Reply to "Radiator thermostats"

With some difficulty I got this information off the thermal switches in my radiator tanks and also confirmed they are plumbed as stock, hot coolant entering the lower tank.

First, the thermal switches are both the same, top and bottom tanks. They've got brass hex bodies, 1-1/8" across the flats, (a 1-1/8" wrench is almost a perfect fit) with a light grey insulating material supporting the spade terminals. They're marked "BEHR" and "Made in Germany" on the grey stuff. On alternate flats around the hex it's marked: 124 22, 10/7, and 85 77. The 85 and the 77 have the "degree" symbol (but my keyboard doesn't).

I googled Behr. I couldn't easily find their catalog and operating specs, but they do indeed make this sort of stuff. I'll look some more.

I suspect mine may have come from Precision Proformance. I say this because I know one of the prior owners used to have work done there. While scanning their website once I noticed they listed a thermal switch the didn't require relays. That's how I found the car to be set up before last winters work.

I'm going to give PP a call a little later but meanwhile, I'm trying to figure what the 85 77 means. On at 85 off at 77? On and off somewhere in that range? Any ideas? I'm going to try and read the inlet and outlet temps with my little IR heat gun as she warms up next time before we go out

One last thing, you said that most cars will have both fans running continuously when they are fully warmed up. That's even when they're moving? So obviously the fan motors are rated for continous operation. I guess I'm just lucky to find that only one is running.

So if this is normal, maybe further work on this issue will be postponed until the snow flies next fall.

I'd rather not fool with anything right now, it's time to put on some miles.