Thermostat ratings

etantshi

Moderator
The 3sgte makes an abundant amout of heat in this chassis, more than needed. The TRD thermostat will not prevent you from making more 'power'. 170 is warmed up. The thermostat simply allows cooler engine coolant to flow into the engine, often times the coolant, after absorbing heat from the passages, is at norm op temp once it leaves the motor and gets to the water elbow (where the sensor is located). The benefit from added heat ruduction from inside the motor can help reduce knock. Under stop and go traffic a lower temp thermostat will likely not even be a factor as the stock cooling system will not be able to take advantage of the thermostat due to the fact that it cannot cool the coolant that low anyway. The thermostat works best for highway driving/pulls and trackdays.
 

Denver_whiteST185

New member
TRD is a 160 degree one. ive had mine on for over a year and a half with no negitive effects. warms up perfectly fine, even when started at below zero, and was daily driven though all 5 blizzards colorado had last winter.

as for making more power either way, thats a lie. you won't make more power if your thermostat opens at 160 or 180. as for the ecu staying in cold-start mod, that will happen when you start the car on a 70 degree day. by the time your coolant temps reach 160, it will be out of cold start mode

if you are looking for a cooler thermostat, i would source a TRD one. from what ive heard, the ATS one will restrict flow a little, and TRD is an exact match physically to the stock one.
 

etantshi

Moderator
Denver_whiteST185":2u0ar96u said:
TRD is a 160 degree one. ive had mine on for over a year and a half with no negitive effects. warms up perfectly fine, even when started at below zero, and was daily driven though all 5 blizzards colorado had last winter.

as for making more power either way, thats a lie. you won't make more power if your thermostat opens at 160 or 180. as for the ecu staying in cold-start mod, that will happen when you start the car on a 70 degree day. by the time your coolant temps reach 160, it will be out of cold start mode

if you are looking for a cooler thermostat, i would source a TRD one. from what ive heard, the ATS one will restrict flow a little, and TRD is an exact match physically to the stock one.

Is it 160? You're probably right. I couldn't remember which one was which as I know napa has a low one and TRD has one also. It's been nearly 3 years since I put mine in.
 

Denver_whiteST185

New member
etantshi":2gt2zy16 said:
Denver_whiteST185":2gt2zy16 said:
TRD is a 160 degree one. ive had mine on for over a year and a half with no negitive effects. warms up perfectly fine, even when started at below zero, and was daily driven though all 5 blizzards colorado had last winter.

as for making more power either way, thats a lie. you won't make more power if your thermostat opens at 160 or 180. as for the ecu staying in cold-start mod, that will happen when you start the car on a 70 degree day. by the time your coolant temps reach 160, it will be out of cold start mode

if you are looking for a cooler thermostat, i would source a TRD one. from what ive heard, the ATS one will restrict flow a little, and TRD is an exact match physically to the stock one.

Is it 160? You're probably right. I couldn't remember which one was which as I know napa has a low one and TRD has one also. It's been nearly 3 years since I put mine in.

well, technically, its something in degree's Celsius. i ordered it a long time ago from burien toyota when they still had their TRD site up, and it was advertised at 160 degree's F.

after a few more things that ive got to do to the car, i'll do a coolant change. i'll pull out the thermostat just for kicks since the temperature rating is stamped on the side and see what it says.
 

RedCelicaTRD

Moderator
If you guys want to make your engines even more inefficient by using the TRD "band-aid" thermostat, go right ahead. I'll stick with my stocker that functions just fine.
 

Denver_whiteST185

New member
Band-aid for what?

maybe your not getting the concept. the only thing the thermostat does is open up sooner. normal operation coolant temps are higher than 160 degree. the engine will warm up the exact same with both thermostats up to 160 degress. at 160 degrees, the thermostat will open, allowing radiator fluid to flow into the water pump, and will close when those water temps drop below 160, keeping the fluids entering the engine at 160 degree's or higher. 160 degree water entering the water jackets are NOT going to damage anything, or send the engine into a cold-start cycle, or make it loose power, or cause any sort of significant wear. if you believe that, you are an idiot.
the stock 180 degree one is perfectly fine for a stock car, and even a modified alltrac. however if your making much more that stock power, or you want some breathing room for later mods, i would recommend increasing the cooling capacity of the car, which this is a very easy way to do that.
sure, when its winter time, and your just driving it around, it probably doesn't do anything helpful since its cold enough outside.
it will help decrease the load on the cooling system by allowing fluids to enter at a lower temperature, which will be heated up as soon as the enter the water jackets. the exit temps of coolant once the vehicle is at temperature are going to be higher than 180 degrees even with the 160 degree thermostat, and will be that much higher with a 180 degree thermo.
 

RedCelicaTRD

Moderator
By putting in a lower temp thermostat you have not increased coolant capacity. The only way to do that is add more coolant. If your car is overheating, a thermostat that opens earlier will not stop it from doing so. All you have done is give yourself a little more time before it overheats. To me, this is a band-aid since you haven't fixed the problem of the cooling system being unable to cool the engine at extended full load. Also, a colder running engine does make LESS power, is LESS efficient and DOES have MORE wear. Perhaps it is you who doesn't understand the concept.

And one last thing, don't ever call me an idiot.
 

RedCelicaTRD

Moderator
Since you really irked me with the idiot comment, I'll help educate you by providing a little reading material. After that, I'm pretty much done with this thread.

You dont have to read much more then the first page on this one:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cooling-system.htm

Mr2 owners discuss the TRD thermostat (and the howstuffworks page)
http://www.mr2oc.com/showthread.php?t=247549

Mr2 owners also talk about this all the time, so if you can use the search function go over there and read some more.

Supra owners have the same conclusion
http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showth ... p?t=311516

Now I'm not going to waste the remainder of my night posting links (if you owuld like more info, go use google), but hopefully this will help you "understand the concept." And it's a crying shame that all these people are idiots.
 

etantshi

Moderator
I still stand by my statement and must also add that the TRD thermostat has lowered the presence of knock in not only my motor but many of the 3.4s out there. The all trac is no mr2, and it does not share the added cooling ability that chassis has. I can say that you will probably have a slight increase in emissions and fuel consumption in certain situations, but that is a small trade out for knock reduction. Efficiency and performance do not always go hand in hand (nor are they mutually exclusive). It's going to be one of those things that is debated. If it works for you use it. If not, then don't.
 

Shaggz00

Active member
I am going to strongly agree with RedCelicaTRD on this one.

I know for a fact from previous datalogging experience, that the T-VIS will open with EVERY touch of the throttle until the coolant temp reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit (at the temp sensor in the elbow). That would lead me to believe that anything below 200F, the ECU will see as 'cold start/warm-up enrichment' mode. Also, since the T-VIS will open with every throttle touch instead of at the normal 4100RPM range, the car might possibly be making less power.

I have a stock thermostat in my 165. I don't know what temp it's rated at, but my car hovers around 200F-210F under normal driving. I've only seen it dip to 199F once (it was 20 below zero that day). That also leads me to believe that the car is not meant to run colder.

Like other people have said, if there is overheating issues (and the thermostat is 100% in good working condition), than installing a low-temp thermostat is just a bad excuse for a cooling solution. A properly functioning cooling system can run hard all day long and not have an overheating issue.

All that being said, we all know that the car runs perfectly fine with the T-VIS opened all the time. A lot of people even remove it. So if that is the only consequence of running a cooler thermostat, then by all means go for it. I also acknowledge that TRD must have created these low temp thermostats for a reason, and not just for a moneymaking gimmick (we all should hope!).

I also have to acknowledge what etantshi said, that even with the colder Thermostat, the coolant could possibly be at normal temp, once it reaches the sensor. I can't verify whether or not this is true because I don't run a low temp stat. So I do understand what you are saying etantshi, I just have no way to know if it's true or not.

As a final note I will say this: (and I am not talking to any single person here, just the general public) If you are having overheating problems, don't buy a low-temp thermostat, because the bottom line is you have another problem!. Buy a stock one, and if you are still having a problem, check your fans (stock are better than those thin-line things), check your coolant level, check you temp sensor, look for signs of a blown HG, look for leaks, check your radiator for cracks or blockage. When you search out and find the real culprit, and you have that "AHA!" moment, you will thank those of us that give you a hard time. Good luck!
 

Denver_whiteST185

New member
RedCelicaTRD":2i3332pt said:
Since you really irked me with the idiot comment, I'll help educate you by providing a little reading material. After that, I'm pretty much done with this thread.

You dont have to read much more then the first page on this one:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cooling-system.htm

Mr2 owners discuss the TRD thermostat (and the howstuffworks page)
http://www.mr2oc.com/showthread.php?t=247549

Mr2 owners also talk about this all the time, so if you can use the search function go over there and read some more.

Supra owners have the same conclusion
http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showth ... p?t=311516

Now I'm not going to waste the remainder of my night posting links (if you owuld like more info, go use google), but hopefully this will help you "understand the concept." And it's a crying shame that all these people are idiots.

well, you forget one thing very quickly. what is the coolant capacity of an MR2? what is the coolant capacity of an alltrac. MR2's have MUCH more coolant in there system than an alltrac, adding to your statement about adding coolant to increase the cooling capacity of your car. their coolant lines run under the car all the way to the front. i don't know what the supra coolant capacity is, but that would be something interesting to find out. from what i understand, supra's have a bigger issue with the rear turbo getting too hot than cooling issues. alltracs have heat issues, thus is why they switched from a scoop to a vent on RC/CS models (along with aerodynamics too, but thats getting off subject)

i guess if you feel you need it, then get it, if you don't feel you need it, don't. my celica will warm up faster than my corolla, and it has a much larger radiator too, although i don't have an acurate gauge to tell what temps each get to under different driving conditions. it also ran perfectly fine everyday last winter when i drove it everyday to work, even during the 3 foot blizzard we got (look at the last photo in my album under my profile). i would have been more likely to cause extra wear by using 10w30 when it was that cold instead of 5W30 like toyota says. BTW, the reason why i replaced my thermostat was because the stock one failed while close, causing the car to overheat within a mile of being started cold.

im sorry that i irked you, and i should have been a bit more tactful.

edited for a wording mistake
 

Shaggz00

Active member
I gotta add one more thing, Denver_whiteST185, I am not disagreeing with you. After re-reading your posts, I do understand what you are saying, too. I guess my previous post was kind of a response to the "band aid" comment, and more of a suggestion to those not involved in this thread.

I think that a TRD thermostat will work fine, I just don't believe it is necessary. I have no proof that the car will go into 'cold start mode' with a low-temp thermostat anyways, so I'm pretty much guessing there (which is probably a foolish thing to do). It certainly can't hurt, just not required.

I guess all in all I come out kind of neutral. I understand you other guys, but I really only agree with RedCelicaTRD. I just wanted to help, lolz

:D
 

E_Knight

New member
personally i like the idea of it opening sooner, especially if it gets to normal running temperature anyway


Didn't think my thermostat question would get so heated
 
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