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Originally Posted by Jaxonalden
...and the reason for installing a 160 degree thermostat? The factory one is set to high causing overheat problems? (Mines rock solid at 184). Fooling the computer that the engine is cold so it enriches the fuel? Old one doesn't flow enough coolant? Or is the oil temp to high and the lower temp thermostat will save the oils viscosity?
I'd love to hear the theory behind it.
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Although this has been covered many times, the low temperature thermostat doesn't trick the engine into warm up enrichment. Remember, if the engine doesn't go out of warm up enrichment in a certain window, it triggers a CEL. The DME is always adapting to hit it's target air/fuel ratios. Just because the coolant temp is lower doesn't mean it's going to run richer, it will run the same AFR! A cooler engine increases volumetric efficiency and more timing can be run safely, again timing being a variable that the engine can adjust.
The simplest answer for a low temperature thermostat is that other Porsche models have them and Porsche has been migrating to lower thermostat temperatures over the last few years on all their models. Just because Porsche did it, doesn't mean it's perfect or right.
Reducing the coolant temperature will reduce oil (and ATF, in tip cars) temperatures, which run 10-15F higher than the coolant temp in normal driving. If that was the only gain, that would be plenty in my book. Other benefits and general principals have been discussed in earlier threads.