thermostat installation

different areas of the cooling system ..ie.. engine block will get hotter than 160 at first before hitting the thermostat in the upper hose....
then when the stat see's 160 youll get a rush of cool water from the radiator.
 
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I use a pot of water on the stove and a candy thermometer to determine exactly when the thermostats opens and closes. Over the years, I've found that what's marked on the box isn't always correct. I've returned several thermostats that were not as advertised.
 
I removed my thermostat from the car and made a test which proves that everyone is correct. At 166 deg. the thermostat had moved (opened) 1/8 inch; at 173 deg it had moved 1/4 inch; at 179 deg had moved 3/8 inch, and at 186 deg it had moved 1/2 inch which was the maximum movement.

The first 1/8 inch is probably enough for cars whose engine is broken in. For my new engine I was making use of the full thermostat movement. With vigorous boiling of the pot in which the thermostat was located, the temperature reading was 213 deg. Barometric pressure was 30.1 inches, so that adds to the validity of my temperature measurements. I was using a multimeter that used a thermocouple to measure the temperature.
 
Richard Lorenz said:
I removed my thermostat from the car and made a test which proves that everyone is correct. At 166 deg. the thermostat had moved (opened) 1/8 inch; at 173 deg it had moved 1/4 inch; at 179 deg had moved 3/8 inch, and at 186 deg it had moved 1/2 inch which was the maximum movement.

The first 1/8 inch is probably enough for cars whose engine is broken in. For my new engine I was making use of the full thermostat movement. With vigorous boiling of the pot in which the thermostat was located, the temperature reading was 213 deg. Barometric pressure was 30.1 inches, so that adds to the validity of my temperature measurements. I was using a multimeter that used a thermocouple to measure the temperature.
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Richard,

Two questions:

Did you pause the heating process a bit at each of the test temperatures, to be sure that the stat had time to equilibrate?

That's a 160-degree stat, right?

Thanks for providing data!

Steve
 
Mine is a 600 deg thermostat. On the outside is printed "52mm" and "USA". The inside has "600" and underneath it "2200" on the copper bulb. I am confident that my heat-up rate was slow enough that the readings are good. The temperatures that I quoted could be off by a degree or two.
 
denis4x4 said:
I use a pot of water on the stove and a candy thermometer to determine exactly when the thermostats opens and closes. Over the years, I've found that what's marked on the box isn't always correct. I've returned several thermostats that were not as advertised.
Click to expand...

Good advice! I did the same, she worked as mark 160F...
 
Richard Lorenz said:
Mine is a 600 deg thermostat. On the outside is printed "52mm" and "USA". The inside has "600" and underneath it "2200" on the copper bulb. I am confident that my heat-up rate was slow enough that the readings are good. The temperatures that I quoted could be off by a degree or two.
Click to expand...

600 degrees?????????
 
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