The brothers took a call today which made reference to an old time practice of changing to hot/cold thermostats for summer/winter. For the life of me I can’t remember the supposed theory behind why we did this. Was it just to look busy? Bob0046

Not everyone changed thermostats with the seasons. This practice, along with blocking the radiator in winter, has, thankfully, gone away.

In the old days, many of us filled the radiator with water in the summertime. At 180 (or 195) degrees, the water is well on its way to boiling. Therefore, we would put in a 160 degree thermostat. In fact, some people ran their vehicles without a thermostat. There also was a non-permanent antifre…

Well, I think cars used to have a lot more trouble controlling engine temperature. Not all cars, but cooling system technology -while fundamentally similar- has changed a lot in the last 30 years. Simple radiator design has improved greatly. So if you have a car that overheats in the summer with …

160 in the summer to limit boil-overs. 180 in the winter to make the heater work better.

I believe one reason for the cooler summer thermostat was to keep the oil cool during the summer months. Oils of that era couldn’t tolerate hot engine temps like today’s oils can. Another reason for the cooler summer stat was to keep the alcohol-based antifreezes from boiling (and being driven out…

I don’t know of anyone ever CHANGING the thermostat…But I know a lot of people who use to REMOVE the thermostat during the summer. Run straight water and just keep it circulating.

I’d be surprised if blocking the radiator has gone away in North Dakota. When I lived there I discovered that it was simply impossible for the engine to warm with even a small amount of bypassage past the T-stat unless the radiator was blocked. The only change to cooling systems since those days is …

Oh, and (in better explaining) blocking the radiator blocked the cold air from passing through the radiator and from passing by the engine dissipating heat, thereby helping the engine warm up. At -20 degrees ambient, it’s needed.

Why did we change thermostats for summer/winter?

Driving/Drivers

cappy208 September 23, 2007, 11:43pm 2

maybe because back in the “OLD” days the radiators weren’t as good as they are now. and probably the whole cooling systems weren’t as good either.

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Why did we change thermostats for summer/winter?

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