LiamLikeNeeson

I live in Los Angeles, the worst place to live with a Jeep that loves to overheat, so I want to replace the ****ty old thermostat with a newer one that's a lower temp to get the coolant running sooner rather than at 190. My dad was thinking 160 degrees but is that too low? It averages at around 85-90 degrees right now and there is a lot of stop-and-go traffic on these blasted freeways btw

toasterknight

Leave the 195 thermostat in there or replace it with another one of the same spec. A lower opening thermostat will not fix the issue only create others.

Have you flushed the cooling system? Replaced the water pump? Replaced the fan clutch? Is the radiator plugged?

Firestorm500

Yep. If you run hot with the factory-spec 195* thermostat, you problem isn't with a thermostat.

SeriousOffroad

If you run a cooler tstat your engine won't go into closed loop.
Higher emissions and poor performance will result.

Fix the problem.

LiamLikeNeeson

Well it's overheating easily. It did the other day at night because of an air bubble which their might be another one of right now. It will still run at 210 degrees (normal) but the coolant will start flowing at a lower temp

toasterknight

That's not what is concerning. Your engine will be running really rich all the time to keep the temperature up and a lower temp thermostat will only open sooner. It will not help with an overheating situation at all. The engine is designed to run at 210 don't try to change it or the ECU will fight it constantly. If your concerned about an overheating situation refresh the cooling system with oem parts and be done with it.

LiamLikeNeeson

Ok. I'll check it out. Thanks.

BlueRidgeMark

Eh, uh, no.

The engine will not run rich "to keep the temperature up". You have cause and effect backwards. It will run rich if the temperature is NOT up.




This part is true. The cure for overheating is to fix what's broken, not to drop in a cooler thermostat.

toasterknight

I meant what you said but said it incorrectly.

SeriousOffroad

Step #1
Get the system pressure tested.

LiamLikeNeeson

UPDATE: I was a complete halfwit and mixed the orange and green Antifreeze/coolant solutions so the outcome of the is they dilute each other, rendering them useless to cool the engine. Getting it flushed after school today. But the Orange stuff is bad in another way because it eats away at lead in the radiator (because it's an older car and they use radiators with lead in it) which can clog the hoses. So hopefully it hasn't destroyed the radiator yet but hopefully flushing and replacing the coolant with the green coolant (the one meant for older cars) will fix my overhearing issue.

Firestorm500

I don't agree with any of this.

toasterknight

I was thinking the same thing.

LiamLikeNeeson

What don't you guys agree with? If I'm doing something wrong if rather fix it before it's too late :/

toasterknight

Mixing coolant has almost 0 effect on how well the system cools. It can cause problems with corrosion and sludge but that's about it.

Doing a proper flush may help the system some but odds are you have another cooling component that needs maintinence. At this age its a good idea to do a full refresh anyways.