Im in the process of putting my engine back together now that the oil pan has been put back, and id like to order the final few things from Napa so my question before ordering is, which is better a safety thermostat or standard thermostat. Its for a 1950 Cadillac 331 v8. Thanks, Joshua
Regular one, I’ve never felt the need otherwise. Only issue I had, mine stuck open. I’m sure others will add.
When I put the new engine in my Ford, I installed a set of the thermostats that would open up if they fail (I believe there are versions that will fail closed). Is this what you mean? As I remember, these were a specialty item I had to order online. Anyway, that was in 2016 and I had forgotten all about it until now. They have performed flawlessly since.
I think it maybe one that fails open? That’s was my thoughts reading the post. Maybe like Jim said, just what NAPA sells?
yea thats it, I saw it and was also thinking what is this. I just didn't know if anyone felt these were better than a regular one
Never trust a thermostat! I always drill a couple 3/16 holes in the plate of a new thermostat. Not only does it help bleed air out of the top of the block when filling a cold engine, but it also guarantees "some" flow even when the thermostat is not working accurately.
In my personal cars, I run the high flow thermostats That can be bought from a number of brands. I usually buy them from Stewart or milidon through summit racing
In my OT daily the fail-safe, factory style thermostat failed a couple times in succession after only 100's of miles. I put in a regular one 5 years ago and zero issues since. The fail-safe style were from NAPA and pricey, maybe they just had a bad run of them. When it failed the car wouldn't get up to temp and error codes lit up because of it. In my big block wagon, I just use a reduction washer in place of the thermostat, rather hard for that to fail.
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