My car doesn’t have a thermostat?

[Magic944]

My car has been sitting for awhile so I was doing a coolant change when I realized while filling the block that coolant was flowing into the radiator. I thought the thermostat must be stuck open, so I ordered a new one and today as I’m going to change it, I find my car just doesn’t have a thermostat at all. Any idea why the previous owner might have done this? Also could this have caused more damage? I’m going to need to order a new snap ring now because there isn’t one for the thermostat I got.

[Magic944]

P.S. before I order the snap ring, is there anything else I might need from that area that would be missing with the thermostat? I have the o rings.

[walfreyydo]

My car didnt have one either. It was a california car and I think the PO must have removed it when they changed the water pump.

There are different thermostats and rubber gaskets for these cars depending on what style water pump you have (old vs new style), and if I had to guess, the PO likely got the wrong one, determined it didnt fit right, and just left it off instead of trying to find the actual correct thermostat.

I dont think it can cause any damage per say, it just takes a lot longer for the engine to reach operating temp.

If you want to replace it, you should determine what style water pump you have and order accordingly (the clue is in the distance the snap ring groove is from the flange in the pump that everything sits on). Lots of forum posts on this if you search (thats how I figured it out). IIRC, the snap ring itself should be universal between the different pumps, its the thermostat and rubber gasket style you'll need to figure out. Youll know you got it right if there is no play between the thermostat, snap ring and rubber gasket, it should fit snug.

[wwdwgs]

Some thermostats come with two different gaskets, in order to fit either old or new WP's.

[Magic944]

That’s interesting, my car was also originally a California car. The thermostat I bought did come with extra seals to fit either the old or new water pump. I have the new snap ring on the way. Thank you both!

[Monkey Wrench]

removing the thermostat could possibly be the result of a previous owner with a plugged up rad, who is seeing problems with overheating.
maybe the rad is suspect if it has never been changed?

ive taken them apart before and I cut thin wooden sticks to fit then worked the tubes out clean, made a huge difference, a rad shop can do that , it is a bit of mucking about