Small hole in Thermostat needed?

[nomad]

So I'm pondering why my engine overheated so quickly and other than a crack or damaged headgasket pumping air into the system combined with losing coolant(did not have major coolant loss evident after initial refill) .

I read that some had drilled a 1/8" hole in th top of the thermostat and this allowed air to escape and coolant to bypass even when the thermostat was closed.

How many people have done this? Is this required? I did not have a hole in the thermostat I removed. The car acted fine on the inital 30 min drive to work in the AM. I think th head gasket or crack let air into the system causing cavitation and overheating again. Could this other thermostat issue be true as well?

[bmwpower]

When I took mine apart someone drilled a bigger hole in the thermostat...my head was still cracked.  Not sure if that was drilled before or after the overheating though....