how often could/would a thermostat go bad n stick?

Today my iroc heated up and i thought my fan switch blew out cause i've had no heating problems at all. The water pump is almost brand new so i'm pretty sure its the thermostat, it sat over the winter in a garage. I didn't get a chance to change it due to the darkness but was curious on how often they go bad n stick.

 

yeah they can really go bad at any time, sometimes even a new one wont work right. i bought the best 180 stant one thats fail safe and stays open if it fails.

 

In my 30+ years of messing with cars I have only had one bad stat. They are pretty remarkable little devices. Most of the time they get gummed up from contaminated coolant. If the car is stored for prolonged periods of time it's a good idea to change the cap and stat every 2 yrs. Ditto for the coolant unless it's the newer style long life type(Dexcool). Thats the normal service interval anyway but I would be more religious about it if it get stored and not run at all.

 

Yeah, changing the stat every two years or so would be a good preventative maintenance measure.