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bdickens wrote:Never run a modern car without a thermostat. It is too much to go into here, but you can end up causing engine damage over the long haul.

I currently have a 160* thermostat in my car, 1995 Camaro Z28, which practically stays open all the time. It was originally equipped with a 195* thermostat. The reason you MAY want to do this on SOME modren cars it to decrease the engine operating temperature in order to be able to raise the timing for increased performance. Alowing the engine to run at cooler temperatures will also help prevent detonation and pre-ignition. But, like you said, it still has a thermostat, it just stays open all the time.

Dave Ramsey is awesome.

Sounds like you've already fixed your car problem, but for what it's worth, in high school I had an 1982 S-10 that I ran without the thermostat for a long time. It always ran at about 220 degrees idling or driving. There was one summer when we took a road trip in it to Dallas and it was around 103+ degrees, outside temperature, and it ran around 230-240 degrees in that weather. So, I guess depending on vehicle type, you can run without the thermostat, it just may run a little on the hot side. Again, sounds like your not experiencing any more problems, but just from what you had said earlier, if there is boiling water in the resivoir, I would suspect something to do with the radiator cap or blown head gasket possible pressuring up the coolant system and the coolant system reliving into the resivoir. Just my guess.

Also, I had a blown head gasket on my current vehicle and I did not notice any boiling in the radiator. What I saw was the oil had a white milky looking stuff in it. You could see it when you pulled the dip stick out. It also ran a little rougher and had white smoke on startup. Not too much while driving or idling. Good luck!