Is it okay to run my car 2006 Dodge Stratus without a thermostat? It's been overheating we took the thermostat out and it seemed to have worked how long should I go without putting in another one or iis it okay to run my car 2006 Dodge Stratus without a thermostat? It's been overheating we took the thermostat out and it seemed to have worked how long should I go without putting in another one or is it okay to run it without one during the summer

No. It's not ok. They put thermostats in for more than one reason. It won't warm up and go in to proper ignition timing, (complex thing with sensors) and could eventually overheat from coolant not staying in radiator long enough to cool

It's not VERY critical, you can run it a while but recommend not all summer

I tried doing that years ago with an old Pontiac Fiero I had that used to overheat a LOT! This was one of the contributing factors to me having to get a rebuilt engine! So, NO! It's NOT ok to run the car without the thermostat.

Thank you! I have another question; what could cause my car to be overheating? since we know now that the thermostat was bad, we replaced it and got a bad one! That's why it's out now so we could test it and see if it changed the problem. We are going to flush the radiator and put the proper fluid in it too! Someone put the green kind in and the specs call for the orange kind. Is there anything else that could be causing it to heat up? I have had someone look at it and they said all the other parts are good.

If red/orange coolant was in it and green propylene glycol got added and they mixed..well there may be the problem. But if you mean it was changed to green, flushed, then not so much a problem but do that..flush it and use what the owners manual says