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No thermostat in 96 Subaru Outback Wagon

I have had overheating problems with my 96 Subaru Outback Wagon with

178,000 miles. When the radiator was changed and unbeknowst to me the thermostat was not installed. Note that I had added "Water-Wetter" and Subaru's radiator conditioner to the radiator. It has been running well, with the temp gauge at the 8:30 position. At time it does go up to the 11:00 position, but after a few moments, it will drop down back to the 8:30 position. Thinking that there was a thermostat I decided to have it changed before the winter. The new thermostat was in fact, a Subaru OE theromstat. After its installation, the car overheated within a few blocks of leaving the mechanic's shop. I brought it back to the mechanic, was then told there was no thermostat to begin with, and had it removed. New anti-freeze/coolant and new "Water-Wetter" was added and it's running as it was before it was brought to the mechanic. My concern is, what can I expect with the car running without a thermostat into the winter? Thanks
Reply to
rajp
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One more thing about this. It is a second car and not used everyday. It is only used to haul things. A "station car" if you will.

Reply to
rajp

Running without the thermostat greatly worsens fuel mileage and emissions, and greatly accelerates oil contamination and resultant engine wear. And the heater and defogger are much slower to warm up. Nothing good comes of it, despite baseless old myths to the contrary. It really is there for several very good reasons. A properly-rated thermostat needs to be installed. If the car doesn't work correctly with the correct thermostat installed, the problem needs to be found and fixed.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Something is broken or it would run properly.

You could easily be looking at replacing the engine if you don't address the overheating cause.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

rajp wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Doesn't lack of a thermostat also drop the engine control system to "open loop" as it runs too cool?

Reply to
Hugo Schmeisser

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