Engine Thermostat, Low Temperature (begins opening at 160 deg F)

[azlvr]

What about the effect on engine clearance tolerances that Porsche designed into
the engine based on 186 and above temps? I race motocross dirt bikes which have no thermostat so and I always start the bike and let it idle until full normal temp before ridding. This expands the piston and keeps the piston rings tight against the cylinder. Even in Arizona the winter is pretty cold we have to cover one of the radiators to keep proper temp, now we do change oil very often but they do rev to 11000 - 130000 rpm. Our Boxsters have lots of miles on them so clearances are getting pretty sloppy so I always get it up to full temp before driving hard.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by azlvr

What about the effect on engine clearance tolerances that Porsche designed into
the engine based on 186 and above temps? I race motocross dirt bikes which have no thermostat so and I always start the bike and let it idle until full normal temp before ridding. This expands the piston and keeps the piston rings tight against the cylinder. Even in Arizona the winter is pretty cold we have to cover one of the radiators to keep proper temp, now we do change oil very often but they do rev to 11000 - 130000 rpm. Our Boxsters have lots of miles on them so clearances are getting pretty sloppy so I always get it up to full temp before driving hard.

While there is no hard engineer data available that I am aware of, several shops (mine included) have literally hundred's of customers running the 160F stat, some for many years in daily drivers, none of which have shown any adverse effects on engine hard parts. As a normal course of maintenance on this group of vehicles, we have done a variety of diagnostics (leak down, compression tests, bore scope, etc.) and have not seen any real difference other than significant improvements in the UOA analysis.