A good flush a fill may be in order unless you already did when the raid was replaced. Removing the T stat will not cause it to overheat faster.....this is a common belief but is just a myth. The system mean temp will be higher but the cooling rate will be the same. Is the new raid of the same cooling capacity?? It may look the same but does it have as many tubes, fins and tank volume.
Here is what I do;
Use a Stant heavy duty 190* Safety Stat. These have much better flow and if they go bad they stick open not closed. Drill a 3/32 hole in the port area of the stat as a bypass. This helps the stat "read" the water temp a little better than all the water just going through the bypass hose. (you may have seen this on some OEM stats)
Use only enough good quality, long life anti freeze to keep from freezing in your area. 70/30 should be fine. Plain water has much better heat transfer properties and ALWAYS, ALWAYS use distilled water. Tap water has all kinds of crap in it that you don't want in your cooling system.
Put in a quart of "water wetter". There are different brands out there but it's pretty much all the same stuff. This reduces the water's surface tension which aids in cooling and it usually has some extra corrosion and anti foam inhibitors.
Use at least a 13lb cap. This will keep your boiling temp at about 225-230 degrees.
Do this and you should be fine. My 460 will idle in traffic all day on a 90* day with no problem. I have twin pancake pusher fans on a t-stat and the only time they run is when I'm in traffic for awhile.
Go to
www.radiator.com for more good info.
Ray