The recommended thermostat is 195º (not 180 or 165) and as I said before, a properly functioning thermostat will have absolutely no effect on temperatures above it's rating. It's open, what more can it do?

 

That's good!! Shoot the thermostat housing with an IR gun and verify your gauge accuracy.

 

Well I think ill toss a new tstat in and see the difference. Its kinda been bugging me not having it in there.

 

My 2000 wrangler I had ran at 210 all the time. It had the 4.0 and my 92 runs at 210 down to 175. I never take the tstat out unless it is froze shut.

 

The new stat I have on the shelf is a napa 195* what are people's thoughts on this one? To high... I saw to run the factory one. Is this close

 

195 is the specified stat. Factory stats have performed way better than Napa stats for me.

 

Test it in a pan of water on top the stove using a cooking thermometer....that way u can verify the "1st open" temp (the stats rating), then u can verify that it opens smoothly/slowly as the temp continues to rise and finally u can verify that it is wide open (about 1/4") +/- 15 degrees above it's rated temp. Don't toss it into boiling water.....that tells u virtually nothing and it's not exposed to boiling water inside the motor.

 

I believe a thermostat should only be removed in an emergency situation where it has stuck shut, and you have to get the vehicle moving to get it home, or to a shop, ect..

This being said, I believe it was mentioned above to check the accuracy of your sending unit/gauge...

My gauge was reading colder than usual, and when I did my valve cover gasket, I went ahead and threw a new sending unit in since its a PITA to get to with the valve cover on... reading went back up to normal (210) on my gauge..

I'm pretty bad about throwing new parts on when I can access them or remove them for another job, so don't follow that route, just an informative case..