Thermostat, 210° Two Hot?

[Mark Kennedy]

Hello, I have a 2016 GMC Sierra Elevation, It Is a Small V-8 in It. It Has 4000 Miles on It, I do not drive much. I live in Florida. The thermostat runs at 210°. I really feel that this is excessive. I would like to install a thermostat that is of a lower heat range. I believe the truck is still under warranty. Do they make A cooler thermostat? Is it advisable to put a cooler one in? Thanks. Mark

[Grumpy Bear]

I run a Jet 170F. Zero loss of MPG and I keep track of every ounce of fuel and measure every mile and chart every result. It tosses no codes. Heat is an enemy of longevity. Oil and trans coolers are mounted in the radiator tanks so cooler is cooler for both oil and trans which = longer life. GM does what it does to satisfy the EPA and FED MPG targets and gives a hoot about your bottom line. I AM an engineer and in this field a bit hard to BS. There is no down side to a lower temp thermostat (within reason) but many to baking your motor like a clam. 170 or 180 F thermostat is just peachy. 

 

[Duelin]

Gm has spent millions of dollars testing engines. And have concluded thru their testing that the thermostat they installed is the best situation for your motor. But you feel that is incorrect. So my question is why do you feel it is incorrect? They have designed their cooling systems to operate within a very narrow temperature range. Somewhere between 214º and 228º. Which the cooling fans and thermostat maintain this range for different reasons. Those numbers can vary so don't jump in and correct me. I said "somewhere between". Now a couple of reasons they do this is. One is to have the engine to run hot enough to turn any moisture in the engine collected from sitting and short trips into a vapor and eliminating sludge build up. Another reason to have a narrow heat range is minimize expansion and contraction. With a narrow range their is very little continuous expansion and contraction. So you have less problems with scrubbing on all the gasket surfaces (which causes blown gaskets) such as head gasket and intake gaskets. So that being said I will let you decide for yourself if there is any benefit in going to a colder thermostat.

[Mark Kennedy]

Duelin thank you very much for your informative and timely reply. I understand that GMC offers OEM thermostats that are lower in temperature. Being that they are offered by the manufacturer I would come to the conclusion that there would be substantial testing and reasoning behind this product. I'll try to do further research on this, after having acquired the appropriate data I will post an update on this form. Thank you very much for all who replied.  I found this article,   Low temperature thermostats, what's the advantage?       https://tinyurl.com/8r6ea53    This will take you to the page and give an explanation. I guess I'm just a hardhead, in the back of my mind I've always thought that the bottom line was, getting the gas admissions to the acceptable standards that the government wants. And if that means running the engine hotter and literally baking your engine and its components, "" then that's acceptable"  as long as they, "the vehicle manufacturers", have met the emissions standards. And the hell with the longevity of the engine. I don't know, who do you trust? LOL

[Jsdirt]

Anything colder might throw a light on these things. They're designed to run at 210° ± in order to satisfy emission standards.

 

Since your in FL, you probably don't have to deal with inspection b/s, so if the light doesn't bother you, no harm in running a cooler t-stat.

 

I can't remember what the threshold is for triggering the light. It could be alot cooler than any thermostat available, so this light thing might be a non-issue.

 

EDIT: A quick Google search says somewhere between 160°-170°, so going to a 180° t-stat should be fine. Cooler engines live longer.

[Justin101714]

I wouldn't do it, you'll actually use more gas because the ECM will try to make that catalyst hot by running a leaner fuel trim, therefore adding fuel to compensate for the lower temperature and yes it will set the check engine light.

 

 

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[Dale L]

Wouldn't leaner mean less fuel?

[Jsdirt]

The ECM doesn't "try" to make the catalyst hot - it just becomes hot through normal combustion. The o2s are responsible for keeping the air fuel mixture wherever the engineers decided the engine will make the least amount of emissions (usually at or near stoichiometric), taking into account input from a few other sensors.

 

A 30° reduction in engine temp isn't going to make a whole lot of difference in fuel consumption - about as much as running the air conditioning, if not less.