This is a continuation of a portion of my thread from this weekend about a near overheating problem that I think it deserves a new thread.

I read the FAQs before posting this.

What brands of thermostats and features do Brickboard (BB) members recommend and NOT recommend and why?

How often should I change the thermostat in a Volvo in garaged storage that's not driven and only started up every two weeks until the temperature gauge is mid-N/halfway up?

Here's what I've found out.

One BB member highly recommended Wahler, because it's OEM and uses brass, which better conducts heat and adjusts to the thermostat housing. Yesterday, I bought a new Wahler 87’C/188’F, #273469, thermostat with jiggle pin and gasket for my 1980 242/DL to replace my 12 year-old/current Calorstat #V6578 74'C.

Briefly, here are the circumstances. Last week, my daily driver (Toyota Camry) radiator leaked heavily, so I decided to do preventive maintenance on my garaged/storage 242DL with 143k miles on the dead odometer. It passed smog two months ago. After replacing all cooling system parts (everything was functioning normally, but at least 12 years old), the temperature gauge was on the high side for the first time in the 11 years I owned/stored the 242DL. I that the O'Reilly/Murray thermostat was defective (did NOT open in measured boiling water) and resolved the problem by reinstalling the old Calorstat thermostat.

My current daily driver is a 1989 Toyota Camry and I have a functioning Autozone/Duralast thermostat.

In June 2012, I installed a Motorad #214180JB thermostat without a jiggle pin in my prior car, a Toyota Corolla without any problems (until the car got totalled in an accident).

However, Wahler does NOT make Toyota thermostats, so I'm posting to see what other brands are good.

I checked several Toyota bulletin boards and they gave surprisingly mixed reviews to OEM/Toyota thermostats, complaining about mediocre or excellent quality and in particular the thermostats delaying opening, resulting in transient overheating on the temperature gauge. I read one review that disparaged Autozone/Duralast thermostats.

Stants got great reviews. Stants are apparently OME quality, made of stainless steel, and do NOT use jiggle pins, but rather a proprietary bleed notch in the same location that bleeds air the same way the jiggle pin does. I'm partial to Stant, because I own a great coolant pressure tester.

In the spirit of full disclose, I have NO financial or other potential or actual conflicts of interest in anything automotive-related.

Thanks,