but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Thanks to the forum members for their encouragement and advice during the head gasket replacement issue. Couple of questions: I usually run a 180 thermostat but I had a new unused 4A thermostat 71C...167F that had the little hole and little plastic stopper so I installed that thinking that it would help to prevent air pockets in the cooling system. Drove a few miles and the temp gauge stayed at 160 and only went up a bit when I shut down after the drive and did not hit 180 then. I'm thinking I should put my old 180 thermostat in if it tests OK( maybe drill a small hole in it) since I believe the proper operating temp should be 180F?? The other thing is ......does it take a long time for a wrapped header to burn off coolant once it has been sprayed with coolant from a gasket malfunction...still seeing some wisps of coolant smoke when hot??? Any thoughts?
-
Hi Guest!
You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
TR2/3/3A The TR3 is up and running again....
- Thread starter karls59tr
- Start date
Share this page
mastaphixa
Jedi Trainee
Offline
Glad to hear you are up and running again. I would prefer a 180 degree Tstat in my car. 167 just seems to low to me. It's really important to get to proper temperature to get the moisture in the crankcase "boiled" off. Especially with our cars (usually) being driven infrequently. I think you will find the header wrap will burn off all the residual coolant pretty quickly. Drive it like you stole it!
Right on Karl I think the best news here is the block is ok. From what I understood you were not curtain if the block or the head was the problem with the steam coming out.
I run a 160 sleeved thermostat and like it. I have had some issues with driving in the mountains and coasting down hills because the engine gets too cool and might die. However, in traffic the engine stays cooler plus I find a cooler engine seems to idle better. I will have to check to be sure, but I think the gauge runs about 180 to 185.
steve
I run a 160 sleeved thermostat and like it. I have had some issues with driving in the mountains and coasting down hills because the engine gets too cool and might die. However, in traffic the engine stays cooler plus I find a cooler engine seems to idle better. I will have to check to be sure, but I think the gauge runs about 180 to 185.
steve
I just installed my 180 thermostat that I originally had in there after it checked out for opening at the right time. This is not the sleeved thermostat but the modern version. Odd that the 167F one that I tried seemed to keep the gauge at 160 and the gauge never reached 180 on the drive I took?
CJD
Yoda
Offline
It sounds like your temp gage is not calibrated. Nothing to worry about. Congrats on the running car! I read a study many years ago about thermostat temps. It came to the conclusion the mileage and drivability were unaffected by engine temp, but wear was reduced the hotter the engine ran.
In my experience with header wrap, you may see coolant boiling off for several more drives, and you may smell coolant for a dozen more drives. Fluids can soak so incredibly deep into that fabric. Also, the whole purpose of the wrap is to keep the heat inside -- which means the outer layers are not hot enough to burn off contaminants with any speed.
Thanks.
That's good to know. I was getting a little paranoid that the head gasket was still leaking after I changed it out.