Skip to main content

hello everyone:
i'm runnig 351 w. stroked to 427. Someone told me running to low of a thermostat can cause an unusual amount of condensation build up in the engine? (IS THIS TRUE?) i am pretty sure water from the cooling system is not leaking it's way to the oil because i've had my valve covers off many times and the oil is clean but there is a pretty bad white build-up around each oil breather cap. Sort of looks like that white lithium grease. Also, when i shut my engine down my water bottles go crazy, sounds like water is boiling thru them but my temp gauge reads no more than 165 to 170. i can also check my oil after a long run and this white build up will be on the stick but when i wipe the stick and check it again at the same time it's nice clean oil. i believe the thermostat i'm running now is a 160. What would be the correct brand and temp. thermostat to run?
thanks,
rodman
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Will says 180, I've read in the past that the Cleveland and Windsor were designed to run at 192. I don't have any sources to tell you why, but it's something I've read over the years. I'm running a Robert Shaw 192 in my 351C, which doesn't help you with your Windsor, but any decent auto shop should be able to sell you a thermostat in either 180 or 192 flavors, if you tell them you have a Windsor.

As far as your temp goes, if you have boiling in your tanks but your temp gauge reads 170 then something is awry. Could be anything - previous owner added a resister because he got nervous seeing the temp gauge over to the right, your sending unit is slowly dying, the sending unit is located somewhere where it sees cooler water, or ??

I do believe that running too cool increases wear on your engine, and do believe that 160 is too cool. I would change the thermostat and investigate your temp gauge problem so that you have an accurate idea of what your engine temp really is.

The sending unit should really be located in the plug on the block and not the stock location on the overflow tank. You want to know what the temp is in your block, not in some external component.
Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×