Has anyone found a 180 degree themostat other than the one that M7 sells for $45?

While I have the head off of my 2006 MCS, I decided to pull the thermostat. It has a Chrysler logo on it! It got me thinking, "I bet that's the same design they've used for the last 25 years. We're talking Detroit."

I believe the Stant 13788, the same thermostat spec-ed for practically every Chrysler K-car variant from the 1980's, will work, and it's 180 degrees.

Why do you think that, you ask? Well, I looked up a replacement thermostat for the MCS on RockAuto and cross referenced it. According to RockAuto, the R53 MCS uses the same one as the Neon SRT-4. On an SRT-4 forum, lot's of folks are running the Stant 13788 or Gates or Napa equivalent.

Has anyone tried this? I can't bear to pay M7 $44 for a $5 thermostat.

 

Give it a try! Hook a scan gauge up to your car and start the engine and see what the temperatures start reading. If your sensible and careful you wont hurt the engine.

 

As long as the diameter is the same, you are good.

The fit has to be the same in the gasket or it will leak. The MINI uses a different style gasket than the SRT4, or even the old 2.2/2.5. They both use flat gaskets, not molded.

 

Nice find.

 

Yes, the 5 dollar one DOES work, but it requires modification. There is notching in the stock one that is required to fit.

Also, the 5 dollar one does not come with a gasket. The M7 unit also does not come with a gasket.

The only way to get a gasket is to purchase a new thermostat from the dealership. They do not come separately.

Also, there is a new revision to the gasket material that happened I believe in late 2006. It fixed the issue some people had with seepage.

Best option is to purchase the factory thermostat through someone like Tischer BMW and then take a dremel to the $5.00 to match them up. It is still cheaper than the M7 unit alone.

 

So whats this going to do to a Mini that sees some cold weather use? I know the ECU can toss a code but is anything else effected?

 

fuel economy could be sacrificed in certain climates. There are older threads posted with questions regarding pro's/con's of the modification.

I chose to put a brand new factory unit in while I had my head off. I probably would not see any gains on a dyno, but possibly a tad cooler running motor in daily driving.

 

Yea does not sound like something I need to do.

But props to those who found a cheaper part!

 

I was tossing codes with my M7 thermostat in cold weather.

Didnt seem to affect mileage at all.

 

While I had the head off of my car, I installed the Chrysler K-car thermostat. It did require a touch of grinding on the plastic thermostat housing and I did drill an air bleed hole. The whole deal only took a few minutes and cost $6 at Napa. I told them that I wanted a 180-degree thermostat for a 1987 Dodge Daytona 2.2L. It seems to be working just fine.

The steps are documented on my blog at: http://r53mini.blogspot.com/2009/07/...on-step-6.html

Oh, and no CELs so far.

 

Did you reuse the factory gasket?

 

Yes, I reused the gasket. The car is only 3 years old with 30k miles. The gasket was plenty thick and pliable. No issues.

 

Autozone has them for 9.99 just got one. 180F
by the way only 1 autozone had it in my entire area and only one. so you may have to have them order it, i got lucky. but yes m7 is wayyyyyyyyy marking the price up on a $5 part. autozone was smart and doubled their profit,. m7 gets way extra profit lol

 

M7 one comes with a new gasket. You cannot buy the gasket alone, and the new thermostat with gasket from MINI is $40. That alone makes it worth it.

 

Why get a 180?

Car runs rich to begin with and you want to run richer?

 

I just installed my 180 yesterday, runs perfect, seems like it may even run a little smoother on the highway. especially with ac on.



180tstat for mini before and after

Intercooler Manifold 98 70 -28
Upper Coolant Hose 190 179 -11
Supercharger at Pulley Shaft Housing 178 160 -18
Head at Thermostat 174 153 -21
Idle w/ A/C On 214 185 -29
Coolant Temperature During Hard Driving 212 180 -32

 

Yeah I know you cant buy it alone I read through tons of topics and also called motorwerks BMW. BUT everyone in previous posts said the m7 did not come with a gasket so that is great! that does make it worth while. Luckily my car only has 50k miles so my gasket was in perfect condition and was reusable. But I will probably buy the m7 to replace my gasket eventually if it is true that they have the gasket with their 180 now. that would be better than buying a stock just to replace the gasket, and then i could replace my 180 even though it wont have many miles on it haha

 

 

So you are running cooler.......what evidence do you have that the temps are actually optimum? Cooler is not always better, especially when we have an ECU like we do.

I can tell you that folks that race cars will look for water temps around 210-220 and about the same for oil temps. Why would you want to run cooler? What benefits do you think you are getting?