Stant OE Type Thermostat, Stainless Steel

Works just fine for my SL2 1998 Saturn.My car was running too cool.Getting this installed was not easy for me.You have to remove the radiator hose, which is a pain. I just bought a new one.The heater core hose also interferes with getting out one of the bolts. I couldn't disconnect that hose from the engine block so I disconnected if from the overflow tank and just bent it out of my way.I stripped both bolts. I went to a junk yard to practice, and stripped about 50% of the bolts I worked on for that thermostat.My underlying problem was a worn out 10 mm 12 point socket. Yes. My socket set was over 30 years old and the 10 mm socket was worn. Luckily, my neighbor is a professional and he pointed out the source of my problem, and a new 10 mm 6 point socket solved my problem.The O-ring seemed slightly too big, but my professional neighbor said that wouldn't be problem. He was right.

When I first received this thermostat, I was worried because it said 188°F on the box and the thermostat itself was stamped with a marking of 87°C (which is 188°F). Nonetheless, I installed it because previous commenters had said it worked in Saturn S-series cars. It works perfectly, and the coolant temperature (displayed on my ScanGuage) rises right up to 195°F as advertised. When opening it, be sure to keep the cardboard cylinder that comes in the box. That cardboard tube is used for removing the old piece and installing the new thermostat in the housing. Richpin06a on Youtube has a good video that describes how to do it.

In my application the car was not running correctly. I went through everything before trying the obvious. The install of this went well into my 1997 Saturn, there was an issue the o-ring gasket was a little big but I put some dielectric grease on to hold it in place and once the cover was seated square I tightened down to the proper torque and no leaks. Now the engine warms up nicely and the temperature sensor is not fooled thinking the car is cold. I used to pull up to stop signs and it would idle very high during cold weather. Now it acts like it did in the summer.

It is confusing that the box that says it is an 188F. Of course i wanted the 195F so I almost returned it but then i did some research in discussion forums and one forum about saturn s cars says for the stant 1429 "The initial opening point is 188F and full flow is ~212F, the 195F is the pint where all water is first directed through the radiator and the bypass is closed off. That is the correct part." So this is the right part for saturns. I installed it and it works perfectly. Now my gauge is reading the perfect running temperature. So the story ends well but there were a few problems along the way.First it was very hard to install and i had to file down the metal "wing" things that hold it just a little bit on each wing side to get it to fit. I do not know if you will have the same problem as me, because perhaps it was because my thermostat cover was not the original. Before i realized that this car needed a 195F, i was a fool and first bought a new thermostat that came already in a case cover (the cover is what the thermostat sits in where the hose goes in), So before i got this 195 I threw away the previous case cover which might have been the original case cover. I realized i needed a 195F when i went to discussion forum because i found it strange that when i first changed thermostat with the Oreily's replacement, the car was still running cooler than it should. So this 195 was hard to fit in the case cover i had from the oreily's that was with there wrong temp 85 theromostats. So maybe that is why the 195 did not fit with out some slight mod. Also i was a bit concered because the design of the wings were a bit different, but not so much that it would not hold once i did file them to fit the proper width to twist into place. So you might run into the same problem as me, since i bought this car used i think it already had been replaced with the wrong thermostat. The auto parts stores have in their computer the wrong replacement part. So you might also have the wrong housing.Not only that the gasket that came with this stant was slightly too big, so i reused the one that came with the oreilly's housing. This again could be because of the same thing described above. I also used a bit of red silicone which makes it easier to hold the gasket in when installing into the car.If you have no experience, Changing the thermostat is not that hard. One other thing is to make sure you are using a good socket and ratchet. You do not want to strip the bolts that can be hard to remove on some cars. And if you have the same prob as i did, you can use a file. Since other people seem to not have these issues i think it was not stant's fault but the fault of these autopart store suppliers.I highly recommend these 195F and the price on amazon was fair.

Fits great on my 1996 Saturn SL1. Quality seemed good. The old one was not bad but I was doing some related work so I replaced it. The temp previously ran at "5/16" with the original thermostat and now it is around "7/16" of the temp gauge deflection. The car seems to run just as well as it did before, but I haven't take it through a hot summer yet. It is possible that the mileage improved, but it is probably within the statistical noise of my fill-up records. It seems to have a +3% trend but hard to say from daily driving without tight control of the conditions.Hopefully it will last another 20 years. Maybe I should hope that I am not still driving this car in 20 years?

Ok item

Installed about a month ago in my 2002 Saturn SL1. Engine was running cooler than usual, so I figured I should replace the tstat. Did the ECTS and thermostat at the same time, replaced the coolant, and now my engine is running half way between 1/4 and 1/2. Part seems to work great. I didn't use any RTV sealant and it doesn't leak.The hardest part of the job was working underneath the AC compressor.

This thermostat (made in China) is advertised as a !95 degree thermostat, but the manufacturer of the thermostat specifies it as a 188 degree thermostat. Using the same part number Stant 14279 in a E-Bay search, all listings for this thermostat are spec'd at 188 degrees. Purchased for a 2002 Saturn SL1, engine temp never got past 1/4, same as the old thermostat being replaced. Going with a 192 deg. Motorad 324-192 made in Germany.