What is best thermostat brand ?

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I recently installed a Motorrad in my Corolla; it also is much beefier then the Stant superstate I pulled out. Plus the Motorrad has the jiggle pin.

However, it does seem to be overcooling a bit. On long downhill stretches, the temp gauge is dropping a bit.
 
Porcupine73,

Your photo speaks volumes; so I drove downtown to our Subaru dealer for a thermostat for my 2001 Outback 2.5. OUCH-----$42.23 before tax, at some point quality is just too expensive. Hope this one lasts the life of the car as it has 133k.
 
Originally Posted By: MetalSlug
it been few day, since I change the thermostat and completely forgot about this topic lol. See some pix above , that big different from some OEM to aftermarket thermostat. Im running 160 autozone duralast ( motorad brand made from germany ), im happy with this. Look quality.


I know you are not on here much anymore, but in case you come back;

You cannot go wrong with the Moto-Rads for LT1/LS1 f-bodies!!
It's the ONLY brand I would use for our cars, and it is the brand which is actually IN the boxes labelled "HyperTech"/"Evans", and "SLP", but you did not pay the extra premium ($$) for those boxes, so you made out VERY well!!
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Motorad's are really good..

I have a robertshaw in my Ranger, it's been in there since 1998.
Got it at autozone of all places.
then autozone switched to the motorad failsafe, which personally is a great idea but it just didn't seem like a highly functional stat.. jmho

kragen's was selling robertshaw's under the Prestone name, I never got a chance to get a couple more.. they now have Gates, which I'm 100% fine with, they're Stants anyway.
 
Really, the only time I replaced a t-stat was for PM, not because of failure. But, when I have replace a thermostat, I have used both Robertshaw and SuperSTAT and both were identical to the OE that I replaced.
 
I've had a standard 2 1/8" Motorad in my LA318 for 13 months now. The jiggle valve made filling and burping the system a non issue compared to the Superstant, and it warms up at the same rate as the Superstants I always used previously.

The first time it opens, the temp gauge seems to rise a little higher before before falling quickly back to the expected reading.

Since I can drive with the engine cover off, and do so on occasion, I can feel the heat from the radiator, and know when the t stat opens and closes. This behavior seems to have changed with the motorad, as sometimes I get blasted with engine heat, then it abruptly stops for a while, then blasts the heat again. I remember the Superstant was more of a constant heat rather than an on and off thing, but memory is becoming more fickle as I age. I'd also gone from a brass/copper double 5/8" row radiator to a single 1 1/4" single row all aluminum radiator so a true comparison is not possible.
 
OEM chrysler out of the 03 T&C we just picked up was no better made than a stant. in fact, its failure was one of the legs on it snapped from the spring tension, warping the whole unit and allowing constant flow. rockauto sold me an ac delco for $5 and it went right in.

Someone above mentioned fluctuation--- I had that with a stant. Upgraded to a superstant and it was more constant.

I have done a couple of subaru t-stats... YES the oems always look beefier than aftermarket, BUT the 2 I've changed failed young at ~60k, and they failed CLOSED. I slapped a S-stant (i *think* it was an s-stant) in one of them (this is years ago, a 88 GL) and my buddy drove that car, leaking like a sieve, until maybe 6 years ago (he's in the navy). the stant lasted another 140k miles and 15 years.

That said, i think the plain stants are hit-and-miss off the shelf. Put one in a buddy's 1500 and returned it, and it's replacement, before going to NAPA (looked like a superstant) and got it right.

M
 
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Had a check engine light on my 2006 Explorer. Autozone said it was a low operating temperature. The temp gauge was running at about 1/3 to halfway. When warmed up it had been running at the exact halfway mark since I bought it new. Bought the Autozone Duralast replacement. I put it in with a new gasket/ o-ring and the old one looked very similar to the new. Now it's back to it's halfway mark on the temp gauge. We'll see which one lasts longer.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
OEM and Failsafe if it's an option and not the default.



I had an annoying experience with the failsafe on my 96 4.0 Explorer. When I parked it at work, the failsafe opened far enough to lock open (designed that way). On the way home I had no heat, so I had to do the whole job again and buy another thermostat without the locking feature.

OEM is the best, the aftermarkets tend to cycle while driving: open close open close,
 
^^I meant the open/closed cycle on aftermarket produces big swings on my temp gauage, it goes higher than half, then down to 1/4, and repeats
 
^ Sounds like you've been getting bad ones, or need to drill a small hole in the t-stat to keep flow past the pellet more consistent. I've currently got a Stant superstat in the Jeep, and the gauge is solid and consistent once it's up to temp.
 
Originally Posted By: EricJRoy
^^I meant the open/closed cycle on aftermarket produces big swings on my temp gauage, it goes higher than half, then down to 1/4, and repeats


I have driven my 4.0 Explorer over 100 miles with it's new Duralast thermostat. Stays right at half way when warmed up. No up and down swings. Just as important no check engine light.
 
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Originally Posted By: Billed
Porcupine73,

Your photo speaks volumes; so I drove downtown to our Subaru dealer for a thermostat for my 2001 Outback 2.5. OUCH-----$42.23 before tax, at some point quality is just too expensive. Hope this one lasts the life of the car as it has 133k.


Hi Billed. I get the genuine Subaru thermostats online for about $20. Usually dealers will gouge you on walk-in sales.
 
My failsafe from Autozone is still going strong. It has been almost 3 yrs and 100K miles later since I installed it back in 12/30/2008. I still wished I had bought the OEM simply because the price of the OEM and Failsafe are similar in price. Couldn't wait for the dealership to order me one or wait for an online vendor to send me one. Needed it pronto!
 
Robertshaw USED to be the best, far and away. Robertshaw isn't a company anymore, and the design went to Mr. Gasket they still produce the Robertshaw design. But not the implementation, unfortunately. The last one I bought was so flimsy that I didn't even install it. I try to always go with Stant now.
 
Either OEM or Stant. My LS400 OEM thermostat lasted almost 200k miles, the replacement Stant is in the engine for more than 70-80k miles and still going strong.

Other cars have original thermostat.
 
Just replaced the original T-stat in a friends '95 Olds Cutlass w/3.1 engine, 245,000 miles, coolant flushed every 36,000 miles, failed open. I wanted an AC-Delco replacement but the $25+ tax dealer price was too much.

Went with the Super-Stant, $10.99 at AAP. Made in U.S.A. very similar build to the original, 500 miles later working just fine. I've had good luck with Super-Stats on GM vehicles in the past as well.

Also, if the Stant T-stat ever fails prematurely my local Advance Auto will exchange or refund no (or minimal) questions asked. Good luck trying to get the dealer to take back a used part.

Delco:

http://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-131-124-Thermostat/dp/compatibility-chart/B000C9C00W



Stant:

http://www.amazon.com/Stant-45899-SuperStat-Thermostat-Fahrenheit/dp/B000C80AH8
 
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