Jspeeddemon Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 Since there are no thermostats for 2004 SS's, I did not want to run around all summer with the truck sitting at 200+, I drilled 7x 5/16 in the thermostat and it sits right on 175-180. I'll buy the 04 thermostat, but for those who need a quick fix this will work till the weather changes considerably cooler again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 not a bad idea, old trick for a new truck. now you know you've broken the rules of the board.... no pictures, where are the pictures..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSport Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 i cut part of the spring coil out of mine but i haven't tested it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspeeddemon Posted May 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 I have to apologize Zippy, it was spur of the moment and did not have digital camera available. but I assure you as intelligent as you are, this mod would be nooooo prrrrroblem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deezel Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 i cut part of the spring coil out of mine but i haven't tested it yet. Did you re-install it yet? If not, you can test it in a pot of hot water on the stove - if you have a thermometer (I use a candy thermometer). Just crank up the heat, drop in the t-stat, and watch the temp where it begins to open. My "BB modded" stat begins to open at 160 and is fully open by 185. Drilling holes will not change the temperature where the stat opens. Just allows constant flow of coolant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 I have to apologize Zippy, it was spur of the moment and did not have digital camera available. but I assure you as intelligent as you are, this mod would be nooooo prrrrroblem. i know i can handle it, but this is a board of picture hungry fanatic's. lol even if you just changed valve stems, they want pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdss Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 About how many holes did you drill in it? I was thinking about getting a new thermostat and that sounds like a pretty cool idea considering it doesnt really get all that cold here in Jacksonville, FL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirate#3 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 I did the same thing and got a check engine light two days later. Mine was running around 185 the whole time. My guess is the pcm isn't seeing that the thermostat is opening regularly and sending a code. Anyone else incur this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenKey Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 How does the PCM even know if the thermo is opening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirate#3 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 I would say that since it reads the engine temp through sensors like water temp and manages spark/air fuel accordingly it would see the enigne is running cooler and would throw a code. My guess is as good as yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirate#3 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Oh yeah. And since I have a check engine light on. What is the best way to reset the pcm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenKey Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Right, it can not see the thermo closing or opening, but can make assumption, I assume based on the temp it is reading. You need to have the code read to see what it was, first. It could be something totally different. Autozone can read and clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspeeddemon Posted May 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I have been running mine since Saturday without any codes. I definitely like the idea of my SS not cooking itself to death with that factory stat. With this mod the thermostat will never open unless the temp gets up to 195 say lugging my boat up a long hill, then it will open and maintain the normal stat temp. However it will normally stay closed and flow the coolant thru the 7 holes and with them being large enough to keep the engine at 180-185 with the air temp of 65-80, it works for me. Kind of works like a two stage thermostat if you think about it. I believe someone mentioned earlier that there is a code for vehicle not warming up quick enough, I haven't had that yet, but can see that being a problem this fall or winter. By that time someone will have a 160 for these vehicles or I'll devcon 2 or 3 of the holes closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 How does the PCM even know if the thermo is opening? the code sets for the thermostat when it takes longer than a pre-set time to achive closed loop operation with the engine under load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenKey Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 How does the PCM even know if the thermo is opening? the code sets for the thermostat when it takes longer than a pre-set time to achive closed loop operation with the engine under load. But it's all done by what is being read across the ECT sensor, nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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