Originally posted by red58:
do the new[ish] engines that normally run above 212 have 212-220° thermostats? what's the highest 'stat available?
I have one small block that runs around 200 and up to 216 today and I've seen as high as maybe 224. It is supposed to have a 195 degree thermostat but I've never opened it to find out if that is what it is or not.
Today I watched both the coolant temp and oil temp carefully out of curiosity. Outdoor temps were in the 50's and 60's today. It has digital guages making them easy to read. I assume they are also accurate, but have no way of really knowing.
Oil temp rose much slower than coolant and then mostly stayed within a couple degrees of the coolant. Both rose to about 200 until we spent a few minutes stuck in traffic, and then once there was an opening I blasted it hard a little and both went up around 220.
It took oil temp much longer to come down than the coolant and that was something I had not noticed before. It has an engine oil cooler too, so this surprised me a bit.
The car is an '85 Corvette with TPI and just over 100,000 on the original motor. Near as I can tell nothing about how it runs is unusal for one of these cars. '85 is the last full year for a cast iron small block in a Corvette and aside from the TPI and maybe the cam, this motor is basically just a Chevrolet 350.
I see no problem running 200 to 220 degrees.
I have a 1-ton pickup with a 454 that I've seen run 230+ according to a stock analog guage. That one has scared me a bit and I watch it carefully, and change the oil a little more often.
