here being that fuel economy could suffer if the computer isn't happy, or maybe not at all.

 

[kellymoe]

someone please correct me if I am wrong. Colder running engines wear faster internaly mainly in the combustion area "pistons and cylinders"
the lucus injection in aussie content rover v8s use the second temp sender to regulate fuel supply, eg cold engine rich fuel supply, removing the thermosate to compensate for overheating is just masking another problem. Fuel economy will be way up if the engine does not come up to what the ECU considers normal temp as well.

glen

I guess I am really not thinking of the modern EFI rover engine when made the comment. My engine is carburated. I probably would not run my efi disco without a tstat very long. And when I said a engine is more efficient when it runs cooler I didn't mean cold just cooler, which I think we would all agree on.

 

[Roverdoc]

yes...if you live where it is always hot...running without one may be ok but not ideal...even living in socal when my tstat was broken wide open...my engine was not running at the correct temp and i noticed a considerable difference in my rangie...they are cheap and easy to install so just replace it and be done with it.....and your vehicle will like you for it.

 

[dirtyjim]

by removing the thermostat the water will travel to fast & not be able to release the heat through the radiator. about 15 years ago i had a 72 chevy truck with a stout 454 with a diesel radiator. living in the houston area it gets plenty hot in the summer so i decided top remove the thermostat to see if it would run cooler. it done good until i hit 5oclock traffic & the temp shot up to 240, with the thermostat it would stay around 220 in heavy traffic. put the thermostat back in & it was back to 220. if you remove the thermostat you still need to restrict the flow of water enough for the radiator to do its job