195* T-stat

Thermostat 195

Been searching the tech sections and I'm just not liking what I'm finding or not finding over there.

Quick background.

This is the girlfriends Jeep. We took her jeep one night to go eat and I noticed after 5 min of driving it wasn’t getting warm. That’s when she informed me that it’s been doing that for some time now. We get home I check the fluid level and ended up poring all but a few drops of a full bottle into the radiator. Ok took it out for a test drive and bam Heat again. I watched it for about 2 weeks and she said the heat was working good again and it wasn’t leaking at all.
Well on the way to work the jeep buzzer went off and the temp spiked on the guage. Smart girl she pulled over right away and turned it off. She let it just steam there for a bit and called me. I went and picked her up. The cap was loose and spinning and fluid was all over the engine bay. Hoses looked fine and it was only leaking from that cap side of the radiator. Got it towed to a buddies heated insulated garage to work on it. The Jeep is a 98Xj 4.0 I-6. the stock T-stat is a 195* right well calling around I can’t find a 195. Most of the places have 180. the few 195* I found were the way cheap/generic ones ar like 2.99 or 3.99 well the stock one is around 11 bucks do I risk going with the cheap 3 dollar one or keep hunting down the good 195. Or just toss in the 180. What kind of results to guys in CO have with the 180.
She wants a new jeep grand Cherokee here soon, so a temp fix is ok I guess, but I don’t like doing it that way and don’t want to tear back into it for a cheap 3 dollar part that fails.
I got the flush kit going on it because the radiator has nasty crud in it as do the lines a bit.

since your likely getting rid of it soon, i'd go with a cheap 195, just make sure it works well after you install it. the 180 can reduce the heat output in the winter. i've had luck with 195 superstants and my local shop keeps em in stock. think it was like 6 bux. OEM is better... but not locally available when in a hurry.

The stock thermostat is a 195* unit.A dealer(Jeep or Chry co) should have these in stock,they have a bleed hole at the 12 o,clock position to aid in the air bleed out of the cooling system.
A generic t-stat that is 195* will work OK,but is not the best-180* may not let the engine come to proper opperating temp.Although-Jeep does have a 180* stat available for a severe duty application.
Wayne

I recently put in a Hesco high flow water pump, T-stat housing and a 195 Mr. Gasket high flow T-stat on my '01. Jeep heats up to 195 initially, but then won't even get close (on the dashboard guage, anyway). Has good heat and runs fine, but I suspect that once the Mr. Gasket T-stat (this is the second one I installed, first one did the same thing and I replaced it) opens at 195 it doesn't close until around 180 or so. Just a guess on my part, but it certainly runs cooler than it used to. We'll see if it still does in August!

If you are going to sell it soon I wouldn't worry about running a 180 T-stat. Or just go buy a Mopar replacement at the dealer.

When I say soon thats like 12 months or so. I've also thougth about keeping it as a DD to help keep the miles off my lifted XJ.

I like the bleed off hole idea on the OEM one. I think I need to just keep calling around a bit more.
Thanks for the update.

What a SOB to drain that radiator. I couldn't get my hand on the drain valve then when I did get up there, there is no way of turning it at all. I just pulled the air box and pulled off the lower radiator hose. Other than that the swap went fine. Couldn’t get the stock OEM temp 195 so I just got one from the part store then we drilled a small hole in it to bleed the air. Put it all back together added the cleaner flush stuff to the system and with in 5 min it was running warm air again and then with in 10 min the system was up to temp and running just fine. Then when it came time to flush and drain the system wow that sucked. After work I’m off to get some dry absorb and garage floor cleaner. Well that and the car wash to clean the engine off and the outside of the car. I got that old rusty antifreeze crap all over it.

since it came up in this thread, i'd love to hear suggestions from people who have drained the 97+ xj's from the actual draincock. I had the same problem with my big hands and just went for the lower radiator hose and made a HUGE mess.

on ocassion, I have used the cheap t-stat and drilled holes (3/8) at both 12 and 6 o'clock to help with air bleed. even with the OE stat I drill both holes out well.

The one I got at the dealer only ran about $5.00. It already had the correct hole and a gasket. Sometimes the dealer is the best place to get parts.

I just finished (last month) replacing my radiator, all hoses, t-stat and housing, water pump, etc. Living, as I do, in a hot climate (Austin, Tx), engine cooling is a critical thing. With my new OEM 195 t-stat the guage shows a steady 210 operating temp, which I believe is where it's supposed to be. It warms up quickly even when it's really cold outside (to me), and the heater works great. But I'm thinkin' this may be a bit warm in the summertime. So I'm gonna keep an eye on it and see what happens then. If it wants to run hotter, I may go with a 180 t-stat then. Since my fan clutch is recent, my fans are working properly, and the engine itself is otherwise operating normally, it should be okay, but I don't like the idea of it running any hotter than 210. That just seems too hot to me. So we'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm fixing to start on my rear disk conversion. Oh, fun.

i only use 1/16" holes....

cklaus said:

since it came up in this thread, i'd love to hear suggestions from people who have drained the 97+ xj's from the actual draincock. I had the same problem with my big hands and just went for the lower radiator hose and made a HUGE mess.

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On the wifes, 98 I used a hole saw to cut a portion of the plastic from under the headlight ,next to the petcock.
Wayne

sflier said:

The one I got at the dealer only ran about $5.00. It already had the correct hole and a gasket. Sometimes the dealer is the best place to get parts.

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It might have been, and that was the way I wanted to go, but when I pulled up to the jeep dealership it said KIA on the front and I forgot they moved outside of town like 25 to 30 min away and I didn't have that time to spare to get this fixed flushed and drained and refilled that night. I'm going to pick one up at the dealer for a spare for my 01 or hers if it acts up again.


As for drilling holes top and bottom I'm not sure about that part. the reason the hole is on the top is to blead out the air. that ball barring sits in the copper section when air is up there then if fluid hits it it seals up against the head part of it.

Wayne Sihler said:

On the wifes, 98 I used a hole saw to cut a portion of the plastic from under the headlight ,next to the petcock.
Wayne

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I was thinking if I can get to it later on putting an extedned drain plug hose down a bit further. Then again we might not have this much longer, but I could do it for mine.

You also said the cap was loose, thats all it take to over heat it.

I just find it easier to pull the grille to reach the petcock. It also gives you a chance to clean out any debris and inspect the radiator and ac condenser.

dizzymac said:

I just find it easier to pull the grille to reach the petcock. It also gives you a chance to clean out any debris and inspect the radiator and ac condenser.

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Didn't look like you could get to it that way so I didn't try. I thought about it, but ended up going a different direction.