I don't see steel freeze plugs fail routinely either, do you?
You live in AZ, which isn't exactly the capital of the corrosion world.
I'm not worried about you using brass if you aren't. I prefer my plug to match closer to the block's material. No seizing issues to report and I'm not in danger of the bit stripping out the plug.
Accurate numbers from a legit gauge don't lie. I'll take them over your guessing and less useful pattern awareness (bc the gauge is all over the place and has latency built into it).
Got it. I'll make sure to pay attention to that if I get one.
I'm nothing more than a tinkerer who likes to learn and share what I find.
I'd have to follow up with you later on this bc I can't do this until I take a CA exam next month. I really hate fighting the thermostat during install otherwise I wouldn't be so hesitant. I don't mind paying for the item. I'll have good data logged on my current setup when I drive to and back from CA at the end of July. Maybe I can play with the RS thermostat after I get back in August. Feel free to DM me so this doesn't get lost to history.
Yea the Mopar locked up, while the USMW I purchased to replace it was loose from the go. I put the 2791 Hayden in and all has been good since February.
I've seen the differences in thermostats by watching the needle as well. So it's pretty good for being consistent with when the Thermostat opens from what I recall.
The issue is that I've seen my temps on the gauge look very different than what the stock gauge reports. There's no pattern to it bc the needle both under & over reports depending on the moment. Sounds ridiculous, but I've personally seen it many times.
I consider the stock guage to be a "things appear to be ok" gauge. Which is great for folks on the road who need to know that they are good. But not so good when comparing TJ to TJ performance because we are all seeing different patterns unless our gauges are accurate.
The galvanic corrosion would happen from the inside, regardless of where the jeep lives, that’s the concern being constantly submerged in water. If a steel freezeplug seizes, who cares, it’s doing it job twice I guess, lol. The point is, easy access to perform service. Easier it is the more likely you’ll be to perform the proper service …. Properly. I can tell you that perfect rust free desert SBC 350s will give you a HEKKOVA time removing their drain plugs, luckily they’re external hex.
Sounds like a plan for the thermostat. Just don’t buy a Mr Gasket knockoff, additionally, test them in a pan before installing! I do this and never found a “bad” thermostat until I tried the Mr Gasket, looks like the same but in my case opened early. Maybe a fluke. But I bough 5 Robert shaws and watched them all open in unison …
So you see, both you and I can characterize what is going on with the cooling system with the stock gauge. Yes, we’ll never know if the coolant is 230 or 210, but who cares, it’s not overheating or “too hot”. But I can see that configuration A is warmer than configuration B. That’s all I need to know. Also, I can tell my current configuration runs the “coolest” I’ve ever experienced in a TJ. With AC on and in the heat, the needle barely heads north of the 210 dot. What that temperature is exactly, I don’t know. But I know where all my other TJs needles escalate to in similar situations, usually a couple needle widths past the 210 dot, still acceptable.
Also, keep in mind that these TJs ran 3 different computer systems with 3 different methods of reporting data to the cluster. 97-99, 2000-04 and 05-06. I’ve owned 1 98 and the other 5 were 05-06. I feel like the 98 was a more honest set of gauges. I wonder if when going to a hemi swap or tuning a TJ that ALL gauge filtering can be removed for a pure measurement.