Lowering the Thermostat

[vrmlbasic]

On cardoman I see a lot of people putting thermostats which open at 15+ degrees lower than the stock thermostat....is there any real advantage to doing this?

Is there a real disadvantage? I can see that the coolant would be pumped through starting sooner, but that doesn't seem to be that much of a disadvantage, though I may be missing something (and that's why I'm calling out to you guys for an answer)

**Of course, most of the people doing this are putting full-trunk speaker cabinents in their rides, along with multiple amp capacitors and speakers which are so loud you can hear them with perfect clarity on the other side of an 8 lane highway......

(so I'm taking anything I see there with a jar of salt)

[maxwedge]

Stock engine? if so they run best at 195 as designed.

[vrmlbasic]

So there's no real advantage to dropping it down to 180 dF?

What would happen if you lowered the opening temp of the thermostat? (other than the engine will 'run cooler')

[maxwedge]

The engine would take longer to go to " closed loop".

[Luke.]

And as additional input, my understanding is that the PCM remains in 'open-loop', until the coolant temperature sensor (ECT) reaches, atleast, 68 degrees F, and the oxygen sensor reaches an operating temperature of 600 degrees F. Once both conditions are met, the PCM switches into 'closed-loop' fuel control operation.