96 K1500 Operating Temp Issues

Shatterz · November 10, 2007

I've been having an on-going saga of trying to return my 96 K1500 5.0 V8's operating temp back to normal for some time now. Let me just give some background on the issue first. When my truck was new, after a full warm-up and the thermostat would open the temp guage would remain steady at or just slightly below 210 and my heat was excellent in the winter. After about 6 years this orginal thermostat went bad and I replaced it with another GM OEM thermostat. To my surprise, the temp guage after a full warm-up never reached the 210 mark, and in fact stayed around the 160-70sih range and my winter time heat peformance decreased. I've since replaced the thermostat 3 other times now, twice with GM thermostats (supposedly 195 deg.) and now a Stant 195 and cannot get my original operating temp or heat I once had with the original stat. My cooling system is very clean, I change the coolant every 5yrs, heater core is good and the truck has relatively low miles in it (61,000).

I'm starting to believe the original T-stat that came with the truck NEW was much different than the replacement ones I'm installing, since they cannot maintain the engine temp or heat temp which the truck originally had from the factory. Please help me in solving this issue or giving some me insight on why I cannot get back to original operating temps.

Genuinefine409 · November 10, 2007

I've been having an on-going saga of trying to return my 96 K1500 5.0 V8's operating temp back to normal for some time now. Let me just give some background on the issue first. When my truck was new, after a full warm-up and the thermostat would open the temp guage would remain steady at or just slightly below 210 and my heat was excellent in the winter. After about 6 years this orginal thermostat went bad and I replaced it with another GM OEM thermostat. To my surprise, the temp guage after a full warm-up never reached the 210 mark, and in fact stayed around the 160-70sih range and my winter time heat peformance decreased. I've since replaced the thermostat 3 other times now, twice with GM thermostats (supposedly 195 deg.) and now a Stant 195 and cannot get my original operating temp or heat I once had with the original stat. My cooling system is very clean, I change the coolant every 5yrs, heater core is good and the truck has relatively low miles in it (61,000).

I'm starting to believe the original T-stat that came with the truck NEW was much different than the replacement ones I'm installing, since they cannot maintain the engine temp or heat temp which the truck originally had from the factory. Please help me in solving this issue or giving some me insight on why I cannot get back to original operating temps.

I had a somewhat similar problem with a 96 5.7 vortec. I had to replace the radiator and i figured i'd just install a new thermostat. I got one for a small chevy and put it in. It would never get up to temp right and then i went and got one for the truck cause it's different than a standard one and it was fine after that. Did the style thermostate make a difference or was the standard one just no good? I don't know, i just know when i switched to the new style for the vortec engines it worked after that.

does your look like these?

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductList.as...+OE+Replacement