booger

iTrader: (6)

I just got back from the Dyno and on the way home I noticed my temp gauge jumped all the way to hot and back down as fast as it went up . I popped the hood when I got in the drive way and looked and saw what I didnt want to see . The over flow tank was plum full . It hadnt done it before when I was street tuning it , but I would only log 2 runs and come home to look at them . We did repeated runs on the dyno , but never seen the temps get hot .
We tuned it in simulation mode and did one run in the loaded mode for a print out at 300rpm's per second . In that mode is when I think the head lift happened . Because it held it at 13.5psi for a lot longer than in the simulation mode .
During tuning I was making 421whp and 334trq [ Mustang Dyno ] but on the loaded [ or what ever you call it ] mode I made only 411whp

kinda bummed . Didnt think it would happen on the SC because of boost being linear . But I hold 13 to 13.5psi from 6000 to 7000rpm . So I think I'll do some runs on the street some time this week and see if it does it again...got a bad feeling it will .

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

My car did that when the thermostat failed...

booger

iTrader: (6)

God lets hope so . Did the over flow tank fill up also ? A couple other time coming home , I did see it jump up one and 1/2 notches on the gauge and go back down once I started moving

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

Yup my overflow tank was full and stayed full until a good 20 minutes after a shut the car off. Then it was like a cork opened and the water drained back somewhere. I pulled my thermostat completely after the second time it happened. NO issues since.

booger

iTrader: (6)

Ive been home for about 20 minutes and I just went out and looked and it is going back down . How much work is it to replace it ? Money ?

booger

iTrader: (6)

I just looked at the service manual and it doesnt look hard at all . Thought I had to take the front cover off the motor or something . Might have to take off the blower and braket though . Again ...I sure hope thats the problem

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

Its a PITA but its not very time consuming. On the Turbonetics kit I had to remove the charge pipe with the BOV on it. The housing is on the drivers side of the motor. Look for the large coolant hose going from the bottom of the radiator to the t-stat assembly. Directly to the left it is another smaller hose. That is the bypass hose for when the car warms up. I drained less then a gallon of coolan from the radiator using the lower drain port and removed both of those hoses. Clamp them off using a hemostat or visegrips and shove a rag into them. (Only the big one really leaks). Theres three bolts that hold the assembly to the motor. Pull the three bolts out and remove the entire thermostat assembly. On the back side of it you will see the thermostat itself secured by two security screws. I didn't have the right bit or the patience so I had protocav drill out the screws and hack them off. Remove the thermostat from the assembly and clean out the assembly with some compressed air and water. Re-install in reverse order. Total time was about 2 hours. Now if you just want to replace it the Nismo and stock unit both comes as complete assemblies. The stock one is about $6 the Nismo one is $150. The only difference is the spring and opening point. After my first stock one failed a Nismo one went in. When the one failed I made the call to pull it all together but I have a spare stock (good one) laying around. I actually found when cruising my water temp went DOWN 15 degrees at the oulet of the motor to 180 F. Under hard boost its between 190-200. Under a solid 20-30 minute session of hard core runs MAX temp is 205. This is all at the coolant outlet from the motor (return water hose to the radiator). And of course this has never happened again. Downside is the car takes a few minutes longer to warm up. NO biggie for me. I start the car and go back inside.

kzanard

Booger, sounds like what I have been going through.

if it is the t-stat then it is cheap $ (I think I just paid $15 or so). However, it is a pain on the Vortech because the front mounting plate covers the t-stat (stupid design). The whole black plate needs to come off (or at least be loosened up) to get behind it. I have to do mine too - the dealer wouldn't touch it with the Vortech on it.

I have the Nismo one in there now & I think that is causing the problem. Mia and some of the others here have had similar problems with the Nismo.

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

The front covers doesn't have to be pulled. I'm attaching a picture of the location for you. Mounting plate I don't know. Not enough experience with the Vortech unit...

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

BTW if you look closely at the pic you can just barely see the lower rad hose going up behind the boost pipe and you can clearly see the bypass hose going in behind the charge pipe. Where the meet is the thermostat. To clarify, the same failure occured with BOTH stock and Nismo thermostat. Now I run no thermostat.

kzanard

Not sure if this photo from the install manual is clear enough to see...

booger

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Mia and Kzanard . I have to run T-stat in Nebraska...to cold . I dont know which one to go with , if you had problems with both . ANy one else have problems with the Nismo T-stat ?

I pulled some fluid out of the tank and it has some light brown specs in it . I touched them and they just kinda melted away . Think that maybe just rusty stuff , Ive ssen that in fluid before

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

People have an equal amount of problems with both stock and Nismo. If you have to run a t-stat just spend the $15 and get a stock one. Its pointless to run a $150 Nismo one thats going to fail anyways...

booger

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Again....Im off to bed . Been up since 8:00 am yesterday.

Gman2004

iTrader: (8)

Had mine for 10K plus miles now with no problems.

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

You have but others have not Bathelb had the same issues as me...

Gman2004

iTrader: (8)

Not saying that you or Bathelb didn't have problems, but I bet a majority of those with the nismo thermostat are not having problems. Chit happens and things just stop working.

G352NV

iTrader: (13)

I never understood why you would upgrade a thermostat anyway. Why? All it does is open sooner. Once the car is up to temp is does nothing. It doesnt flow more water.

barthelb

What the hell, dude i had my car towed this morning as i was on the side of the road this morning because the exact same problem. This is my 4th Thermostat. I believe its air in the system. This many T-stats can't keep failing. Yes your overflow gets full and bubbles like a volcanic pool and coolant will spew out of the hole (aps) kit or when i opened the overflow bottle. Also the hose right by the overflow was extremely under pressure.
This is getting annoying. My car is at Zcargarage right now and they are gonna try and solve this once and for all.

Also the T-stats didn't matter with which one i ran, however the factory non-nismo seems to last longer.

Gman2004

iTrader: (8)

Damn that sucks! I feel for ya bro. How many psi are you boosting?

You should try one of the breather tanks to help with air in the system......Greddy or ARC. ARC seems to be better quality but nearly 3.5 times the price of the greddy.