Can i take out the thermostat and jus let my coolant cycle freely?

Will this cause any problems beside the fact that i won't get any heat to blow in the interior?

Thx in advance!

 

your car will overheat and die....but sure you could do it for a while

 

Haha... can't stop laughing, but all joking aside...

Wouldn't it be logical to say that if the coolant cycles all the time, it would keep the engine cooler by always having liquid flowing?!

Forgive my lack of auto knowledge...

 

Your car would not necessarily overheat since the fluid would be constantly flowing through the coolant system. It would however take longer to warm up and during long periods without a break it could overheat, but yes you can run a car without a thermostat in it.

 

Can someone explain this to me?... i know the thermostat closes on a cold start to let the engine warm up to stop engine wear, deposits, emmissions, etc... but what will cause it to overheat in the long run without a thermostat?

Is it the fact that the engine will soon heat up all the coolant?


[Modified by dclub01, 5:29 PM 3/31/2003]

 

Dude your thermostat opens when the motor gets to a certain temp and lets the fluid flow through the motor and when it cools enough it closes therefor giving the fluid a chance to cool in the radiator. So if it never gets time to cool in the radiator then it is constantly being reheated and if there is not sufficient cooling done by the radiator then the fluid and motor will overheat. Does that answer your ques? If i were you i would put in a thermostat because they are not expensive and they are good for your motor.

 

Thx for the help everyone, forgive my rudundancy and lack of being smart...

Was gonna change my thermostat anyways, jus wanted a little advice and education on the subject!

THANKS FOR HELPING!

 

Your engine will be no more prone to overheating without a thermostat. Under normal conditions, once the thermostat opens, it pretty much stays open until you shut the engine down and everything cools off. It does not "open and close" to allow a batch of coolant through, cool it off, then let it back into the engine (the thermostat is just downstream of the engine, not the radiator). So you can drive without it but, as stated earlier, your car will take forever to warm up if it's cold outside

 

So then i can drive without a thermostat... and jus let the coolant cycle forever, and yes it will take longer to heat up on cold days... i was only questioning immediate damage.

As far as the radiator not cooling the coolant fast enough, hence causing overheating... this can and will happen right?

I guess there's only 1 way to find out!


[Modified by dclub01, 7:15 PM 3/31/2003]

 

is there a reason you want to drive w/o one? Or is it just to see what happens

 

You read my post wrong. The thermostat is designed to open whenever it reaches a certain temp and let coolant flow, but if the motor is cooled enough then it can close in turn letting letting the coolant cool.

 

when i had my first lude i had really bad issues with it a bunch of electrical and cooling, and the funny thing is when i got everything sorted out, a year later down the road and i had let a friend drive the car and he pushed the happy button one too many damn times, well needless to say i was swapping my motor out and realized that the last time i had issues with it i forgot to put my thermostat in and that was a year back, I never did mind why it took so long to get to operating temp and when it did it never ever got to the original point like it did before, but the car ran fine, till i let some fool drive it with my nitrous bottle emptying out for a good 30 minutes, oh well such is the crap we have to deal with when we have idiot friends

 

Gotcha, and understand what you meant now.

 

So the ultimate verdict is that u can drive without one, it will jus take long to heat up the car... gotcha...

 

Jesus man just buy a thermostat and if you are wanting it to warn up longer then buy a low temp thermostat (they make those you know) and put it in but don't run without one.

 

You <U>do not</U> need a thermostat, but yes it will take longer to warm up without one.

 

But since there is no need to no have one then why should he not put one in. It is supposed to be there so I say put a new one in and be done with it, but that is just my opinion.

 

You can drive it without one but I would recommend using one. On a cooler day your engine may not come up to operating temp. Your oil will not be at the proper temperature and limit lubrication qualities. Honda determined through R&D that the engine will operate best at a certain temp and you should take advantage of that...

 

Here's another vote in the "Don't run without a thermostat" pool. The fast idle when the car is cold is specifically done to get the engine up to operating temperature quicker. Running without a thermostat will mean that it takes longer to get to operating temp. You know how people say not to run the car hard when it's just been turned on and cold? Imagine the wear it'll cause running the car for extra long periods of time when the engine is cold because your coolant is running through the entire system.

 

This thread was not about whether or not to buy a thermostat... it was basically jus to educate me on the pros and cons of the possibility of driving without one...

My logic came from the idea that if u wanted to cool down the engine, then let coolant cycle forever. I didn't realize the importance of "proper engine temperature" to perform properly.

Forgive me if i have stirred up anything, that's y i love this forum, many people with technical ideas to share...

At under $20 a piece, y wouldn't i jus get a new one?! Haha... thx for the education guys!

 

FWIW, since you're looking for edudification...
Some cars NEED the thermostat to be in place, because when its missing, the balance between flows thru the head, block, heater, radiator, etc... are messed up. My former '89 Saab was like that, I'm not really sure about Hondas. If you left the thermostat out, you get too much flow thru the heater bypass & through the radiator, but not enough flow thru the head - or something like that. They're not always as simple as a '63 ford with only 2 hoses in sight...

 

Haha... quite a stir i created here... as a conclusion to this thread i will be keeping the thermostat in the car as it should be anyways... if it didn't need to be there, y would it be there to begin with eh?

 

Well you can drive with a thermostat, you will still get heat just not as fast. And in regards to it causing it to overheat, IT WILL NOT CAUSE IT TO OVERHEAT. A thermostat rated at 180 will open fully by about 195, it will then stay open until the temperature drops to 180. Idk about your Honda but my car runs at 200 constant. So how would the thermostat ever close until the engine is off, unless it cooled the temp to 180? The only reason it's there is so your engine doesn't take as long to heat up because driving a cold engine is hard on it. Optimal engine temperature is 190-210

 

Way to bump a 14 year old thread that had already been answered........ Welcome to Honda Tech!

 

Still,it was mostly bullshit in this thread.

A thermostat can open and close at different times. It does not simply open wide at a certain temperature,the amount the Tstat opens varies wildly with temperature. Coolant temp is extremely dynamic through out the engine, and the tstats job is to maintain optimal operating temp.

An engine that is too cold will suffer from poor oil flow and poor fuel atomization. We allknow what happens to one running too hot.


Second,it is entirely possible for a vehicle to overheat with out a thermostat. Typically during days with really high ambient temps. With out controlled flow, the coolant will be unable to properly achieve heat transfer.