"Fail-Safe Thermostat"

Ever hear of this? I have not, in all my years messing with cars. Another forum, not member, I registered and the damn thing still won't let me post to ask questions about a guy's thread: he has a fail-safe thermostat which supposedly opens when coolant reaches 192` but then stays fully open as long as the engine runs and generates heat. Upon shut-down, I guess it closes.

WTF? mo.

 

?? So, the obvious question is: how is that different from the stock kind I'm currently using? What's the fail-safe feature?

 

my car has one that has been stuck open for at least 3 years

 

Colin, I think that has Failed Safely...

 

That's the idea, they fail open if they are original parts, aftermarket tends to fail in the shut position

 

Apparently, the fail-safe type does not regulate flow, like a valve, as temperature changes widely, but rather stays wide open until the coolant temp. drops. to ambient or so. I think. That's why I posted. Does not sound like a great idea, to me, but then, I ran once without any thermostat! mo.

 

If it operates that way it is, by definition, not a thermostat.
I suspect it is, as Az said, a unit that is open upon failure rather than closed.

 

Evidently, these guys suspect otherwise:

"Right now I have a failsafe thermostat (Opens and stays open if it reaches 192 degrees Farenheit and won't close if it does reach that) on the car. But, I'm beginning to wonder if that's really the best choice for this automobile. What do you think? "

"It is funny, the only thermostat that every gave me any trouble was a failsafe one. I just buy the norm from the local parts store. "

"I replaced mine on the 1989 Crown Victoria but it was a stock one. My mechanic recommended a fail-safe thermostat for my 1956 Cadillac but again I went with stock (180 degree) and haven't had any real issues except for the alcohol-junked fuel they sell today...but that's another rant that "really grinds my gears"


Just wonderin'. mo.

 

None of those opinions were in any way related to how a thermostat operates.
None of those opinions related to how a 'fail safe' thermostat operates.
Once we exited the middle ages science and facts became no longer a matter of consensus or vote.

 

1. So, you DO know of the existence of such a device!
2. Insofar as their expressing HOW they think such a device operates, a discussion may be brought about, regarding the device, no?

WTH then does your third statement have to do with anything? Talk for the sake of talking? mo.

 

http://www.motoradusa.com/fail-safe-thermostat/

 

The old advertising adage of "There is a sucker born every minute, and two con men to take him" applies here.
This item is DESIGNED to fail if the engine gets too hot, and that is being sold as a feature.
It has everything required of a government program. It is amazing that the leftist tools aren't agitating for all to be forced to purchase it.

 

As opposed to failing permanently closed which would be unsafe.

 

Your dosage needs adjusting again.

 

On top of that, even the "fail safe" one is not guaranteed against failure to open. It can fail to open in exactly the same way as a standard one can.
The "fail safe" has just added another way for the unit to fail.
I have seen one thermostat fail to open, it was on a 73 Mercedes back in the early 80's. As the Mercedes thermostat has a hole in it from the factory, the car acted like a plugged radiator, OK at idle and overheating on the freeway.

 

Yeah, even those running that disaster known as dexcool seem to keep functioning somehow - -

 

In their defense, GM never claimed to be the 'better idea' company.

 

I had an issue in a '95 New Yorker once, the thermostat hadnt failed closed as such, but was so sluggish to open that before it had actually opened, the motor was over heating and loosing the coolant through the expansion tank pressure pipe. It took me an age to find the issue, as didnt expect that to happen as has been said on here.

I tested it in a pan of boiling water, opened eventually, but water had started to boil away before it was fully open.