Cooler thermostats ?

[Ron41]

Hi guys, I am thinking about getting one of those cooler thermostats [82 degrease i think]
but wonder if it would do anything bad to the motor running at lower temps than the car was designed to.
Over the last few months I have tried everything to bring the temp gauge down from the second last notch from HOT whilst driving in the suburbs, it is fine country driving [which is most what I do] sits a bit above half way mark, although it doesn't boil over, you can really smell the hot water after driving it in the city, the temp guage reading so high makes me very nervous in the big smoke, can't imaging what it will be like on the hot summer days to come.

[woteva]

What else have you tried ??
Radiator check + flush done ??

[Ron41]

New thermostat about 15 months ago.
flushed out coolant and reverse flushed radiator and bled it properly [ with heater on]
new radiator cap
new temp sensor
another coolant sensor
Radiator fins are clear & the radiator does not have any cold spots once warmed up, system is nice and green, no sign of rust.
Radiator Hoses are good.
Relays are good
new water pump about 2 years ago, no leaks there.

It can go for a few weeks and doesn't loose any coolant, then I check the reservoir and it's empty, top it off and a few weeks later it does the same thing, but radiator remains full all the time.

thanks for your reply

[BatGnat]

had similar issue with my wife's Charade, ended up being a blown head gasket.
You get it tested to see if it is the case.

[woteva]

Get the cooling system pressure tested. This will show if there is a head gasket problem.
If your cooling system is loosing pressure, the boiling point is lowered.

[Ron41]

Thanks, I will get it pressure tested and see wht gives, if that is ok, I would still like know the answer to the original question, does any one know if a cooler thermostat can do the motor any damage, running at 82 degrease instead of the normal temps ?
appreciate any advise
thanks

[Com91]

Nah worst thing that could happen is you'll be running on the choke for longer while the engine warms up slower, and if water is magically disappearing like i had on my VR i feared the worst and thought it was the head but it turned out the heater tap had a pin sized hole in it and the water would shoot out at high pressure onto the manifold and turn to steam so there was no trace could be it goo luck :P

[Ron41]

Thanks Com91, I will check the heater hoses once more as well.
thanks again

[accentstencil]

I don't think a cooler thermostat will help your engine run any cooler. Once the thermostat is open it will run as hot as it is now, it might just take a little longer to get to that point. You really need to find out what is causing it to run hot.

[immortality]

something odd going on here. does the thermofan work? normally they kick in just above the 2nd notch in the VS. do you have climate? does the thermofan come on when you turn it on?

which thermostat did you fit. it should be 195* F standard.

check the bottom radiator hose, does it have the coil inside it, if not it could collapse under the suction from the pump.

the ecotec fitted to the VS has issues with the intake gaskets and tend to leak. you may find that under normal conditions it doens't loose coolant but when it gets real hot the extra pressure in the cooling system is enough to push the coolant past the intake gaskets.

when the engine is hot, squeeze the to radiator hose and see if the system is pressuring.

either the thermostat is fualty, one of the coolant sensors is faulty or you have flow issues.

[Ron41]

Thanks immortality, no climate control, the low fan only kicks in at 2 notches from hot, if I have air con in comes on just over the half way mark.
I just took the word of the salesman at Bursons for the correct thermostat.
When engine is hot both hoses are pretty hard to sqeeze.
I have changed both temp sender & coolant sensor and no change, no codes come up for the coolant sensor either.
I asked my local mechanic to do the pressure test tommorow, so see what he comes up with.

thanks again.

[Ron41]

Well the mechanic done a pressure test this morning and found coolant comming out of the lpg converter connection, he said the clip was tight so he suspects a plastic thing inside of it is broken but can't do anything as he not licenced for gas repairs, so I hope its not a big job to fix it, I will take into town tommorow and see what the gas mech' says.

thanks to all that tried to help, much appreciated.