Worth Considering A Hotter Thermostat?

[Tall_Alex 1]

Good Evening.

 

 

I get the feeling that my thermostat is on the way out (I doubt it's been replaced over the last 22 years) and in any event I figure I may as well replace it, given it made a substantial difference to the performance of both of my previous vehicles and it's a doddle to do.

 

Two questions - Firstly, as far as I am aware, the stock thermostat begins to open at 89℃. I'm thinking that it might not be such a bad idea to replace it with a slightly hotter thermostat (say 91/92℃), for the faster warm-up, higher operating temperature (possibly good for fuel economy?) and hotter heater. Any reasons why this would be a bad idea? Obviously in a modern computer-controlled car I wouldn't even think about it but in a 22 year old car with no computer it's at least an interesting idea. I know it used to be fairly common practice to change thermostats twice a year with the temperature change between seasons.

 

Secondly - Jiggle pins; I have no idea whether the stock thermostat has one (and can't visually check it with any great ease for obvious reasons). Looking around Google it would appear the stock one doesn't have one, but most of the ones I have access to do have one; will it make a difference? I know the idea behind having one but thought I'd ask anyway.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

 

N.B. car is a 1990 205 with the carb TU3 engine, outside temperature here in New Zealand regularly goes below zero in the winter but very rarely goes north of 35℃ in the summer.

[welshpug 1,621]

I doubt changing the thermostat by 2 degrees will aid warmup, it'll just alter the running temperature, if your heaters are lacking I would change the heater matrix.

 

If you want to aid the warmup process fitting an oil-coolant heat exchanger will help massively.

 

If there's no "jiggle pin" as you call if, I tend to drill a 3mm hole, this helps with bleeding quite a bit, I have seen it in many PTS and Citroen Sport build manuals

[Baz 421]

As above, i'd actually go for a 82deg or so 'stat for cooler running depending on what you're doing.

 

First try flushing the heater matrix as sometimes yields surprisingly effective results!

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

First try flushing the heater matrix as sometimes yields surprisingly effective results!

 

I agree with this as when I changed all my hoses and matrix the temperature difference was amazing !