I'm fairly certain Land Rover had technical reasons for specifying the thermostat they did. Why would one colder than they engineered for be better?

 

My Jag XKR has a 180Degree factory stat. or 83C which ever you prefer.

Yes cooler engines run more efficient. However to pass emissions combustions temperatures need higher temps in order to get the number they need.

The other issue is that some motor vehicle combos will see a certain amount of heat produced and there is little to NO way of reducing it unless you over engineer or speend to much money keeping it cool.

When you use a 160 stat, in a particular climate, it will always be wide open and NEVER allow the fluid to "dwell" in the radiator long enought to cool it and then you start having heat soak which will cause the system to overheat.

Our fluids have to have enough time in the heat exchangers in order for them to operate.


Example:

a 2001 Volvo XC70 turbo 5 cyl auto, had a horrible time keeping the nissin (sp?) transmission operating. The rad was small anyways way, but the tranny fluid never spent enough time in the radiator to keep it cool, fluid temps maintained a border line temp and wore those transmissions out within 100K.

The fix was to add an external tranny cooler.

The perfect way to see a car being cooled is to see water temps below stat opening temps

OR

See the coolant temp cycle........I see my coolant temp cycle on our landy with the radiator. 185-195, it fluctuates constantly in hot enviroments.

 

overcooling your engine is just as bad, though the damage becomes apparent more slowly, as undercooling/overheating it.

 

Because it's Land Rover. They also designed a non grease-able driveshaft that will blow your transmission out. They also made the heater core virtually inaccessible with out removing/cutting the dash. They most likely made the t-stat the way they did to deliver heat faster for driver comfort.

As easy as they are to work on they can be just as inconvenient to fix. Company's make stupid design decisions all the time.

 

A 180 isn't going to deliver heat substantially faster than a 160 since they both start out closed.

 

Very informative thread.

 

Thermostat I’d say depends on where u live and if you want your Heat to work. I run a 160deg in my 96 in Texas.

 

I installed this a couple months ago and all has been working fine.
Got it from Amazon for under $8.00. Make sure you order a gasket too!

Stant 45858 SuperStat Thermostat - 180 Degrees Fahrenheit

Stant 45858 SuperStat Thermostat - 180 Degrees Fahrenheit