R32 Gtr Discarding Thermostat

[turbo_brian]

As the title says, I am exploring the opportunity of removing the thermostat from the engine.

Not sure if it's the reason I have had problems, but I have now had to 37+ degree days cause me issues.

1st, the heat on the car started to rise very slightly, and during turbo timing down, the radiator hose blew off. I later found that the pipe that the hose was connecting to had broken due to being too tight, and as the pressure rose, the mount let go, so technically not because of heat, but poor mechanical workmanship.

2nd, Just recently was after getting some work done on the suspension on Saturday, Car was given a bit of a thumping during the testing out, and then I drove home. It was about 38 - 39 degrees, water temp went up to around the 3/4 mark, and the engine oil temp to the halfway mark, which is as hot as it's ever been.

Drove it like a baby, got home, and there was 10 seconds timing on the auto-timer, so I let it time down while I sat with the car to watch the temps. No issues, car shut down normal, so I locked up went inside. 3 minutes later, came out, and there was steam blowing under the bonnet, coolant pouring everywhere, and after leaving it to do it's thing and cool off, found a crack in the top radiator hose, where it had split. I know engine coolant gets hotter immediately after shut-down, due to the water flow stopping, and the water just sitting on the block in a stationary position, and thus pressure in the cooling system rising.

Anyway, my old man, being from the old-school, has told me pissing off the thermostat and giving the water a chance to flow completely unrestricted is the way to go, then I wont have issues like this (although, 40-ish degree days are kinda obviously going to cause issues on cars like these). My thoughts are that pulling the thermostate out is not going to effect my running temp, and drivability during warm operation, but will take much longer for the car to actually get up to running temperature, which I guess is my concern.

I am about to do yet another re-flush of the cooling system, and put in yet another load of brand new, 'heavy duty extreame condition' coolant, but just wondering if anyone else has removed the thermostat, and what benifits or side effects have occured. If I am flushing the entire system, I rather do everything at once, so new coolant pipes all around, remove/replace the thermostat, clean and flush in 1 go, so that I am not changing coolant now, and then having to stuff around and re-bleed the system in few days if I remove the thermostat, etc.

B.

[MYRB30]

The car will need a thermostat. Yes it will run with out one. Yes you will use more fuel. Yes the coolant wont warm up properly most of the time. And on real hot days the water will circulate so quickly that it will not cool down in the radiator, and hence it will still run hot.

Get the cooling system checked out properly.

Chucking the thermostat to the chook house is for bogans

[turbo_brian]

Chucking the Thermostat was a thought, it was either chucking it, or replacing with new, which I have sitting with me already.

Do note, it has not run hot for temperatures other over 35 degrees, and usually city driving where the air is not exactly getting circulated either, so I wasn't suprised it got rather warm, it is a 20 yr old car after all.

I had the cooling system checked, holds pressure, has no leaks or rust, it's just an old car that doesn't like extremely warm temperature.

B.

[mitchy_]

no thermostat will cause hot pockets in the engine too.

did you get the radiator checked? it might be partially blocked, so it will do a good enough job on average temp days, but a hot day it cant cool enough.

[gfunkk]

+1 for dont remove thermostat

do it properly the first time and go buy an aftermarket radiator.

[cmoney]

Leave the thermostat in place, check other items like the radiator. Do you have a front mount, & more importantly how thick is it?? If its too thick you wont be getting enough airflow on hot days. The leaking coolant pipe is a give away, the only time mine ever ran hot was when it was low on coolant due to a leak i didnt find til i saw the steam. If your system is up to the task, you should be able to redline the car in the 45 degree heat of summer no problem.

Since i got my 2 leaky hoses fixed, i can boost mine to 14psi on the hottest day you can imagine with the air con going & no dramas. Didnt rev it right out cos of the a/c, but 5000rpm through 2nd & 3rd hitting the freeway it went like a dream, the temp never even rose. Did it without the a/c, same result with slightly more power due to less drag. No temperature issues what so ever.

You could even possibly get your head gasket checked. Sounds like yours is losing coolant, & if its still doing it after you fixed the hose & you cant figure out where, try this as the next option. Hopefully its not that though.

[turbo_brian]

Ok guys, to clear a few things here.

The 'leaking pipe' was a crack in the pipe, it was pissing fluid, it wasn't a matter of that pipe being there all the time and only leaking because it was hot, the pipe GAVE WAY, meaning at that point it was a sudden fail point.

As for radiator, it's already aftermarket alloy, due to a previous issue with a repairer not knowing what they where doing, and damaging the mounting point for the hose (as mentioned in the original post, this was the first point at which high temperature days caused me any sort of problem). Radiator is BRAND NEW, not 2nd hand garbage.

As for front mount, please read "stock R32 GTR", so it has the stock GTR front mount on it, it has also been removed and cleaned to remove any bugs, etc.

Head gasket is fine, never had a problem with headgasket, and coolant has never leaked or been lost anywhere (other than when the top pipe gave way and started spraying like a mofo), otherwise coolant levels have remained perfect and unchanged for months.

Hopefully with this further information it will help understand the situation more.

Cheers,

Brian.

[Godzilla32]

You can test the thermostat by heating a tin of water while submersing the thermostat in it via a piece of wire. Check what temp the thermostat fully opens. Another idea would be to fit a low temp thermostat. The cooling system on your car is very effiecent if working properly. It may be 'an old car' but technology to create a decent cooling system was available.