160 degree t-stat

**00ramair** · 05-13-2007, 08:29 AM

Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing well. I had a question, yesterday I had all the fluids changed in my car. Its a 99 FRC, and while it was at the shop I had the coolant flushed with a 160 degree t-stat installed. I was told that I could put in the 160 degree t-stat without a tune and it wouldn't set off a check engine light. However since I picked up the car yesterday, the engine temps are reaching levels around 250 degrees, which has never happened before. In my experience in the past the temps have always been much lower. Since this is my first vette, I was wondering if anyone else has done this and seen the same problem, or if this is normal for a corvette. Any help would be great.
Thanks

**502ci** · 05-13-2007, 08:43 AM

I've had a 160 thermostat in mine for roughly 8 years with no problem except for the fact I get a warning on the display every so often saying my coolant is low...it isn't, and I was told this could be from trapped air in the system causing it to false alarm.

I even drove it a year before changing the fan settings and still had no problem.

Your car is running way too hot, what did the shop say about the temps or have you not talked to them yet?

Something is not right, do you have fluid in your reservoir?

**00ramair** · 05-13-2007, 08:52 AM

Hey man thanks for the reply. I picked up the car yesterday, and the shop closed before I got the chance to call them back, so it looks like first thing monday morning. The coolant level in the reservor is full, but you can smell it when you turn the car off b/c its running too hot, plus the battery is draining b/c of the heat and its hard to start now. Its almost like the brand new t-stat is stuck closed or something. I don't know, but thanks for the advice, I was beginning to wonder if it was just me,,,lol

**NIKDSC5** · 05-13-2007, 03:01 PM

how do you reprogram the fans and all for the 160 stat?

**502ci** · 05-13-2007, 06:56 PM

I have the hypertech programmer, it was the only one available for the c5 way back when I got it, they have others now that are probably better.

Anyways you just plug it in to the diagnostic port below the steering wheel and follow the directions on the unit, you can change many settings if you choose.

**Larry** · 05-18-2007, 04:46 PM

If this shop doesn't work on LS1s very often then they probably didn't get your coolant system complete full. It takes knowing what you are doing to completely get all the air out. I would venture to say you are dangerously low on coolant even if the reservoir level is ok.

**00ramair** · 05-18-2007, 11:03 PM

Hey guys,
Thanks for the replies. As it turns out, it seems like there was some air traped in the system. Since the car was at the shop, I went ahead and had the the fans reprogrammed for the 160 t-stat, the car is running awesome now. Thanks again for the help.

**NIKDSC5** · 05-19-2007, 06:34 PM

so what temp do you set the fans at for the 160 stat?

**Larry** · 05-19-2007, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by NIKDSC5

so what temp do you set the fans at for the 160 stat?

No more than 20% at 192 or your fan will run even when the engine is cold. 90% by 199.

**NIKDSC5** · 05-20-2007, 02:56 AM

Originally Posted by Larry

No more than 20% at 192 or your fan will run even when the engine is cold. 90% by 199.

what exactly do you mean by 90% by 199? or 20% at 192? Im kinda lost there I thought the fans are set at one specific temp. is it 199 with the 160 t-stat?

**Danger731** · 05-20-2007, 04:03 AM

One fan turns on at a given temp then the other if it continues to get hot.

Have one set for 185 and the second at 195. You can also get a manual fan switch. Others will sure to chime in...

**Larry** · 05-20-2007, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by NIKDSC5

what exactly do you mean by 90% by 199? or 20% at 192? Im kinda lost there I thought the fans are set at one specific temp. is it 199 with the 160 t-stat?

I thought we were talking about a C6. It's different with the older Corvettes. The C6 comes on a 192 minimum and the fan speeds up from that temperature.

**mrr23** · 05-20-2007, 11:56 AM

the C6 vette fan is on a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). the fan motor is 'pulsed' with electricity to determine speed.

**405 hp** · 05-27-2007, 09:30 AM

Finish line proformance set my fans at 175 and 185

**NIKDSC5** · 06-01-2007, 05:01 AM

alright with the fan temp at 185 195 with the 160 stat. at about 90-100 deg out side cruising down the high way the temp of the car is at 180-185 so to turn the fan on at 75mph is worth less. and the temp quickly rises around town to 200's fast so the fans would be on near constantly any way basically I like low speed fan at 190 and high at 200 or maybe 195? is that about right or should I go lower? or what about this I know that stock fan setting turn off automatically at about 35 mph because again its near worthless so when I reprogram my fans to 185 and the car is 186 down the highway the fans will not be on?

**NIKDSC5** · 06-06-2007, 04:24 PM

Bump...

**I AM AN ARMY VETTE 2** · 06-10-2007, 10:59 AM

my temp goes as high as 218-223. Is this normal? Also I just installed a magna flow on the C-6. Does the computor need reflashing?

**405 hp** · 06-10-2007, 03:16 PM

Mine was running that high,I put a 160 stat in and it dropped 30 degrees.I am now running 180 all the time.If you change the stat you should reprogram your fans,mine are set at 175 and 185 as per the speed shop I deal with.