93 Accord SE Thermostat

In general, the hotter the better. Fuel efficiency and even engine cooling benefit from a hotter thermostat.

The big limitation is usually whether the engine "pings" (detonates) under load with the gas you use. For that reason the 192 might be a bit aggressive and I'd go with the 180. 170s are mostly sold to people who are having overheating problems and think (incorrectly) a cooler thermostat will help.

My experience with a thermostat that jammed suggests they probably open very little in normal use. The car was a 1970 Volvo; I had to use the choke in the winter even when it should have been warmed up. Turned out the thermostat was jammed open about 1 mm and would not budge in boiling water. (Say - did you know some wives get mad when you use their cooking pans to test thermostats? Strange but true!)

Mike

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Bad news. Aside from running an engine without any oil in it, the next worst thing you can do to a Honda is running it without a thermostat. If you still have a chance to return it, you should.

'Curly'

"Glenn" wrote in news:bOF4h.4437$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Your car takes a thermostat that *begins* to open at 170F (78C) and is *fully* open at 190F (90C).

Such a thermostat will have "78º C" written on it.

Buy a dealer thermostat. For $30 it isn't worth the hassles of running inot a poor-quality aftermarket unit.

"Glenn" wrote in news:bOF4h.4437$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Somebody took it out because he was having overheating problems! Put a dealer 'stat back in and watch that gauge!

Luckily, most overheating problems are easily solved (and maybe expensive).

Previous owner replaced head gasket a while back. Probably took out thermostat in a vain attempt to fix the overheating problem.

Thanks for the help. BTW, the dealer t-stat was $16. Only a couple more than the AutoZone one.