i have an 88 GT and it had a 180* thermostat and since the winter came with blistering cold the car would run at 170* maximum..... it started to feel like it couldnt move its own weight.


i thought the cold air would make the car run better/faster?
i have been adjusting my timing accordingly i actually retarded it to 14* from the original 16 i had it at.

still not much of a difference..

toda i finally installed a 192* thermostat and the car runs at 190* i can feel it runs much better with the engine being hotter......


is it just me or is it true?

 

usually a car will perform better in hotter weather, but perform more efficiently in cold weather

 

I remember back in the 80's when one of the top mods was to do a colder thermostat. If your car can never get up to operating temp, it can hurt you. It puts a lot of stress on your water pump. That's one of the easiest ways to make your water pump go out, by running too cold a thermostat. 170 is probably fine for the summer, but not a cold winter.

 

Sound slike your car isn't going into closed loop. Get a hotter t-stat

 

yeah i did , i installed it yesterday before i posted this thread, what i was saying is that i got a high temp thermostat, well it says high temp but its actually the stock 192* now the car will run at about 185* while driving and i got alot of power back that i lost when winter started.


i was just curious if that was why my car ran shtty lately. apparently it is