Hi all,

today I bit the bullet and changed out my stock thermostat housing and thermostat for the Diesel Site billet housing and 205 degree thermostat.

The change over was pretty simple, 3 8mm bolts hold the housing down, release a couple of spring house clamps, and top up the coolant - probably lost about 5 litres of coolant. While I was there I also changed the filter on my Diesel Site coolant filter.

I was quite interested to see what came out of the old filter. Sandy sludge! No false advertising there, I'm glad to have extracted that out of the truck's cooling system!

I'll post if I notice any changes in anything. I'm currently running RaceTech coolant and engine oil temp gauges so it will be interesting to see if I can spot any differences, Theoretically the slightly hotter thermostat allows the block to run slightly hotter which in turn is supposed to lead to fuller fuel combustion and hence more efficient operation.

 

Hey Simon, where did you place your oil temp sender.

 

Hi Brian, these trucks are made for sensors - as long as the threads are 1/4" NPT!

There is a sensor port near the oil filter, just to the front. I just undid a bolt and there was a 1/4" NPT hole with oil coming out, so I put the oil temp sensor in there.

For the trans temp, there is also a bolt on the engine oil filter side, further back at the front of the transmission. Again, I just removed a bolt, got a drip of fluid, and bunged the temp sensor in there.

If you're still unsure, let me know and I'll post some pics.

 

thought that was it. The two ports near the oil filter are taken up by my oil bypass. I used a port that is up only the bell housing. It works but only starts to read when the oil is up at operating temp. Im going to drill and tap my pan on the engine Im building.

 

Observations from first 20km drive. No change to any of the temp readings. The coolant temp still sits on 70 degrees C, and the engine oil temp on 60 degrees C unladen, flat road, night time running in about 10 degree C ambient air temp.
First impression is that, while the 205 degree F may be theoretically the correct thermostat to use and the one designed by IH for the 7.3, there seems to be little observable difference in performance of anything between it and the stock Ford one.

 

Just got back from a 500k road trip w/e in the F250. Lots of whindy mountainous roads from Canberra to south of Batemans Bay and back. Weather varied from cold+fog+rain to 25c + sunny. I haven't noticed any difference in the running of the truck from before when it had the stock 185F thermostat, to now, when it is running the IH 205F thermostat.

 

Thats pretty much what I have read. Many have gone back to the 185.

 

I'll continue to use the 205 version. The quicker warm up must help reduce engine wear.