what temp thermostat, 180, 190, or 195?

[pjtoledo]

since the thermostat is located low in the block I bought the 180. plus nobody local had the 195 in stock. its a 2005 and does not have the heater type.

most sites list 195 as OEM, but the Motorcraft RT 1194 is listed as 190 on O'reillys site. in the description it's 4L5G-8575-AE, which does not come up on the Ford parts site.


so whatcha got and how's it working for ya?

 

[Soledad]

A member on another site is running a 180* in her Duratec 2.3 and she's had no problems at all and did not see a reduction in fuel mileage. I think she has an automatic trans.

I'm running a non-electric 190* in my 2003 2.3 w/manual trans and have had zero problems. Still getting 23-24 mpg in the city.

 

[RonD]

Upper radiator hose thermostats are 190-195degF

Lower radiator hose thermostats are 180degF, 190 is OK, 2.3l Duratec uses lower rad hose thermostat

Simply the physics of warm air/water rises, and most the heat from an engine is generated in the head, so upper hose will be at 195 at the same time lower hose will be at 180, so either type of thermostas would start opening at the same time

Radiator provides about 15deg of cooling, so when thermostat opens you get the same 195 at the top and 180 at the bottom

 

[Soledad]

Ah! Thanks for that info Ron. I did not know that. This is the first engine for me where the thermostat was at the bottom of the radiator.