160 temp good or bad for gas mileage

[kustomautoparts]

hey all newbie to this site. anywho my father and i have had some heated debate over a 160 degree temostat he said bad gas milage i say better.. or are we both on crack in thinking that it has any affect on fuel milage:confused: ..... please help me end thisa battle (with me winning) haha

[rlith]

You'll burn richer running cold, so a normal thermostat (190) is much better for miledge..

[rat]

Won't affect anything. I see no mileage degradation with a 170* thermostat. Don't run any richer either, thats confirmed on my wideband.

The start up enrichments are done way before you go into closed loop. And closed loop begins before you are up to your thermostat temp.

[Sparky2263]

It'll have to be a 170 though. Most 160's will set a code.

I personally don't run below a 180.

[4lowlife]

I had a 180* T stat once. Threw codes by October before I got a chance to change it before our winter.

Coolant temp below operating temp.. or something like that.

My '01 Impala 3.8L didn't like the sum ***** either.

[Badco]

I have been running a 170 for a while now without any thrown codes even in the winter. Well, winters here a tad milder than other places...but still, I haven't had a code issue nor any bad gas mileage because of it. My bad mileage came from a lack of a full tune up. :cool:

[Rockrz]

I changed to a 180 when I went to eFans and on the hottest of days it peaks at about 210 degrees and I'm still getting 18 to 19mpg in town.

[rat]

As far as codes go, the '01 and up trucks are more picky about the engine temperature. Meaning the newer trucks tend to set codes with low temp thermostats. A tune can fix this though.

[Rockrz]

That's good to know. I'll need that when I get my newer truck (hopefully an '03, or an '04) in the next couple of years.

I've been very happy with the eFan conversion on my '96 so I'll want to do the same on the new one. I'll get the Crane Power Tuner for the new truck for sure...still thinking about getting it for the '96 since I'm going to be driving it for a while.

[Maximus]

I run a 160 in the spring/summer and a 180 in the fall/winter.I have yet to see any significant difference between them at all.The 160 makes mine run better in the summer than a 180.But mines a 93 TBI.