Oro

I believe I need a thermostat for the 09 GS350awd. I drove it about 2 miles to church this morning, parked it. On the way back, I noticed the temp never got above the 1st bar (five o’clock position relatively). I never get to drive this car (I am generally only allowed to work on it), but that has to be stuck open. Granted only 2 miles, but any car I know of would be full warm by then. It has 180k on it so not unreasonable that the tstat could be Kevorked. I am hung over and I do not want to go drive it any more to test it.

So, question: is an OE thermostat/housing substantially better than aftermarket? I know with the 1 and 3mz engines, this is in fact the case (or at least get Denso and not Stant, etc). However they are substantially cheaper than these, so I thought I’d ask folks.

ETA: Oh, I just saw an Aisin one on RockAuto for $30. I had seen dealer ones for like $150. I’m assuming Aisin is OE or at least OE quality on this part, correct?

LeX2K

I've tried several aftermarket 'stats including Kuzeh they did not perform as well. This part lasts 20+ years bite the bullet and get OEM you won't be replacing it again.

edit - Amayama has the thermostat assembly for a good price.

Oro

Huh - not familiar with them. Looks good. $25.50 and $10 shipping. A little wait but not a crisis.

So they are all OEM parts guaranteed? I’d trust Aisin offhand, but if that’s what they say I will go with what you suggest. Thanks!

LeX2K

Amayama is legit you get genuine Toyota parts for less in some cases much less. Especially good for smaller parts shipping will be reasonable. Takes about 3 weeks to Canada probably a bit less for the United States. Downside is if you see no specific inventory number it will take time to verify availability. So you wait and probably find out part is NLA. You don't get charged of course but somewhat frustrating.

Oro

Gee, this is great to know about.

So you have been holding this back from me for what, 10 years? (joke of course)

Seriously, I’m glad you pointed this out. Thank you.

mspearl95

I'd stick with OEM whenever possible.

LeX2K

I have probably mentioned Amayama 50 times on this forum. But at least now you know.

Oro

Yes, I probably saw the word and didn’t understand the deal with them. Glad I know now. Glad you mentioned it again, I was just joking before. If that deal is indicative of their pricing/shipping,etc - I will use them a lot. I have a few decent sized projects I need to this spring/summer on a couple different cars (long term maintenance stuff - tbelt, suspension refresh, etc.). This could be great for things you plan ahead. The shipping time listed was three weeks to the US west coast; I’ll order this part and see what it is in reality.

LeX2K

I know.

I've even bought exhaust parts from Amayama they will ship if it's not too long. Amayama, Partsouq and others are usually used to source parts no longer available from the usual channels like dealers. But sometimes parts are drastically cheaper vs. dealerships including online.

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

I run the aisin, perfectly good. But if the water pump has never been replaced, then I would replace that with aisan or oem WT. As they are common to go bad at 90k miles. It would also be good to replace the coolant cap while your at it.