Good inputs - however, consider that there are many, many folks who report having tstats that don't work right. They can be "designed" by real engineers (but, in this case, the design work was done about 80 years ago, I think ... recently simply a lowest cost production issue), but still respond well to custom mods that could not be done to meet the price points in large scale production.

This variety of tstat has stood the test of time pretty well - think about them being virtually unchanged for decades - when everything else on the engine has changed substantively. What if tstats had evolved the same way - imagine a sensor based electric system that measured water in 3-5different places, also using inputs from other thermal sensors and position sensors to anticipate loads so that as you start up a hill, the tstat opens in advance of the load -maintaining temp +/- 1 degree ALL THE TIME. If it is gonna be electric, why not make the coolant pump electric, too (I think this is already in the works with move to higher voltage systems) - and then the pump could work with the sensor system and the tstat to completely control thermal issues without belt drive - it could even operate off the battery when the belt does through itself .... pretty cool!

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George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg