If you have a Direct Connection dealer local to you,they'll have a 180 t-stat,some normal dealers carry them to.
I don't know if they're any better quality though.
48798 is the number for the older 180 Stant,but as far as i know Stant is no more.
Lately Mr Gasket thermostats seem to have one of the better reps,but even they sometimes leave a bit to be desired.
I've had 2 of them go south in short order to.
The days of buying a thermostat and having it last 10 years seem to be over,now if they make 6 months,you've got a good one,and should go buy a lottery ticket.
Before install i throw every new thermostat in a pot of water on the stove,and use a meat thermometer to monitor the water temp just to make sure the new thermostat is opening at it's advertised temp
Thanks,
@Wild one. You were right on the money about a bad thermostat.
Flushed the whole system with distilled water, added a bit of radiator cleaner for good measure, and did the “thermostat delete mod”.
ECT runs rock steady at 185* with no thermostat and just H20. Even driving around for 30 mins, accelerating, idling, cruising… never got above 187-189*.
Fan temp set to 195*, never heard or felt it kick on until I got back home and idled in my driveway for a couple mins. Got up to about 205*, fan kicked on and that baby cooled down to 180* in about 30 secs. That wasn’t happening before, it wasn’t getting below 196* with the fan running almost nonstop.
Interestingly, the Gates t-stat I had in before had “Motorad” stamped on it as does the new Duralast one I just picked up from AutoZone.