Running 180 thermostat cannot be a solution. For sake of experiment, I even ran w/o a thermostat at all, it didnt change anything compared to running with thermostat.
Don’t want to be a boring engineer (which I am as a matter of fact), but you cannot cheat thermodynamics (but you can hack computer SW or HW
)
The difference between 180F and 195F thermostats is just in a spot where the flow of coolant to radiator will start. The moment that Coolant reaches 210F, it does not matter whether the coolant started to flow at 180F or 195F.
Simple equation of how much heat engine generates per second, and how much radiator can dissipate in a same second.
Engineer to engineer … you forget to include “Duty Cycle” in your thought process … the thermostats job isn’t to wait to get to its set point and stay open. It should be modulating flow through the radiator …
It seems that on our Jeeps the cooling system/thermostat is running wide open once it’s warmed up.
In my experience with classic cars and true analog gauges and much better designed cooling systems. A thermostat change WILL in fact lower the engines operating temperature.
To get super technical, not only does a 195 degree thermostat offer lubrication and wear advantages, also the temperature differential between the coolant and the atmosphere is greater allowing the cooling system to move more energy out of the coolant.
So, I do not believe a thermostat should be part of any sort of “repair”, rather our cooling system capacity needs to be increased… this is done by increasing air flow across the radiator or increasing the surface area of the radiator.
This is likely why the OEM radiator works so well, Chrysler engineers said “oh crap we designed ourselves into a corner, we didn’t design in enough space for a proper radiator”, so engineer B says, we’ll with this design radiator, we can eek out a bit more capacity … aftermarket junk misses the finite details, as we see here.
I am saving my pennies for a all aluminum, fully welded, 2 1.25” row American made radiator. This should increase cooling capacity by 50%. I need to inquire about the fins per inch and find out if the fins are serrated, both factor in heat rejection.
I think the rule of thumb is each subsequent row in a radiator is only half as effective and the one before it.