What are the effects of removing the thermostat?
3 Answers
If the thermostat is damaged, it may cause the coolant to continuously circulate in the large loop or the small loop. Below is relevant information about the thermostat: 1. The thermostat controls the circulation path of the coolant. Most vehicles use water-cooled engines, which rely on the continuous circulation of coolant within the engine to dissipate heat. 2. In water-cooled engines, the coolant has two circulation paths within the engine: the large loop and the small loop. When the engine is first started, the coolant circulates in the small loop, bypassing the radiator, which helps the engine warm up quickly. 3. Once the engine reaches its normal operating temperature, the coolant switches to the large loop, maintaining the engine within the optimal temperature range. The thermostat is responsible for switching between the large and small loops based on the coolant temperature.
Last winter, I removed the thermostat from my car, and as a result, the temperature gauge wouldn't rise at all. Driving in winter was freezing cold. The engine wear was more than just a little—running at low temperatures made the engine oil thick and sticky, and fuel consumption quietly increased by over half a liter. It took more than ten minutes for the heater to warm up, and during cold starts, the fuel injectors kept enriching the mixture, putting extra strain on the catalytic converter. The time for white smoke from the exhaust pipe was noticeably longer. The key issue is that excessively low coolant temperature causes the ECU to constantly adjust the fuel supply, which actually wastes additional gasoline.
A couple of days ago, my neighbor uncle removed the thermostat, claiming it would improve cooling. But during summer traffic jams, the temperature gauge shot up to red and triggered an alarm! Removing this part actually made the water temperature more unstable—the water pump just kept dumping cold water into the radiator, overwhelming the cooling system. Prolonged overheating caused the cylinder head gasket to sizzle and bubble, while the electric fan roared like a tractor, loud enough for the whole street to hear when I came home late at night.
