my car just started overheating last night. the fan is rigged up to always be on and i check it out today no leaks but when i got it to overheat today i felt the hoses and the top one is super hot and the lower hose is barely warm not even really warm. is the thermostat stuck closed or somehting?

 

you are correct. just take the damn thing out. you don't need one. i didn't have one in my prelude. and i don't have one in my crx.

 

**** i was thinking of doing that but i didnt know cause the rubber gasket thing. too late now i all ready put a new one in. coulda saved me 15 bucks.

 

its much better to have a t-stat though.... unless you dont care about your motor

 

what benefit is it to have a thermostat? just curious? and which is a good brand?

 

As long as your fans are working properly (or wired allways on) you shouln't overheat without a thermostat (allthough i think on some cars no t-stat will cause overheating i'm not sure exactly why). However without a thermostat you're engine temp will be all over the place. Most wear etc. is caused when the engine is cold and warming up, with no t-stat it takes FOREVER to warm up, and may never fully warm up. Being below normal temperature is bad for power too especially with stock ECU since it tries to protect the motor when its cold, my CRX's t-stat was stuck partially open when i got it and it ran like **** most of the time and no vtec unless i drove it for a long time so it could finally warm up. Put in a new t-stat and it was much better.

 

it seemed my car ran a lot cooler without a t-stat. i don't know if its because you have constant water through your motor or what. but it seems like you don't need it. IMO, if i was you i would take it out and get your money back.

 

dont run without one....it makes ur motor heat up to proper temp a lot faster with one and its better on the motor to run at proper temperature ....without one it will take a while to heat up and the motor wont run as efficiently cold...

 

thermostat or radiator cap. the caps rubber seal thing could be worn out and no longer pressurizing the cooling system and allowing the coolant to circulate properly. thats what was wrong with mine. new cap from honda is about 12-14.

 

after searching around the net i found that the thermostat regulates the coolant from motor to rad by closing and opening mixing the cool rad coolant to motor and hot coolant to the rad. i guess this allows cooler coolant to come trough the motor which can wick away more heat.

to me - that sounds very beneficial to the motor...