Why wouldn't you have a thermostat?

[Kustom]

Hey guys,

Me and silvergpx did my service today and one of the things was the thermostat, when we took the old one out.... there wasn't one, it had been "punched out" or the centre piece removed, if you know what i mean.

I thought someone would only do this if they had a blown head gasket, or having heating issues (fans not turning on / radiator failure).

I have talked to the previous owner and he knows nothing of it (he just sent it to the mechanic and they did there thing)

So brings me to the question, why would a mechanic do this?

I have replaced it with the thermostat and it isn't over heating or running any different (only thing is doesn't take so long to hit mivec).

Cheers!

[Bennoz]

Its also a 'backstreet racer' trick that doesn't actually work, in fact its quite bad for the engine, as the flow of water is uneven through the motor & you can get hot spots which can result in cracked heads etc.

[Shane001]

Yeah as Ben said it's not a good idea for modern engines, as there are 2 water circuits that it controls. If you were to do this (as I'm doing with my EWP mod ) you also need to block the bypass for the 2 water circuits to ensure full flow through the engine. Don't ask, will be in my write up once I finish lol.

With older cars that are only a single circuit (ie old holdens, fords, etc) u don't have the same problem, but there's not really any benefit, other than a quick/lazy fix if your thermostats cactus!

[Kustom]

mmm well i didn't do it as I said, i've put the new thermostat in and it's fine so yeah hope no damage was done... I was wondering why my car took extra extra long to hit mivec (like... 20mins+)

[Bennoz]

That'd be it ^

[Kustom]

Yep, just puzzles me why they did it, when I first saw it I just thought oh f**k head gasket... -.- (after Matt explaining :p)

[silverGPX]

ask em bout the fans lol

[Kustom]

Urgh, but the thing is with the fans, my car isn't getting hot (have yet to see it go above normal temp) since the service so there-for the fans shouldn't be turning on right?

[HiRAEdd]

I have replaced it with the thermostat and it isn't over heating or running any different (only thing is doesn't take so long to hit mivec).

I always wondered why it took so long. That's why I put the oil temp guage in so I could visually see when it would give me Mivec. In Winter it could take 30+ minutes!
*edit* And that was from day 1 too, so I suspect the thermostat was gone before I even bought the car.

[silverGPX]

Yeah the fans should come on if say youve been driving on the highway then youve come to a stop at a traffic light and your idling.

Can anyone test this, turn your aircon on and see if both fans turn on. Cos on stefs on the passenger side one is.

[Bennoz]

Fans should come on when the water temp reaches 86 degrees. If its not, then you need to be looking at the thermo sender unit in the block.

[silverGPX]

wouldnt the thermo sender be going straight to the in car gauge or does that one go to the ECU?
is that the one near the thermostat housing?

86 degrees how i know when its 86 degrees lol

We let his car idle for like 10minutes and the fans didnt turn on and when we turned the aircon only the fan on the passenger side turned on.

[Kustom]

wouldnt the thermo sender be going straight to the in car gauge or does that one go to the ECU?
is that the one near the thermostat housing?

86 degrees how i know when its 86 degrees lol

We let his car idle for like 10minutes and the fans didnt turn on and when we turned the aircon only the fan on the passenger side turned on.

In saying that, the car didn't get hot either so. :/

[bduffman]

fto takes forever to get hot at idle
just take it for a trashing and it will kick in when you stop ( leave key on lol )
have you checked the wiring for the fans
the 2nd fan kicks in later at a higher temp if you really want to see if its working take it for a drive and disconect the 1st fan that way the 2nd fan will kick in to keep it cool ( if it dosent work may over heat the car so dont blame me )

[spency]

park so your intake is close to another cars exhaust, shouldn't take long to heat it up and hear both fans kick in

[Shane001]

park so your intake is close to another cars exhaust, shouldn't take long to heat it up and hear both fans kick in

Probably not such a great idea! Do you really want your car breathing in exhaust fumes while it 'heats' up!

[Kustom]