'79 Thermostat

I helped my son replace the thermostat in his Mustang today, assuming that his 'no heat' problem was typical. We bought a 'stat from Autozone that claimed to be original equipment.

The first thing we did when we got home was drop the "bad" 'stat in a pot of water with the good one, and fire up the stove. They both opened up at about 190-200, but the new one opened up a lot farther.

I'm thinking that's too high...any idea what the temp of the 171ci (2.8) 6-cyl engine is supposd to be?

-John O

Reply to
JohnO
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195

Al

Reply to
Big Al

Thanks, Al. The son reports that the heat now works well enough.

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

Judging from what you say, and what you saw and making some suppositions, the problem wasnt the stat at all... but probably low coolant level. A typical problem. What you SHOULD have looked for is that it fully closed

OPENING temp of the thermostat has little to do with heater; except the lower the stat temp, the lower the air temp from heater.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Ya know, you're probably right. Oh well. :-) Fortunately we didn't spend a lot on this, and the kid gets some experience and a fresh load of coolant.

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

"JohnO" wrote in news:1167519651.940051.43690 @i12g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

That was the whole problem. The 2.8 thermostat does double duty by closing off the heater bypass when fully open. Only partially open meant that the bypass was still open.

Reply to
elaich

Hey! All things considered, I like your answer better than BM's...but only because it means there really was a mechanical problem and not a maintenance problem. :-)

But either way...

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

Backyard Mechanic wrote in news:Xns98ABA9905E950pettyfogery@207.115.17.102:

EXCEPT on the 2.8, where the thermostat also closes off the heater bypass when it is open.

Reply to
elaich

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