With the onset of summer, I've noticed that my 2001 XJ is climbing over the 210degF mark on the temperature gauge. This happens in motion, in traffic, on trails, A/C on or off. It doesn't get hot enough that it's going into the red or that the electric fan can't bring it back down, but it is crawling up to around the 220-225degF mark - just enough to make me antsy.
This has me a bit concerned as I'll be heading out to Las Vegas later this month, as well as doing some running around out in the desert while I'm there. The plan is to change out the coolant before I leave (just did the tranny last weekend, which has helped a bit), but I'm thinking of going to a 180degF thermostat at the same time.
My question is this: though the engine should run a bit cooler, will the engine management richen the mixture to raise the temperature? My concern is that there's no point dropping in the cooler thermostat if I'm just going to end up hurting fuel economy (and risking a smog test failure) while receiving no real additional cooling benefit.
Oh, and those LeBaron vents look like a good idea, too. I'm adding that to the to-do list for cheap & easy mods.
This has me a bit concerned as I'll be heading out to Las Vegas later this month, as well as doing some running around out in the desert while I'm there. The plan is to change out the coolant before I leave (just did the tranny last weekend, which has helped a bit), but I'm thinking of going to a 180degF thermostat at the same time.
My question is this: though the engine should run a bit cooler, will the engine management richen the mixture to raise the temperature? My concern is that there's no point dropping in the cooler thermostat if I'm just going to end up hurting fuel economy (and risking a smog test failure) while receiving no real additional cooling benefit.
Oh, and those LeBaron vents look like a good idea, too. I'm adding that to the to-do list for cheap & easy mods.