Thermostat - Does opening temperature matter? Options

[woodst]

Hello!
I am rebuilding a frozen 1.8 engine and found a thermostat with an opening temperature of 90°C in it. It works fine - but for the stock engine an opening temperature of 65-70°C is recommended

Does it matter? New ones are hard to find or quite expensive.

I won't drive the car in winter but we have mostly intermediate temperatures at about 20°C. In summer it's actually pretty hot >30°C. Thanks to global warming...

BTW: I want to keep my flaps. There are lots of discussions whether they are useful or not. Please do not go into this again. I want them installed.

Cheers!
Malte

[realred914]

My understanding of the system is the thermostat is not only used for warm up, it also controls the temp as the engine temp varies, high load on the freeway going up a steep grade may require it be full open, low load down hill, (fan at high rpm) and the flaps may start to close some.


get it out of your head that this is only for warm up or such.

get the right part, they can be found, ebay, here , craigs list the samba,ever just get the right part and do it smart, not cheapo (if you do, you'll pay and pay later).

would you run your Ford, Toyota, GM, or Honda with the WRONG thermostat? would you remove the thermostat? I would think not (no sane mechanic would) why put a hotter running thermostat that you found in you car? why would you want to risk runing too hot to save $50-$100????

get the right part, and remember the thermostat is NOT ONLY FOR WARM UP