I hear you. I just hated my idle temps. I don't have temp spikes per se, only higher temps at idle for red lights. While moving, my temps are steady as can be at 185-195. At lights that I would normally idle up to 208, I'm now at 199-201. I'm thrilled with that. Cheers!

 

Agreed, the only part I'm not happy with is idle. Sucks to be off-roading and needing to winch and stuff while worrying about temps (even though 206 is not really anything to worry about, but it still worries me!)

 

I initially ordered the Britpart to keep in the truck as a spare. After reading about others seeing lower temps with it, I figured what the hell. I'm glad i swapped it out. The OEM will work fine as my spare and it's only a 20 minutes swap if needed. It always frustrated me to idle at 208 in summer then drop to 195 once moving. My cooling system is new, including the HD fan clutch. There was no reason for it. It would take minutes at 208 before it dropped to 203-204 and steadied out. Now it rarely breaks 201-203. As a matter of fact, at short idle periods, it now sometimes stays at 195-199.

 

Yep here in TX at idle I can hit 210F (in all 3 of my D2’s) with the HVAC on. As long as I see the temps go down once I’m moving again = not worried about it.

It’s the 215F and above along with not cooling down again = PULL OVER.

My 04 is still the coolest running of the bunch, but it’s getting annoying when it triggers a P0126 for not reaching temp quick enough lol. Gotta love SAI equipped D2’s.

 

I put a Lucky8 supplied gray 180 in last weekend and the truck runs definitely cooler. With the OE I was seeing a min of 197° and a max of 208°. Sitting idling was actually not bad, usually right around 201° and highway cruising was just over 200°. Hills would swing the temp either way but it would settle back in and cycle between 198° and 204° whenever the truck was moving. Now I see a more stable 188° most of the time and peak is 194°. I do not rev the truck over 3k however and my AC doesn't work (yet). My estimate is 12°-15° cooler overall.

 

 

I dont think I am the only one who can bleed these trucks.

There are others here who can do it just as well. They comment all the time.

I am probably more outspoken then most, actually, I'm trying to save you from wasting money.

These products that we all claim as faulty have qc. Companies dont just put out crap and expect to keep selling. Especially the ones getting the blame for faulty products.

People put in a stat, drive it for 20 minutes temps go up and they say oh poop, I must swap it and get another...and another...and another.

All I'm saying is put the damn stat in there and leave it and keep at it until it works.

A 195 stat a company makes doesnt have a major swing in temps. It's going to be close to that 195 area. It's not rocket science.

Last March I met a guy in carlisle who ran in the 210-220's. I drove 1.5 hours to buy some parts off of him and i wound up bleeding his truck which was 197 running, 206 at idle when I was done.

Theres more people here that dont bleed their truck and complain about it then those that do. I had this problem with my fiat over 20 years ago because it was the similar setup.

Every 195 stat I put in a rover runs at very close temp area when i am done. Stats are manufactured to do a job, that job , is to open and close at a certain temp.

My comment isnt necessarily against 1 stat or the other as there can be a degree or two difference between stats...and the companies give or take up or down...what I'm getting at is everyone that says the motorad is garbage or I had to return the same stat 3 times.

There can be tons of variables between stats that could change the temps WITHOUT changing the openid temp. They could still both open at exactly the same time.. just get different results.

 

I haven't had an OEM 180 fail at all. I've just had 3 that did not produce the temps they should have. I drove with them in my truck for months on end. They were all bled properly. Idle temps shot up quickly to 208, even 210. The temps dropped quickly once moving. It's like they needed greater rpm/flow to open fully. This Britpart stat will idle at 197-201 under the same conditions. This might be contributed to the two large metering holes versus four small. More hot coolant might be flowing to the bypass at idle, fully opening the stat faster, and keeping it open. Don't know. I just know I've had much better results with the Britpart. Carlisle? You are in PA?

 

A 180F thermostat vs 195F does really just one thing. It opens sooner allowing the engine to not get as hot upon startup, however if you sit in traffic long enough, climb a mountain pass, drive fully loaded down, or pull something eventually the temps will rise. The 180F isn’t ever going to prevent that. It just sets you up at a lower temp starting point.

180F’s will give you a wider temp range say 184-215F vs a 195F thermostat that might get you 193-215F as the normal range.

I’ve got 3 D2’s I drive and they all act the same with 180F thermostats, which is upon driving say normal 45-55MPH range it’s 188-193F with the HVAC on, speed up to 75MPH and temps can climb up to 206F upon entering the freeway, but it’ll creep down to the 198/200F range and if the load on the engine doesn’t change it will eventually creep down to 188/193F, but any change in speed = change in temp.

I’ve bought D2’s that ran great & upon driving them home I reached 215-229F and I noticed no peformance issues or longterm issues. Yes it’s more stress on the engine/cooling system, and a 180F thermostat is a no brainer, but 215F is not going to kill your D2.

Heck I just worked on an 04 D2 that had a lot of engine work done, it ran great and didn’t leak a drop of coolant. I grabbed my test equipment and was shocked when it was idling at 229F. I swapped out the 195F for a britpart 180F and I got his idle temp from 229F to 210F. He called a week later and said his CEL came one. I had him stop in with it & P0126 was his fault code. I have that pop up on my 04 as well and it’s from the ECU not reading the coolant getting up to temp quickly enough. So when you reward yourself with a cooler engine the LR God’s will find a way to still upset ya lol.