It is definitely not OEM quality. On the stove it did look to start opening at 178 by my meat thermometer which is probably not the most accurate. Its probably opening closer to 172 by the way the temp readings were.
If I lived in the south it would probably be fine, but I live near Chicago, this winter we had several days below zero, this forced me to replace my previous 180 and found the gasket was tore causing it to remain open a little.
Last edited by scr71822; 04-25-2019 at 04:39 PM.
Thanks for sharing.
The main issue to worry about with any element like that is the cracking temperature and the fully open temperature. Sounds like how it is marketed is fully open at 180, but with a lower cracking temperature.
Sulski Performance Tuning
2000 WS6 M6 - LS6 (long block, refreshed top end), 10.8:1 CR, 90 mm ported FAST, Exo-Skel, 227/232 cam, QTP HVMC, EWP, GMMG, 9" w/4.11s
2018 Sierra SLT 5.3L A8 - Airaid intake tube, GM Borla catback, L86 Intake/Ported TB
Reviving this thread. There's a lot of different answers out there to this question, but I'm curious if anyone definitely knows what the stock thermostat is stamped with in a 2016 L86? I'm thinking since it's nearly identical to the engine above, that, it too, is a true 194* stat. Reason being is how cool my truck runs.
On the way to the office in the morning (taken while cruising at 70):
*Ambient temp = 75*
*Intake temp = 77*
*Oil Temp = 185*
*Coolant Temp = 179.8*
On the way home last night I had lots of traffic then 15 minutes at 70 MPH on IH10. And no I didn't take these readings after coasting to a stop
-91* ambient
-93* intake temp
-210* oil temp
-190* coolant
The hottest I've ever seen it with max A/C and 100* temps in traffic is 205*.