Thermostsat out ads power

[TampaDriver]

I was driving without the thermostat for a while and the engine gained power. It picked up faster and would fly after 5000 rpm.I just put it back on yesterday and the differnce is obvius. I don't know why but the only thing I can think of is that it puts less pressure on the water pump which then puts less pressure on the pulley. (like the AC thing). What do you think?

[TampaDriver]

The only thing is that I don't how good it is for the engine....

[TrunkMonkey]

What do you think?

i think it's all in your head.

[MasterMan]

i read a thing once that said if your ECU thinks your engen is cold then it will deliver more gas to the engen (to speed up the warm up process) so if this is true then maby it would make u go faster by making the air/fule mix richer? i dunno just a wild guess

[240dreamer]

Masterman is right, the cooler the Ecu thinks the engine is, the more fuel that is delivered into the combustion chamber. but if it thinks the engine is too cold it will deliver too much fuel and you'll actually run colder than what is efficient. It's a vicious cycle.

[TrunkMonkey]

keep in mind, engines do not perform up to normal standards when they're cold. even though the ecu is forcing more fuel, any power increase is negated by the cold running engine.

removing the thermostat won't increase power, it'll just take longer for your engine to warm up.

if you noticed that much of an increase just by removing the thermostat, there might be something wrong.

did you put in a new thermostat, or did you reuse the old one?

[Import Fanatix]

when the thermostat is out, the engine is in fact running cooler and the car faster. the thermostat regulates the heat that the engines reaches, and once it reaches that temp then it allows coolant into the engine. and if the coolant/water is flowing always, then the engine is cooler. The cooler it runs the denser the air is thus faster.

Isn't always better to run a cooler engine if possible? I thought it was.

but without the thermostat in the winter, you'll get no heat because the engine is not hot enough. just my $0.02

[TrunkMonkey]

you guys are going to make me do a bunch of typing aren't you?

oh well...

on older cars you can get away with removing the thermostat, but since the introduction of efi and emission controls, you'd be doing more harm than good.

when you first start your car the thermostat is closed, preventing coolant from flowing through the engine. the ecu senses this and does whatever it takes to heat up the engine (i.e. more fuel, higher idle (more air), increases spark, etc...). when the engine reaches a certain temperature it pops open the thermostat allowing the colder coolant in. the coolant robs any excess heat (the coolant is heated up) from the cylinder head and engine block, flows back through the radiator where it is cooled by fans and/or incoming outside air. once the ecu senses the engine is at operating temperature it changes everthing to normal operation (fuel, idle, etc...).

on almost all cars built within the past 2 decades or so, emission controls are affected by engine temperature. if the engine isn't at normal operating temperature, the ecu goes into a type of limp mode. the surging, stalling, poor driveability you get when you try to drive when the engine is cold (ESPECIALLY on the cooler/cold fall/winter months) is the result of this. if you remove the thermostat your car will take longer to warm up, therefore your ecu will stay in limp mode longer.

now that the elementary stuff is out of the way...

with or without the thermostat, once your engine reaches normal operating temperature (this should only take a few minutes depending on the weather), the ecu puts everything into normal operation. in the hotter summer months, depending on where you live, you might not need to warm up your engine for several days at a time. so, where's the power gain?

like i said before, if your car runs faster without the thermostat then something is wrong.

[TampaDriver]

The part you forogot is that the main function of the thermostat is help worm the engine when it is cold. Once the engine worms up, it has no function because it is wide open just as if it wasn't there. The only bad part to it is the initial worm-up of the engine tkes longer. And the power gaine is not from the extra fuel in the intake because it is the same power gaine after the engine is wormed up. The extra fuel is injected only at the beggining untill it worms up. Also the engine is not runing colder because it shows the same temp as with the thermostat. It might be cooled faster but it is not running colder.

I don't think it is a good idea if you live in a colder climate but in Florida it almost makes no diference with or whithout it.

The point is that there was a gain in power and it is from taking the thermostat out.(that is the only work I did on it to notice the difference.) How that works, I'm not quit sure...

[TampaDriver]

Your point, Import Fanatix, makes sence. I think the cooler the engine runs the better it is for the engine. The thing is that the thermostat opens when temperature reaches 176 deg (more or less). That temperature is the temperature the engine runs at normal conditions. Without the thermostat the water flows faster and cools the engine faster but does not cool it less than that temp except if it is majorly cold outside which is not the case for me.

[90240sx]

The part you forogot is that the main function of the thermostat is help worm the engine when it is cold. Once the engine worms up, it has no function because it is wide open just as if it wasn't there. The only bad part to it is the initial worm-up of the engine tkes longer. And the power gaine is not from the extra fuel in the intake because it is the same power gaine after the engine is wormed up. The extra fuel is injected only at the beggining untill it worms up. Also the engine is not runing colder because it shows the same temp as with the thermostat. It might be cooled faster but it is not running colder.

I don't think it is a good idea if you live in a colder climate but in Florida it almost makes no diference with or whithout it.

The point is that there was a gain in power and it is from taking the thermostat out.(that is the only work I did on it to notice the difference.) How that works, I'm not quit sure...

yeah, i don't know either, but how many times did you just misspell the word "warms"?:D

[TampaDriver]

What difference does it make smart guy, you get the point!!

[Stoneage_Turbo]

thermostats do not go all the way open , your flowing a much greater ammount of coolant thru the thermo neck now without the thermostat , and probably not makeing good pressure thru the "water" pump , the waterpump can now spin freeer as there is nothing for it to build up psi aganst (might make 1 flywheel hp more)..The "water" is now flowing as fast as it can thru the cooling system , a open thermostat acts as a resrtiction in the line .

get a new one and try to open it (you can push it open) and note how it opens up , comapre that to that wideopen space in the houseing....just so i make more sense here

also since the coolant is now flowing faster thru the cooling system it does not have ample time for it to cool in the radiator so once it begins to overheat it will climb very very fast.

best bet is to run a 185-195 degree "failsafe" thermostat ,when these little guys fail they fail open so you dont cook your stuff .

not trying to be a **** here , but i figured ya might wanna know bout this

what part of tampa you live in ? , ill be back in that area in 6 months would be nice to know where all the nissan folks are ......

[Jubs180]

my car kept over heating

http://www.nissaninfiniticlub....=2209

if you read that.. after it was all said and done, I took the thermosdat out to see if that was the problem..and it was.the cheap a** autozone thermosdat sucks, and costs all of 2 dollars less than an OEM nissan one.

my car no longer over heats...BUT..it definitely is NOT running cool without the thermosdat.

it is running a bit over half temp on the gauge.tomorrow I am going to the nissan dealer to pick up a thermosdat to put in there, while I am at it I am going to flush the system AGAIN.

i'll post how it turns out and if that was all the problems there was with the cooling system.hopefully it is..

and for the record I noticed zero performance increase without the thermosdat.

-Dan

[Stoneage_Turbo]

"my car no longer over heats...BUT..it definitely is NOT running cool without the thermosdat."

coolant not in radiator long enough , once you get the new thermo in and new coolant youll be pleasntly surprised , might spring a extra 15 bucks and get the soultion that lowers the temp 7 degrees , lubercates tuff beatter more than anything , id also run distlled water in it , tap is just adding stuff to the situation

ill shut up now

[GodDrivesA240sx]

my car kept over heating

http://www.nissaninfiniticlub....=2209

if you read that.. after it was all said and done, I took the thermosdat out to see if that was the problem..and it was.the cheap a** autozone thermosdat sucks, and costs all of 2 dollars less than an OEM nissan one.

-Dan

hehehe, I would have won money on that bet if someone would have joined in

:uzi AutoZone

[horsepower]

Hey your car might run coller but in the long run your hurting you motor cause it was not desined to run that cool so the carbon build up will be greater . Them poor rocker arms

[Jubs180]

point is.. without the thermosdat it does NOT run cooler.

without the thermosdat closed, the coolant has no time to be cooled by the radiator (the entire purpose of the damn thing constant flow , the air running through the fins of the radiator only can semi cool it (barely even does that)

as for me.. the OEM thermosdat is going back in ASAP, I was just experimenting to see if my thermosdat was the problem, and indeed it was.

listen to goddrivesa240, autozone sucks, don't buy their thermosdats, just goto your Nissan dealer and buy a oem one.



-Dan

[TampaDriver]

All that is said makes some sense. In my case, with the thermo. out, there was no noticable difference in the temperature except the initial worm-up. I pushed the engine to the limit while it ran great. Also, although the water does not rest enough in the radiator to cool off, it also does not spend as much time in the engine to worm up as it will if the thermo was in there. See it however you want, the point is while the thermo was off, there was a gain in power. As far as how good it is for the engine, I don't know...

[TampaDriver]

Hey, for you all that doubt what I said, I just took the thermostat out again and it made the same difference. The engine runs at the same temp. and does not overheat allthough the water does not stay long enough in the radiator. As far as power difference, there is quite a gain in the way it picks up and in the speed especially after it reaches 5300 rpm!!! The only thing is that it takes forever to warm up in the when cold...it is deffinately better though..