seventyfive said:
you do understand the bypass circuit is only during warm up, once the status open it deadheads flow thru the upper hose into the rad? with a drop in 180 stat (which has a spring a baby can press down), comes up to operating temp quicker than my wife's 528.
just yes or no, do you think the bypass spring is always 'in play' at operating temp? just answer yes or no.
im not saying you don't know what you are talking about, so put that shit aside, just answer yes or no, is the bypass circuit always in play, even when the stat is open?
You're looking for me to confirm that the bypass is only involved in warm up, but that's not entirely true considering the bypass plate has 4 holes in it, which flows less but it also flows. As the thermostat opens it pushes the entire sprung assembly up against the top neck of that thermostat housing, "sealing it off" (kind of). The point is just that at idle it does a balancing act between the main thermostat spring and the bypass thermostat spring. That means that this thermostat needs to have two things going for it - 1) the primary winding needs to work reliably and 2) the sprung bypass block off plate needs to have it's winding working reliably.
I am honestly not sure what my cars issue is - it could be some whacky head or block issue pressurizing my cooling system for all I know (but hope not). All I know is the one side of my thermostat was hot and the other was cold, and one side of my radiator was hot and the other was cold and I need to replace the thermostat (I assume!). So, people are reporting MUCH BETTER idling and running temperatures with the modded setup - I'll go with that.
Also FWIW I built my E34 and though I am not a mechanic by trade, I've engineered a thing or two. I have my hand in just about every > 500 rwhp BMW in the states and UK and have tuned dozens. I know allllllll about cooling systems (I have a 4" thick intercooler in front of a stock BMW radiator with no mechanical fan and produce 800 BHP, you do the math lol).
The LR thermostat, by design, sucks. It does - it supposedly offers faster cabin warm up in exchange for complexity, performance, and poor reliability. These trucks are idling way hot for my blood and people report that the aftermarket setups fix it. Could moving to a lower stock config t-stat fix it too? Maybe! But after I do this I can go to advanced and throw a chevy 350 thermostat in it vs shipping some hard to find 180F replacement from over seas.
I don't need to get in a pissing match with anyone but I don't see how this setup is a bad thing. There's really nothing that it hurts by doing it. And, if it ends up that my trucks issue is not a bad thermostat (though honestly...OT, if one side is hot and the other side is cold... how can it not be? right?) then I can always go back to the stock setup. It's totally reverse-able.
If the engineers were so right why did BMW coat cylinder bores in Nikasil to only have them fail and LR use a motor with set sleeves that drop? Sometimes it's not all about doing it right, but doing it cheap and practical.
