348/355 Thermostat

Let us know how it works. Is there anything wrong with the factory thermostat other than the high price ?

 

I have the thermostat from GT Car Parts in my engine for a year now and it works great. Judging by the way it looks, I was initially a bit concerned also.

 

Confirmed that my thermostat was not closing properly. Installed the Behr part today. Car is no longer running too cool.

I still have no idea what P/N this thing is, or whether Behr still produce them at all.


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Reviving an old thread....! For those of you who might be entertaining the thought of purchasing a new thermostat for for cheap$$, there is an ad on Ebay for Wahler 4033.82. After reading this thread a # of times and searching for many possible Thermostats, I believe this thermostat will do the Job. I have not fitted it yet as I'm in FL, and have limited tools until returning home in April! That said the ad is advertised to fit Fiat part# 4222883, and complies, as I understand, with the 348 fitment/temp stats. They're selling for $12.95 with $5 shipping (NEW). When comparing to Ricambi's $130+ thermostat, this is a bargain. Presently the seller has 2 left! Here are the official Wahler measurements for 4033 with a 82*C stamped to the frame. If my purchase was wrong, please tell me.
Oh, the link...4033 sizing.
Fiat X1/9 THERMOSTAT German Made #4222883 . for some reason it's advertised on the UK website, he is in California and the price/shipping will adjust accordingly.
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I replaced the coolant thermostat in my F355 M2.7 this summer since I had some issues with the engine running a bit cold.
I purchased a Facet 7.8225S thermostat for €16 at Ebay and a new thermostat gasket (Ferrari 105192, £2.6)

Symptoms:

• The needle for the coolant temperature gauge swinging down to around 72 degC when cruising at 80 km/h for a few minutes, regardless of the ambient temperature.

I can add that the low coolant temperature caused slightly notchy gear changes. I assume the coolant/gearoil heat exchanger was just doing its job, resulting in a below optimal gearoil temperature. Also, the low coolant temperature resulted in a low engine oil temperature as well, and an elevated oil pressure (7-8 bar during cruising)

Testing:

• The 25 year old OEM thermostat and the new Facet thermostat were lowered into a casserole filled with water and heated on the stove, while tracing the water temperature with a K-type thermocouple connected to a multimeter.
• When heating the water up to 100 degC, both thermostats opened at around 82 degC
• When cooling down the water from 100 degC, the Facet thermostat started closing at 82 and was fully closed at around 81 degC, whereas the OEM thermostat started closing at 78 and was fully closed at around 72 degC.
• From these observations I concluded that the 25 year old OEM thermostat closed too late, which is in accordance with the symptoms mentioned above.

Installation:

• I drilled a 2 mm hole in the thermostat flange since the Facet thermostat doesn’t have an air bleeding opening. Not sure if this is necessary or not.
• The thermostat gasket (Ferrari 105192) was mounted onto the Facet thermostat. Perfect fit.

Conclusion:

• I’m now very happy with the way the engine runs. Now, the needle for the coolant temperature gauge doesn’t go below 82 degC when cruising and doesn’t go above 92 degC when idling. This is independent of the ambient temperature.
• The gear changes are not notchy anymore.
• The engine oil temperature is much closer to 100 degC and the oil pressure is rarely above 6 bar.

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I had similar issues five years ago and fixed things with a new thermostat.
Recently noticed the low temp thing while driving on a cold day. The temp was normal when stopped in traffic, but temp would sink lower than desired when driving at speed. Outside temp was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

how much does outside temperature matter with these reading ? Is it normal to have a lower operating temperature in the colder seasons ? Or, is it time to replace thermostat again ?

 

Lower temps when cold and driving seems normal yes. They all do it through the 360.

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This weekend, I actually did a test of exactly this with an ambient temperature of 5 degC (41 degF).
I warmed the engine up and drove (normal cruising) for 15 minutes with the cabin heater off. The coolant temperature gauge then sat at about 82 degC.
I then turned on the cabin heater and drove for about 20 minutes. The coolant temperature gauge then settled at about 78 degC.

 

I asked this very question a while back about my car, which sits perfectly at 190F at idle and driving around town, but after a minute or two of open road cruising, cools down to about 155F (68C). I was told this is normal, but 155F seems too cool. You want an internal combustion engine running in the 180-190F range, not 155F. So maybe I do have a thermostat problem.

 

All the manual says is the thermostat begins to open when the temperature reaches 176~185F (80~85)

However, there seems to be some movement before this (between 20C and 75C)

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155 is too cool.

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What happens negatively when the car runs too cool ?

 

Runs rich, fails to burn fuel cleanly, poor gas mileage, poor emissions, poor power, carbon buildup up everywhere, burned out cats, possible much hotter temps especially where the cats are etc. Cars are designed to run at operating temps, above or blow is No Bueno.

 

where did you make the hole? is it important to do so?


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