Is there a dramatic difference in quality, performance, etc, between a thermostat that I'd buy directly from my Jeep dealer here in town, and one that I'd buy at a Shucks, Napa, etc?

I know on my 3000GT, when I replaced the thermostat, the aftermarket version looked really wimpy by comparison...

Any suggestions for replacement?

What about something like this: http://www.quadratec.com/products/51211_000.htm

Thanks! Appreciate help with this one

KK

Yea. I went with a Stant initially and pulled it out 2 weeks later. I have never liked them but thought I would give it a go and again waster time and money.

I think the majority of the parts stores carry rebadged Stants.

I went to the dealer and bought OEM for $15 or so with a gasket.

With boths stats I get some pretty eratic temp changes, but the OEM one has a better handle on it. Neither allowed the gauge to get above 210.

If I were you I would spend the extra $10 and buy OEM the first time. Oh, and OEM comes with a weep hole that makes bleeding the system a little easier.

That's good info, thanks so much. I think I will call up my jeep dealer and spend a few bucks extra then

Hm. I've used both Stant and Robertshaw branded units without any trouble. I do like the Robertshaw "Fail Safe" unit - instead of "failing closed" (as typical thermostats do, including OEM,) it "fails open" - which helps to prevent further overheating, and allows you to limp home. I don't know why no-one had thought of that before...

Robertshaw was the other that I would consider, but the dealer is a half mile away from my house, too easy.

Not saying anything bad about stants, I just never seem to have good luck with them. I've been told by a few mechanics that they always use OEM t-stats for a reason.

Yep.

The extra $5 you spend for a quality thermostat is cheap insurance. It also means you won't be replacing it for a few years (instead of months).

The factory thermostat has better materials: the metal is thicker, the spring is better, the thermal-element is bigger, and the passage is bigger when it opens. It will also likely come with a better gasket.

I just bought a new thermostat for my 1985 Toyota SR5 pickup. The original had over 200,000 miles in-service... damn right I put a factory Toyota thermostat back in it

After having a t-stat failure on the trail, I run Fail Safe t-stats in everything I own now.