Thermostat Wahler or MotoRad

I've had the thermostat on my M272 engine replaced by an indy mechanic. OEM was Wahler, looking at the original the the Wahler I got, the only difference was the spot where the MB logo was on the original, it was grounded out by some grinding disk on the replacement one.

I use them all the time with no issues.

I used one of the MotoRad safety thermostat's that have a 1/16" hole already in them, in my 84. So.. No, I don't think you'll have any problems adding a hole.

Replaced the new Mahle/Behr one with a new Wahler one, and now it runs at 97° under low load and 80° under high load, as it should, and seems to be fine.

Every 6-7 months the cheap garbage scam of a brand Motorrad remains to be the only available thermostat I can access. I do the temp gun test, I verify my sensors are correct. I burp the cooling system. Everything. I’ve gotten so good at the job now. Every brand of thermostat I’ve tried in Canada is a Reboxed Motorrad. Premium to Economy. 7$-25 they’re all the stupid same. Parts source, Gates , Napa , Autovalue , “mopar” from my dealer. All Motorrad at different prices. I know of 2 they make, the standard oe 195 which is usually economy line. And the fail safe one they make. Both have catastrophic failures, either get stuck open, spring blows apart. Usually after 6-7 months they stop working entirely or the thing slowly stops letting the Jeep get to temp and I dread reliving the Motorrad Groundhog Day effect. It’s a garbage thermostat. People have argued with me that they make OEM equivalent parts and they never have issues but I’ve had nothing but issues.

I had to replace mine again after 6 months.

I had two Wahlers and they leaked as soon as I fitted them. In exactly the way you described.

I got the wahler one in 2019, that would explain the really slow leak I have.

My Wahler thermostat starts to leak after 4 years. It's not a big leak (only a cup a month) but I'd swap it asap.

Just not Motorad--unless you want to replace it again in 6 months