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Is there a significant difference in gas mileage between a factory 195 thermostat and running a cooler 180 thermostat? I know the 180 is recommended for performance mods, and the 195 is recommended by GM for engine wear and tolerances. What do you think?
No difference if you ask me. I owned my grand prix for 5 years and never had one issue running the stock thermostat with headers/intake/pulley drop and tune. It always ran at 190-195 on the freeway and even in the heat of the summer it would top out at 200ish when moving slow. It's not even an issue until coolant temps are way up around 220+.
Consider this, the year 2000's corvettes seemed to always run around 200-215 on a daily basis and they were performance cars straight from the factory.
Going down maybe 10-15 degrees isn't going to change much at all and it's something I don't even recommend doing unless you live in the middle of the desert. If you can tune the fans to keep the temps under 200 most of the time you are fine. Then in theory the hotter the engine the better MPG you'll get but only dropping 10-15 degrees in coolant temp would make any real change in gas mileage.
180 is the way to go. Gas mileage is more dependent on your driving style.
Where are you finding the 180* thermostat? Im looking for one for the LGZ 3.6 V6 out of a 2018 Chevy Colorado
Try the internet. 30 seconds of effort?
https://www.carid.com/2018-chevy-col...er=1&sub-model[Liter][]=3.6L
I thought it was a full housing and thermostat inside. According to the GM parts breakdown, its wasnt just the thermostat. ill have to see if that one actually does replace it.
https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-pa...MtNmwtdjYtZ2Fz