I think you should have spent more time identifying the root cause of your other problems. In my ownership of the Cruze I haven't had to replace those components and haven't had to top off any antifreeze.

I don't think what you did was a good idea. The engine needs to run hot enough for efficiency and without a re-tune, you might see a drop in fuel economy. Furthermore, engine oil needs to operate above the boiling point of water to prevent condensation and water contamination from building up. That point is 212F. You running the thermostat below that temperature means you'll likely also need to change oil more often since oil will not reach above the boiling point of water, which may cause it to break down more quickly.

A 195F thermostat may have been more appropriate.

 

Andrei, I now my decision is debatable I can argue with you ant tell you that "other cars" are operating using this, or similar thermostat, for years without any issue. Talking about MPG, like I said, I didn't see any major difference yet, nor my friends. I may observe a change in the summer of for long trips. My idea was also to put a thermostat that opens at 195F as you said but I couldn't find any that fits! The existing thermostat is not just opening by temperature but also the ECM can "dictate" when to open, depending of the information it receives from other sensors. If you, or others, could find a thermostat that fits and opens around 195F, please let me know I would use that instead.. Until then, I'll keep monitoring the cars I changes and let you know if there is any major change during the next months.

 

:tempted:Guys, relax!
I did the change only because I was frustrated like many others to boil the coolant without knowing, I explained also that the gauge temp is useless! I would use a thermostat that would close around 90-95C but there were no options that I could find to replace with minimal changes. And I explained this, even GM change the thermostat later to lower temperature but different housing for the next generation (2017) that opens at... 82C yes! I changed, or help others, to do this change on more than a dozen cars and no issues. I detailed the steps for people who want to improve and avoid issues but don't start arguing now like the Cruze is an F1 car, where every small changes would have a big impact! I keep driving my Cruze/s with this change for that many months, I even forgot about it until I saw this topic opened again. We can debate a lot about it but, unless you have time to put gauges everywhere and go to deep details based on measurements, just look at the real life results: it works! Don't trust it? Don't do it!

 

1st, thank you CRUISE-CRUZE for the research and time it took to find the parts to do this!
i have done this and am VERY happy with the results. my car is now running at 185° ± 5°. Most of the time i run 180° but when climbing a steep grade on my daily commute the temp does raise to 190°. i have noticed if i let the car sit and idle for an extended period of time (30-40 minutes) the temp will climb to 210°.
the last few weeks the temp has been in the high 20s to low 30s F i have had no problem with the heat in the vehicle.
After my commute to work, the coolant temp is always about 180° and i have taken several temp reading of the cams and the temp of the cams was 218°F. i do not have a way to measure the oil temp but an infrared thermometer aimed at the cams under the oil fill cap is good enough for me. this temp of the cams mitigates the thought that the oil will not get hot enough to evaporate moisture.
my MPG has not changed at all

i ordered the following from rockauto

MOTORAD T46 - CAP
DORMAN 9022080 - Thermostat
DORMAN 603383 - Coolant recovery tank

why isnt this a sticky?

 

Thank you for your post! A few other people asked me and it is good to know when somebody else does changes that are working and help us to deal with our issues. I counted 9 cars, including you, that I'm aware about this change (or I did it myself to a few) and have no more issues. Two main things to watch:

1. The thermostat has 2 version, one version you can't take out the inside component so you need the other one, see it also here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112394548622?ViewItem=&item=112394548622&ppid=PPX0

2. Make sure you properly add back the coolant after the replacement and take out the air from the installation when done!

As a remark, the latest Cruze model (1.4 turbo) is using the OE thermostat that opens at 82 Celsius! You can't use that model, it doesn't match to our 2011 & 2012 models but just for your reference only, the thermostat that opens at 105C "to improve car performances" is for a different application, market, in my opinion.

 

Even though I own a Sonic and not a Cruze, I signed up to this website just so that I could post a big thanks to CRUISE-CRUZE in this forum for the cooler thermostat fix. I bought a 2012 Sonic hatchback with the 1.4 Turbo last year to replace my old 99 Cavalier with the 2.2 SOHC LN2 engine that still ran great but had significantly rusted underneath in the body subframe to render it unsafe. The Sonic has run well over the past year but about 2 months ago I started smelling the telltale coolant odor after I shut the engine off. It turned out to be the plastic water outlet that was disintegrating and I found this information thread when venturing down the rabbit hole that can only describe 1.4 turbo ecotec cooling system. After reading this thread and all of its replies I was convinced that these little engines badly want to destroy themselves when using the stock Thermostats. I managed to buy both the Volt flavored and the Cruze/Sonic/Trax/Entourage versions of the Dorman replacements and then do the innards swap. Aside from one hiccup where the wire connector that had been most stubborn to disconnect when changing to the new T-stat had somehow come loose overnight and then causing it to throw a P0597 "Thermostat Heater Control Circuit/Open" code that was immediately reconnected and fixed it has been great.

I find now after moving to the cooler Volt T-stat that he interior heat is still just fine though it may take a bit longer to come up. I find that the Sonic's heat is still plenty warm but not so warm as it had been before under that original crazy hot T-stat that it felt like it was borderline going to melt the dash plastic. I also replaced the leakingm water outlet with the MITzone cast Al version that is found on Amazon and so far all is bone dry and I have real peace of mind. I also added the 15 psi GM coolant reservoir cap as many others did. It is December and cold outside but the car seems no different other than what appears to be the longer time for interior heat and the lower max interior heat that is no longer "ludicrous hot" but actually pleasant. I do not have the nice dash temp gage on the Sonic so I have no basis for visual comparisons. Finally, my only wish for all of this would be that Dorman made an aluminum T-stat housing to match the cast aluminum water outlet. I see that there are aluminum T-stat housings for the 1.4 ecotecs but they do not use the same swappable innards as the Dormans. Hey Dorman! - Wanna score some easy additional $? Please manufacture a cast Al housing that works with your current T-stat inner components. If you do I will gladly give you more of my $.

BTW, about a month or so before I did all of this cooling system upgrading I experienced some bad ignition misfires. It turns out that my coil pack had gone bad. When I remored it to swap in the new one I noticed that my old one was warped so badly that it could have rocked on a flat surface if the boot extensions were not there. I think this warpage was most likely due to the high operating temp of the engine.

Thanks again CRUISE-CRUZE for helping us to extend the lives of our 1.4s!

 

I FIXED it ! I think I may have won the war with the Cruze cooling system ! 2013 Cruze 1.4 T

Part 1 and Part 2

Part 1.
This has been my son's daily driver for several years. It developed the dreaded RAGING High Speed Fan all the time syndrome months/years ago and he has just lived with it that way.
But then recently, ok several months ago, it started to overheat, boil over , spike the temp gauge to full hot, and warning lights, etc, all of it.

First, Part 1. I pulled the radiator fan assembly, which was a rediculous mess that took forever, and changed the electric fan speed control resistor pack, AND the burnt up plug that wired into the electric harness, too . ( P.S. The colors of the wires on the Amazon plug were exactly opposite wrong, so be sure to mark your wires first + - etc, and don't just blindly believe they wired your new plug correctly. )

After thinking I was a genius, and putting it all back togather , the results were basically the same , Raging Full Speed Fan. UNLESS...

Turn the car off. Disconnect BOTH battery cables . And when they are both loose, up in the sky, not touching the battery at all, get a clippy wire and CONNECT the two battery cables. It was scary and I thought it might blow up, but how could it? So, ok, I did that, to re-set zero the computer .

It worked, sort of. I started it cold and NO fan . ! Warmed it up a little, drove a bit , no fan,
more warm up until almost straight down temp gauge, then Full speed RAGE fan.

Turn car off, wait a while. Turn car back on cold the next day, and it starts cold with Full Speed RAGE fan. This went on for several months in my spare time.

Then I got an OBD 2 scanner . I decided to be a Big Boy, and be all grown up. I got a good one, not the cheap entry level. After learning some , and digging around in the screens and settings, I figured out how to check fan speeds, and that all seemed to be working ok.

I took out and checked each ( ALL ) the three fuses and five relays and checked them all, good.

So, it MUST be the sensors, right ? Of course, I was a genius again.

I changed the engine sensor , over on the driver side at the big crazy plastic diverter assembly, and changed the sensor ON the radiator way down on the passenger side, too. After careful reading, I learned that the sensor that is actually ON the thermostat is just there for extra info, and does not contribte too much to actual enging temp . (?) but ok, we just moved on.

Now, I had my handy dandy OBD 2 reader ! So I hooked it all up, and I could watch , in real time, as each new sensor heated up, so confirmed that they were working.

But still Raging Full Speed Fan, and extreme boil over heating and boil overs .

Now I was beginning to feel Raging, too. I'm sure most of you here can relate.

Then I found this post. Thanks OP Cruise-Cruze , and thought well, that's a good idea.
Let's go OLD SCHOOL and fix this like we always have, and quit fighting the computer.

But first, I wanted to address the Raging Fan.
I took out each fan relay, one at a time, to see what it would take to KILL that raging fan.
I took out one relay, and started the car, then stopped. I took out the next relay and started the car and stopped. Until I had ALL four of the speed relays out and , ha ha, guess what NO Fan !
I won, I killed it . ( Relay #5 is that little one that sends power to the other 4 speed relays )

So I put only ONE relay back in. The second one over, The LOW speed fan only.
Start the car cold, and the fan comes on immediately, but just at the low peaceful speed.
With all the other relays out, I don't care what signals the computer sends, we are only powering up the low speed . On all the time , just like old school mechanical fan on the water pump pulley.

Part 2. This post.
Once I decided to OLD SCHOOL RAGE on this car myself, I liked this post. There is no good reason to have the stock thermostat keep ALL the heat in the engine until it gets to boil over, overheat temperature.

So I did exactly this post.
I bought actual DORMAN thermostats , yes two. Not cheaper imitation knock offs, or fancy metal ones, I had already tried them all, too, a while ago, and they all just failed miserably. I wanted to start with ALL new parts. I got the Cruze thermostat and the Cadillac thermostat, part numbers in the first OP post, just like he told us. ( Thanks, OP ) Then I had to switch the guts. like this:

I got a big socket , 22 mm or so, and while on the bench, pushed down and turned , and released the spring and hat assembly, and took out all the easy parts... and then stared at what was left.

Here is the Big CAUTION part ..
For sure DO NOT TWIST the remaining guts to rip that part out.
The Actual Thermostat Temp sensor has Two Tiny Wires way at the back.
So you must gently wiggle/pull it out. Straight- No Twist !
( That's what she said, but this is a PG post )

Then super easy-peasy, take the Cadillac sensor and put it into the Cruze housing and put all those other springy pieces back on. No sweat, and slap that new assembly back in the car.

When re-filling the coolant. BE SURE to remember the hidden pesky air bleed valve at the top passenger side of the radiator. I learned that, too, the hard way, but got the help from this forum, thanks bros.

And I got the recommended 15 pound cap, too .

The car seems to run VERY cool for now. And the heat works. and the AC finally works better, too.
So cool, that I had not even seen it get up to 176 when the new thermostat should open.

I know the car's temp gauge works, because it moves a little bit.
With my OBD 2 scanner , I can see that the engine temp gets to 135 at the first mark off stone cold.

I drove the car all around town. Totally terrified scared that it might overheat again, but no.
totally cool and drove peacefully cool.

I'm calling this a Win. For now.

I returned the car to my son, and I haven't seen it for a week ! Still gone.
He says it runs great. We'll see how long this lasts. I will check with him to see what temp it typically gets up to . ?

I hope my LONG story here might have some tidbits to help, if you have been fighting your Cruze cooling system, too.

P.S. Haters, you can't do that, etc, Ha ha , Well I did it, and the car is gone, out of my driveway.

 

I FIXED it ! I think I may have won the war with the Cruze cooling system ! 2013 Cruze 1.4 T

Part 1 and Part 2

Part 1.
This has been my son's daily driver for several years. It developed the dreaded RAGING High Speed Fan all the time syndrome months/years ago and he has just lived with it that way.
But then recently, ok several months ago, it started to overheat, boil over , spike the temp gauge to full hot, and warning lights, etc, all of it.

First, Part 1. I pulled the radiator fan assembly, which was a rediculous mess that took forever, and changed the electric fan speed control resistor pack, AND the burnt up plug that wired into the electric harness, too . ( P.S. The colors of the wires on the Amazon plug were exactly opposite wrong, so be sure to mark your wires first + - etc, and don't just blindly believe they wired your new plug correctly. )

After thinking I was a genius, and putting it all back togather , the results were basically the same , Raging Full Speed Fan. UNLESS...

Turn the car off. Disconnect BOTH battery cables . And when they are both loose, up in the sky, not touching the battery at all, get a clippy wire and CONNECT the two battery cables. It was scary and I thought it might blow up, but how could it? So, ok, I did that, to re-set zero the computer .

It worked, sort of. I started it cold and NO fan . ! Warmed it up a little, drove a bit , no fan,
more warm up until almost straight down temp gauge, then Full speed RAGE fan.

Turn car off, wait a while. Turn car back on cold the next day, and it starts cold with Full Speed RAGE fan. This went on for several months in my spare time.

Then I got an OBD 2 scanner . I decided to be a Big Boy, and be all grown up. I got a good one, not the cheap entry level. After learning some , and digging around in the screens and settings, I figured out how to check fan speeds, and that all seemed to be working ok.

I took out and checked each ( ALL ) the three fuses and five relays and checked them all, good.

So, it MUST be the sensors, right ? Of course, I was a genius again.

I changed the engine sensor , over on the driver side at the big crazy plastic diverter assembly, and changed the sensor ON the radiator way down on the passenger side, too. After careful reading, I learned that the sensor that is actually ON the thermostat is just there for extra info, and does not contribte too much to actual enging temp . (?) but ok, we just moved on.

Now, I had my handy dandy OBD 2 reader ! So I hooked it all up, and I could watch , in real time, as each new sensor heated up, so confirmed that they were working.

But still Raging Full Speed Fan, and extreme boil over heating and boil overs .

Now I was beginning to feel Raging, too. I'm sure most of you here can relate.

Then I found this post. Thanks OP Cruise-Cruze , and thought well, that's a good idea.
Let's go OLD SCHOOL and fix this like we always have, and quit fighting the computer.

But first, I wanted to address the Raging Fan.
I took out each fan relay, one at a time, to see what it would take to KILL that raging fan.
I took out one relay, and started the car, then stopped. I took out the next relay and started the car and stopped. Until I had ALL four of the speed relays out and , ha ha, guess what NO Fan !
I won, I killed it . ( Relay #5 is that little one that sends power to the other 4 speed relays )

So I put only ONE relay back in. The second one over, The LOW speed fan only.
Start the car cold, and the fan comes on immediately, but just at the low peaceful speed.
With all the other relays out, I don't care what signals the computer sends, we are only powering up the low speed . On all the time , just like old school mechanical fan on the water pump pulley.

Part 2. This post.
Once I decided to OLD SCHOOL RAGE on this car myself, I liked this post. There is no good reason to have the stock thermostat keep ALL the heat in the engine until it gets to boil over, overheat temperature.

So I did exactly this post.
I bought actual DORMAN thermostats , yes two. Not cheaper imitation knock offs, or fancy metal ones, I had already tried them all, too, a while ago, and they all just failed miserably. I wanted to start with ALL new parts. I got the Cruze thermostat and the Cadillac thermostat, part numbers in the first OP post, just like he told us. ( Thanks, OP ) Then I had to switch the guts. like this:

I got a big socket , 22 mm or so, and while on the bench, pushed down and turned , and released the spring and hat assembly, and took out all the easy parts... and then stared at what was left.

Here is the Big CAUTION part ..
For sure DO NOT TWIST the remaining guts to rip that part out.
The Actual Thermostat Temp sensor has Two Tiny Wires way at the back.
So you must gently wiggle/pull it out. Straight- No Twist !
( That's what she said, but this is a PG post )

Then super easy-peasy, take the Cadillac sensor and put it into the Cruze housing and put all those other springy pieces back on. No sweat, and slap that new assembly back in the car.

When re-filling the coolant. BE SURE to remember the hidden pesky air bleed valve at the top passenger side of the radiator. I learned that, too, the hard way, but got the help from this forum, thanks bros.

And I got the recommended 15 pound cap, too .

The car seems to run VERY cool for now. And the heat works. and the AC finally works better, too.
So cool, that I had not even seen it get up to 176 when the new thermostat should open.

I know the car's temp gauge works, because it moves a little bit.
With my OBD 2 scanner , I can see that the engine temp gets to 135 at the first mark off stone cold.

I drove the car all around town. Totally terrified scared that it might overheat again, but no.
totally cool and drove peacefully cool.

I'm calling this a Win. For now.

I returned the car to my son, and I haven't seen it for a week ! Still gone.
He says it runs great. We'll see how long this lasts. I will check with him to see what temp it typically gets up to . ?

I hope my LONG story here might have some tidbits to help, if you have been fighting your Cruze cooling system, too.

P.S. Haters, you can't do that, etc, Ha ha , Well I did it, and the car is gone, out of my driveway.

Welcome Aboard!

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.

 

For those of you that don't know how to change the guts of the thermostat and are like me and couldn't find anything about how to do it online, here's how you do it. First remove the spring and spring perch from the thermostats. You simply push the perch in and turn it clockwise until it clears the stops in the housing. Then pull the piece with the thermostat valve it's self off. Then hold the housing by the hose nipple and pull the past piece out. There are two pins for the electric part on this piece careful not to bend them. Then swap those pieces then reassemble in reverse order. That's all there is to it. Hope this helps.

 

I used a large socket to push in on the perch. That made it easier and safer to turn the sharp metal piece.

 

Conclusion!

Let me share with you the observations after I did this Thermostat Swap to 4 cars, all have at least 5K since the change:

• During cold weather the coolant stays most of the time around 184F ±2F. Some exceptions if you are stuck in traffic when the coolant’s temperature goes higher since the “smart” ECM won’t start the fan so early.
• When is hot outside, over 100F, the thermostat works great, your coolant stays again around 184F most of the time! It is even better than in the cold weather because this time you are using AC and the radiator’s fan works very often, getting down the temperature. No issue if you are stuck in traffic, I never got the temperature over 190-192F and that only for a few seconds!

All 4 cars I changed behaved in similar way, I only had same issue with one in particular, until I did a better air flush to the coolant.
To summarize: I got the engine working temperature down from 221++F to ~184F, in order to avoid continuous overheating issue (the gauge is useless, it goes max to 185F, so you can boil the coolant without even know!). I didn’t see any MPG major fluctuation after the change. I never had issues with car warming up during the cold weather, nor overheating during the hot days and rush hours. I’m not going to argue about better engine performance at higher temperature, but this is not a racing car!

Ideally.... ideally I'll do the swap to a thermostat that would open at 195F-200F but the only one that fits and I could find is the one I mentioned into the original post. I didn't want to change the housing, add adapters, etc. If somebody can find a better thermostat, let us know!

 

Let me share with you the observations after I did this Thermostat Swap to 4 cars, all have at least 5K since the change:

• During cold weather the coolant stays most of the time around 184F ±2F. Some exceptions if you are stuck in traffic when the coolant’s temperature goes higher since the “smart” ECM won’t start the fan so early.
• When is hot outside, over 100F, the thermostat works great, your coolant stays again around 184F most of the time! It is even better than in the cold weather because this time you are using AC and the radiator’s fan works very often, getting down the temperature. No issue if you are stuck in traffic, I never got the temperature over 190-192F and that only for a few seconds!

All 4 cars I changed behaved in similar way, I only had same issue with one in particular, until I did a better air flush to the coolant.
To summarize: I got the engine working temperature down from 221++F to ~184F, in order to avoid continuous overheating issue (the gauge is useless, it goes max to 185F, so you can boil the coolant without even know!). I didn’t see any MPG major fluctuation after the change. I never had issues with car warming up during the cold weather, nor overheating during the hot days and rush hours. I’m not going to argue about better engine performance at higher temperature, but this is not a racing car!

Ideally.... ideally I'll do the swap to a thermostat that would open at 195F-200F but the only one that fits and I could find is the one I mentioned into the original post. I didn't want to change the housing, add adapters, etc. If somebody can find a better thermostat, let us know!

Question: What impact has running cooler had on your emissions? Part of the reason the Cruze runs so hot is for emissions purposes - hotter engines tend to burn cleaner.

 

I am really like the idea of a lower temp thermastat. I've always worried more about overheating than condensation in the oil. My old 86' pickup got a 160° F thermastat in it. Now I understand that theses engines are better off closer to 220° and that's fine...givin that the gauge would show it! As y'all have said the gauge goes to a tick below halfway and stops. That is the reason I had to put another engine in my 2011. The fan resistor, on the fan shroud, burn up or messed up from corrosion , causing the fan to only run on "turbo" mode when the a/c high side got to high. Before the engine swap I replaced the head gasket, thinking that was my problem, and when I got it back together I used my ODBll scan tool to monitor the temperature, which goes off the outgoing sensor on the rear of the engine, and saw temps up to 250°f , no fan and the temp gauge on the dash still never got above the tick below halfway. That tells me whoever had the car before me along with myself had been running it hot for a long time and never knew it and cooked the engine. Having an old school thermastat at a slightly lower opening temp would make me feel a lot better.

 

Question: What would be the effect of just changing the cap to 15lbs? That 25% reduction in system pressure seems where most of the benefit comes from. As far as I can tell, the boiling point would be 267F down from 282F. (This is for generic 50% antifreeze - I couldn't find a table for Dexcool.)

Edit: For Dexcool, it's 260F/266F/277F depending on 40%/50%/70% mixture at 15lbs. I don't know what it is for 20lbs.

What hasn't been addressed is the temperature gauge that doesn't give good warnings. That's going to take a computer solution.

 

In theory, yes, it is better to have a higher pressure into the system. But in reality the extra pressure damages the hoses, connections, expansion tank, etc. See how many issues are related with that on this forum. Look around to other similar cars and see the cap spec. I monitored long enough the system and the active grille shutter has also influence on controlling the coolant temperature. Not efficient at all under different circumstances, when for example the grille it is locked into a random positions due to the outside temperature. That is another story, they dropped also this extra feature that was very advertised when they came in US with the first Cruze generation. I have mercury tilt switch on the grille connected to an LED inside the car so during the years I could daily monitor its behavior. The thermostat for the first Gen is also "smart" so the computer supposed to properly control the temperature and open/close the thermostat and grille based on different algorithms. The intention was good but not efficient in my opinion....

 

yesterday was 96 according to the Cruze and AccuWeather reported 94. Cruze ran at 180

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

yesterday was 96 according to the Cruze and AccuWeather reported 94. Cruze ran at 180

View attachment 271819

View attachment 271821

View attachment 271823

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait, did you somehow convert that dash compartment into a display holder for the radio?!

 

CRUISE-CRUZE, thanks for sharing
this cooler Dorman thermostat.
I have a 13 Sonic, and I have modified a couple of conventional thermostats to fit into the 1.4T housing.
I use a resistor to satisfy the PCMs
Looking for voltage/no voltage on the heater circuit.
This dorman is a much better option though.
It also offers potential to have a driver selectable dual temperature capability.
I wired up a switch to the thermostat heater circuit to manually control it while driving. Once the engine stabilizes at ~178°F, I can turn on the heater circuit, and on the highway, the engine temp will drop as low as 156°F at 85° ambient temp. Takes about 40-60 seconds to drop that much.
This could be good for things such as track outings, ect.
And contrary to popular belief, I believe that cooler operating temps could actually be beneficial to fuel economy.
I think that at lower engine temps, detonation is less common, so more timing advance can be used.

My normal operating temps now run between 173-178°F.
If this seems to be a bit lower than typical, it could be because when I was swapping out the "guts", I noticed that the original spring was about 1/8 inch shorter, and seemed to take a bit less pressure to compress, so I kept the original spring.
Now wether this spring is deliberately calibrated differently, just a manufacturing variance, or has softened a bit from use, I dont know.

 

CRUISE-CRUZE, thanks for sharing
this cooler Dorman thermostat.
I have a 13 Sonic, and I have modified a couple of conventional thermostats to fit into the 1.4T housing.
I use a resistor to satisfy the PCMs
Looking for voltage/no voltage on the heater circuit.
This dorman is a much better option though.
It also offers potential to have a driver selectable dual temperature capability.
I wired up a switch to the thermostat heater circuit to manually control it while driving. Once the engine stabilizes at ~178°F, I can turn on the heater circuit, and on the highway, the engine temp will drop as low as 156°F at 85° ambient temp. Takes about 40-60 seconds to drop that much.
This could be good for things such as track outings, ect.
And contrary to popular belief, I believe that cooler operating temps could actually be beneficial to fuel economy.
I think that at lower engine temps, detonation is less common, so more timing advance can be used.

My normal operating temps now run between 173-178°F.
If this seems to be a bit lower than typical, it could be because when I was swapping out the "guts", I noticed that the original spring was about 1/8 inch shorter, and seemed to take a bit less pressure to compress, so I kept the original spring.
Now wether this spring is deliberately calibrated differently, just a manufacturing variance, or has softened a bit from use, I dont know.

Interesting, I like the idea! The only issue is that the temperature gauge is useless (unless they put in Sonic something better?) so you need to watch the temperature to a secondary gauge (OBD) then to act accordingly..
I'm replacing one of my oldest Cruze with a 2014. Same trim: Eco & MT. A lot of downgrades I can see so I'm swapping parts from the old one now. Same issue with the thermostat so I have to swap it again. And it has the PCV issue and the trunk button issue and no light into the glove compartment, etc, etc... I have a lot of re-work to do until fall. I said a few times that owning a Cruze (more) makes me a better mechanic month by month!!

 

Just an update.
My Sonic has been using the Dorman 176° thermostat for over a month now, and our Trax has had it for over 2 weeks, and both passed OBD inspection today.
The spring issue I mentioned above doesnt seem to have made a difference after all, as both vehicles seem to have pretty much the same operating temps on the highway.
Both cars are daily driven, and
no codes have appeared on either vehicle.

 

They are most likely in the radiator end tank. There's literally thousands of Cruzes out there with same issue. No worries.

 

Yeah, as I was tracing the lines, I figured that was where they would end up.

I found one in the radiator water drain pan, but I'm sure it's too big to get out of the drain port at the bottom of the radiator, so it was probably still stuck in the thermostat housing and dropped into the drain pain when the whole thing sprung apart as I removed it.

Thanks!!

 

I’ve been thinking of this same subject recently. Good to know the factory radiator has enough capacity to keep the coolant temps at around 180/190. Radiator is what I was worried about.
I’ve also been considering a larger oil cooler (even if I have to make one myself) to help bring that down to much lower than the current average of 250+/-.
These engines run entirely too hot! I have a Duramax that I use when I make road trips. This little car is primarily for my city trips, like errands. I don’t care one bit if I lose 1 to 2 mpg; I care about the longevity of the drivetrain.
It would take an act of Congress to get me to believe that the condensation has any real and recorded detrimental impacts. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the 90s working on the standard 350s/351s that I have this mindset, but it’s been grilled into my head many years now that heat is the primary “enemy” of engines.

Furthermore, I highly doubt this has any real effect on emissions. Sure, the fuel won’t be atomizing quite as much, but the computer should adjust by dumping slightly less fuel. Either way, to me, the heat this baby engine produces is far more detrimental than anything else.

 

This is the second Cruze Ive done this mod on, and IMO neither car ran any different after the change. The coolant temps are what I consider "normal" now. I checked the temp on this second car with my scan tool after a good long drive, and ECT was 183*. Interior heat is reasonable now, not "burn you out of the car" hot like it was before, too.
There might be --- might be --- a very slight drop in fuel economy, but there are so many variables that I cant be sure.
IMO, these lower temps will help coolant parts last longer, so oil system parts will last longer, so engine will last longer, so car will last longer.

 

Make sure the MAF sensor is plugged in on the air box. While working in that area I forgot to plug it in and the fan stayed on.

 

Keep in mind that I only swapped the internals, the external housing is different only the internals fit!
Here is what you need to get the "guts" from:
Dorman Products - 902-2080
Just a random search and I found it available here, please double check:

https://www.stockwiseauto.com/dorman-902-2080-engine-coolant-thermostat-housing-assembly

Side note, If you look at the thermostat they changed it for later models to open at 180F, the story with "high temp, high pressure, high performance" didn't last too long! The theory was good but if you use high quality parts only!

 

So to be clear, gen 1 cruze still doesn't have the upgrade just like the later models ?

 

Thanks for this write up including parts required
I have just recently done a heap of work to fix oil leaks. New timing chains, new oil cooler and all new cooling system hoses including genuine thermostat. I was not happy with the running temps especially at highway speeds 110c with fans commanded on to cool down. I have now fitted this Dorman thermostat into the genuine housing and the car now runs at 85c on a decent drive. Temp does get up there with extended idling. Will be looking to find someone to change parameters in ecu for desired ECT and possibly trigger cooling fans to come on at a lower temp rather then 107-110c that they come on at now. Seems good so far will update in coming weeks how it goes
Thanks again

also found this regarding fault code setting conditions for low coolant temp. Seems it should be alright as it has different thresholds depending on ambient temperature

 

I’m going to try this out on my gfs 1.4l 2012 that has been doing the exact same thing yours and so many others seem to be doing. Thank you for posting your finds! I love when people take the time to help save other people the frustration!😆👍🏻🙏🏻

 

I just did this change to my car today and, for what it's worth, the 176* thermostat wasn't compatible with the aluminum housing upgrade I have. I used my old housing and so far so good.

 

A friend had a Mini (original1966) and had 2 temperature gauges fitted. One for water and the other for oil. The water ran at 180F and the oil went to 250F, even though he had an oil cooler. I know the diff and transmission are in the sump, but the oil still runs hotter than the coolant in most cars that I have owned.

 

The summer here it gets into the high 90s to low 100s. I have always put lower temp thermostats in my vehicles for this reason. Thanks to Cruise Cruze I can now run a cooler thermostat in my Cruze too

Doing this isn't for everyone. Either is the big brake mod or the PCV mod or the CDV mod.

This information is valuable to those who would like to do this

Sticky this



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One thing many consumers neglect is the cap on the coolant recovery tank. GM uses a 20 PSI cap on the 1.4 liter engine. I just recently replaced the outlet cooling manifold and the upper radiator hose because when the system gets up to normal temperatures coolant was seeping out of the hose at the manifold under pressure. My runnings temps were as high as 240 degrees on hot days running on highways. After I replaced these parts and a new thermostat as well as flushed out and renewed the coolant, temps were marginally lower. Since I've read that the coolant recovery tanks are prone to cracking over time I replaced the tank and cap with a Dorman. Dorman has metal sleeves in the hose fittings for reinforcement under temps and pressures. I pressure tested my old cap on my test bench and found that the original cap bled off at 24.5 psi. Since I live at sea level and in a hot climate I did some calculating on pressures and boiling points so I installed a Dorman 15 psi cap.
This cap actually bled off at 16.5 psi. That is perfect since I was deciding between a 15 or an 18 psi cap. Now my temperatures are running cooler. 215 to 228 degrees Fahrenheit. Right in the range of the rated thermostat of 221 degrees. My point here is replace your cap on your recovery tank. If it fails and starts to hang up the increase pressures might run your temperature up a bit, start pushing coolant out at fittings, but it will stress your plastic fittings, manifold and coolant recovery bottle. It's a cheap fix compared to getting stuck on the road and a tow bill to go with it assuming you didn't damage the engine.

 

If anybody is concerned that the Dorman thermostat is of lower quality, I am also fairly sure that both the stock GM/ACDelco and this Dorman thermostat are made by the same company/plant.
They both say
"made in Czech Republic" on the packaging, have similar numbers and scan codes etched onto the wax pellet body, and where the the GM part# sticker is on the side of the housing, you can see where this sticker has been peeled off of the Dorman, as evidenced by residual adhesive.

 

Not to challenge your claim but I looked at both thermostats on my 1.4 sonic. The Dorman had a different spring retainer, a different guide that slides in and out over the wax pellet housing. The retainer tabs that holds the spring assembly in place are better constructed. I wish I had a photo but I think I would need too take any. The problem is that my OEM was built up with the engine at time of production. Sometime in late 2014. Manufacturers make changes all the time for various reasons.

 

9 psi may be a bit low. I went with a 15 psi cap. For every psi reduction you lower the boiling point of the coolant 3 degrees. That's using a 50/50 mixture of coolant that is still serviceable.
Being at sea level it's not as critical than being at higher elevations. Even though your temperature is lowered by using a different thermostat you still build up pressure in the cooling system. You just don't want the coolant to come close to a boiling point that is lowered by a lower rated cap.