thermostats in hot climates

Do i really need a thermostat with my truck in a hot climate like costa rica?
Are there any adverse affects?
Is this a good thing/bad thing?

When I work in Tanzania and Mozambique none of our motors are fitted with stats.

where does the needle sit on your temp guage with or without a thermostat. Mine seems to only reach about 1/4 up and doesn't really go higher than that. Any help? pics?

Half way (straight up) and probably with the original stat

do you think that without a thermostat, the temp should only read 1/4?
second, where would the temp sender be located on a 300tdi?

Buster, we need more posts from you. Looks like suddenly you have stopped.!

Bull****! keep your stat in, you will suffer from localised overheating, live in Uganda and brought this issue up with a local guy been working on landies for 25 years and reckons that is bollocks, keep the stat where it belongs.

If the next question was "what is localised overheating" localised overheating being that the cylinders furtherst away from the waterpump suffer more than the first two

Bwanawales said:

Bull****! keep your stat in, you will suffer from localised overheating, live in Uganda and brought this issue up with a local guy been working on landies for 25 years and reckons that is bollocks, keep the stat where it belongs.

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I've driven the length and breadth of Tanzania with no stats and the engines work just fine - even when towing and in low range for most of the day. As for "localised heating" I'd class that in the Bull**** arena. Sounds good on paper but the cylinders furthest from the water pump are always furthest from the water pump and will not behave any differently with or without a stat fitted. Once the stat opens its the same as not having one fitted. In fact completely removing the stat takes out any flow restrictions so water flow is better and more constant and hence cooling is more efficient and constant. Heat soak is a big problem in hot climates so allowing an engine to heat then repeatedly trying to cool it makes no sense. With no stat the cooling system will reach its own balance or status quo and pretty much stay there.

I'd say fair enough if the stat is not giving you problems but when it starts playing up the bush mechanics just throw them away with no issues because they either dont have replacements or dont want to spend the cash for a new one. Taking out the stat can make allowances for a restricted radiator or lazy water pump. Standard operating procedure as far as I'm concerened. Two of our Landcruisers have additional electric fans fitted with manual overide and are rarely needed.

Conversely keep the cabin heater in situ as it can be used to dump more heat when needed. Not comfortable for the driver but it can get you out of problems.

Shifty, up to you man, i run a cruiser too and no issues with stats in and overloaded with a boat in tow to murchison falls, fair enough if it plays up in the sticks chuck it, but replace it when you can, suppose we all have our opinions on this but i will stick to what we have been doing, by the way also just spoke to the workshop manager for toyota uganda and services the entire fleet for police, NGO and tullow oil and they work hard as i am sure you are aware of the crap these vehicles go through and confirmed that this is a stupid thing to do.

I would not expect a Toyota service centre to say anything different. They exist to make money and wont risk doing or saying anything that is not in the book.
I'd like to get their take on "stupid" though. When our vehicles are serviced our Toyota dealership has no issues with no stats fitted. In fact they took out the stats when the vehicles were purchased at our request. Our warrantys are still honoured and service books stamped up. Never had an overheat problem yet.
Lets agree to disagree and do what works for us.

No worries fella, Bobby (wshop manager) happens to be a good mate of mine and personally disagrees with the practice, that obviously goes to show that it is every man for himself............are you involved in Mwanza area?

No mainly down south near Mtwara and Mozambique border area although I have been up to see the lake.

Exact tolerances between all moving parts is very critical to optimum performance and economy of the engine, these tolerances can only be achieving by maintaining the desired design temperature that the engine was built to run at. It would be safe to say that no thermostat equals a colder running engine, increased friction, reduced power and economy and possibly hastens wear of all components.

How accurate do you think a standard off the shelf thermostat is? You could take ten of them at random and none would operate at the exact same temperatue. You could have a range of 10 deg C between them with ease.

As for economy no motor or truck running in low range all day is going to be economic on fuel usage. As for performance they are work horse engines and not highly tuned and stressed race cars.

With modern engines and high tech oils I dont think it is an issue. I've personally seen series Land rovers in Africa with more than half a million kilometers on the clock still running sweetly and I'd lay money that they have all been run outside of the designed optimum operating temperature at some stage in their life and often with ****e oil, fuel, and basic bush servicing using reclaimed or home made parts to boot.

Its common practice to reuse engine oils with basic "in bucket" filtering and fuel is sold in plastic pop bottles and jam jars at the side of the track. These things are more likely to damage critical parts than running an engine with no thermostat.

If you want to remove your thermostat then do it. If not then dont. All I'm saying is it wont kill your engine and it has worked for me over the last 30 years. I wont be losing any sleep over it.