I grew up in a town with lots of factory trained Mercedes mechanics and
other German car mechanics sent here primarily to take care of the cars of
Dr. Von Braun and his staff. It was common practice for them to drill such
a hole in thermostats. Wolfgang Von Fricke, best mechanic around here ever
(his wife still operates his business) did it. I have seen them come out of
the box that way. I have used them with a hole and without a hole all my
life. I cannot tell a seconds difference in the warmup time between the two
styles. No advantages, but no problems.

Jim

On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 2:08 PM Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Be sure that the person giving that advice is never allowed to work on
> your van. The Vanagon cooling system is massive considering the small size
> of the engine. Any bypass from the radiator in cold weather seriously takes
> away from the engines’ ability to warm up. There already is a bypass bleed
> valve there for service only. Having the tstat close completely is so
> important there is a rubber seal on the top disc. If you have an
> overheating problem destroying the tstat is not a fix.
>
> Sent from Outlook Mail<http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550987> for
> Windows 10 phone
>
>
> From: Dan N<mailto:dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2016 1:02 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM<mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Subject: Drilling a hole on thermostat?
>
> hi all,
>
> someone told me to drill an 1/8" hole on a new thermostat. The original one
> doesn't have it. Is there any benefit (or problem) by doing this?
>
> please help
>
> thanks
>
> dan
>