Rebuilding the engine and upgrading performance. CAI and SC pulley. More to come. Of course, I am bent on making sure this engine stays cool and clean.

This car will soon to be living in Atlanta, where it will be ran in the hot more often than not, so what is a good thermostat?

Brand and model numbers please.

Thank you!

 

I know of only two.

1) Stock thermostat / gasket. # 11537596787 = $33.00 ( gasket only come with a new thermostat )

2) M7 - 180* thermostat - M7 - $56.00 ea. Doesn't come with new gasket so if yours is old or should be replaced, would need to buy oem t-stat as well.

I've had an M7 brand for last 160K miles. Running water temps range from 179* - 181*.

When outside temps fall below 45*, I get a CEL due to car not warming up fast enough that is quickly cleared with my Scanguage II.

After installation, noticed about 1 mpg reduction since car runs frosty so uses bit more fuel.

 

I'm going to hijack the hell out of this thread now.

Can you please explain the difference in the two thermostats, and explain why a person would consider one over the other?

 

Engine runs cooler with the M7 thermostat.

Did you go to the M7 link yet ?

 

I understand that people say it runs cooler, I guess I don't understand how?
I'm not always as smart as I sometimes am. lol.

And no, I didn't go to the link. I tried, but my work internet is being a jerk this morning, won't load the M7 page.

 

I thought I heard of some people having issues in the winter time with the colder thermostats......not getting the engine temps up high enough and causing issues.

 

The colder thermostats were more trouble than they were worth. Always go with a stock temp MINI OE thermostat. The car will run fine with it, guaranteed..

Many people got constantly recurring CELs, others lost fuel economy, none saw performance gains..

 

Thanks for the verification. I'll go with the OE version. ECS has a good price on it with the seal.

 

I live in the toasty Phoenix, AZ and I'll be replacing mine within a few months as well. Would I be okay with the 180 degree thermostat? Those temps look amazing. :D

 

Stock temp.

There is nothing to gain with a lower temp thermostat, the CEL you get as well as never really entering closed loop fueling to net fuel economy is a turn off in and of itself.

 

Here is a cheap one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Engine-Coola...xXZYdB&vxp=mtr

 

I've always been intrigued by the colder thermostat but I've heard too many reports of problems with it to do it. I've also read that if you're tracking the car, or running it really hard, there's no real reduction in engine or engine bay temps because the system only has so much heat dissipation capability. But I'm intrigued that it has worked well for you Gray_raven, it kind of makes me reconsider it, especially since I just moved from Colorado to Texas and I think this place is closer to the sun.

 

Totally agree. Don't mind bad gas mileage, haha (already running VGS mod so my mileage is ~20 on a good day).

Plus, then I'd have a good excuse to get a ScanGauge

 

Napa has thermostat/gasket combo. Appeared to be identical to OEM. I also bought a Gas cap from Napa. It was an OEM part at half the cost. Maybe i got lucky, who knows.

 

Got mine from NAPA as well. Just make sure you get the updated version gasket with it. I think it's supposed to be translucent white, not beige or black. (Different kind of rubber)

 

Mine was solid white gasket

 

Why is this even a thing people consider going to the aftermarket for? You should ALWAYS get stock thermostats. If you get one to run cooler and you think that fixes something, you have a problem in your cooling system that you are just skirting by getting a cooler thermostat. They will not help a car that's running fine.