>Here's the question: If I put a thermostat in it, should I make the
>bypass hose operable again?
If the bypass blocked off there is very little to no coolant flow through
the engine until the thermostat opens.
Since heat cannot be quickly conducted away from the cylinders, hot spots
develop. These can be hot enough to cause local boiling of the coolant
into steam. The steam forces coolant back away from the hot spots letting
them get even hotter.
The steam can force the coolant out of the head and reach into the
thermostat housing where it quickly heats the thermostat. The super hot
steam forces the thermostat to open immediately, allowing the steam to
pass into the cold coolant of the upper hose where it rapidly condenses.
The now wide open thermostat allows cold coolant in the radiator to be
rapidly pumped into the engine with consequent rapid cooling of the head
and block. This commonly causes a cracked head and occasionally a cracked
block.
Even if the coolant does not get hot enough to force steam into the
thermostat housing there will be local hot spots within the head that
causes uneven metal expansion followed by rapid cooling then the
thermostat opens. This will also cause head cracks over time.
I would suggest a skirted thermostat and unblocked bipass or if you can
not find one, a regular thermostat and a bipass block with a 3/8ths inch
hole to restrict bipass flow but allow some to happen.
TeriAnn Wakeman Marigold Ltd.
Santa Cruz, California Web design, site updating, testing
webmaster@overlander.net search engine optimization, graphics
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