Thermostat MotoRad or AISIN

I found an exact copy of the factory thermostat with the baby one next to the primary the Amazon description says it’s good up to a 2000. It’s a Motorad. My temp never moves from the set point.

Big fan of the Motorad SNN-2000-195. Works great.

After doing some research I found that AISIN is likely the supplier for the Subaru OEM thermostats so I ordered them off of Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon) and they appear to be just that. They were close to the same price and are made in Japan. AISIN THF-007/009 appear to be true OEM Subaru thermostats for FB20B

Pick up the AISIN OEM version of your thermostat. It's pretty cheap so no reason not to get the best one instead of some cheaper alternative. Also you can test the function of your thermostat before doing the change by putting it in hot water. You can check the specs of the one you use, but for the AISIN one for my 2012 civic (9th gen), the thermostat starts opening at 170 and is fully open at 190.

Just so happens my clearance thermostat is a Motorad which has the VW/Audi p/n cast on the housing!

I remembered the old thermostat looking like it did, so I waited a few hours to let the engine cool down then swapped the new thermostat for the old one, turned the engine on and no overheating. I've been driving the car as it is for a while now without any problems other than I can't drive long-distance without it running too hot (ex. I drove 4 hours a couple times a year traveling for college, and in the summer the car sometimes would overheat by the time I got to my destination).

I had issues with the MotoRad that every parts store in Canada seems to sell

issue that i noticed is that the jiggle pin is inside the bridge, compared to the standard one. i have installed the thermostat, bled the coolant, and still made sure that the jiggle pin and head gasket carve out lines up at the 12oclock position when installing; but now theres some ticking noise sometimes and i can feel my heater blowing really hot air (warmer than the usual heat).

Motorad isn't a good brand. You don't want to do the job again in a year.

Aisin THF-003 thermostat was used (I believe this is what I'm regretting). It's like the thermostat isn't opening? Everything else seems fine - it's clearly getting hot. Little to no heat at idle. No circulation = overheating of the engine. Is the replacement thermostat stuck shut?