A very interesting thought, Roger, about which I have a few questions below.
Ok, the Freightliner considerations at that time resulted in findings about the air flow, which I only transferred hypothetically to the current situation with the aluminium cooler. Up to now no one has realized the idea with the underbody plate to see what it does. But for me it sounds reasonable even if I have only one clue for it, namely the noticeably better air supply of the air filter, which is placed directly behind the radiator.
Now if we leave (for a moment or may be longer) the ideas of the changed air flow and concentrate only on the thermostat idea.
Sorry if my questions let clearly see that I‘m just a curious layman.
If that's true as you write, Roger, then with one and the same radiator in winter, the average temperature of the engine would also have to rise?
Could a larger radiator (one which works effectively and delivers cooler water at its output) damage the engine because the engine has to run too warm for too long due to the compensation heat of the by-pass hose?
And is there a danger of too much resulting total heat when the thermostat is mounted on the bottom at the cold water inlet side? I wonder if at some point the bypass temperature must be reacted to by a wider opening of the cold part of the mix.
In a Ford service manual I once saw that the thermostat is electrically controlled on some models and, as Richard says, directly controlled by the ECU. But I know that with the 4/4 the thermostat is purely mechanical. Therefore perhaps all works slower?
I have seen when a Thermostat on a 4/4 had to be replaced that it has a 82 degrees C temperatur mark on it. Being located at the cool side of the engine that would plausibly mean that the engine is intended to run a bit hotter than this „starting“ temperature, I would guess around 88 to 90 degrees C as I read the temperature on an OBD but I will recheck this readings.
