>Funny thing I have noticed over the years is that while anti-
>freze supposedly raises the boiling point, it also lowers the specific heat
>(or is it lowers the conductivity). The effect is that while your boilover
>protection is higher if you have a good coolant mixture, your engine will
>actually run hotter because it is carrying heat away from the engine slightly
>more slowly. I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed that?
Yup, though it's usually more empirical, as in the
advice the Healey Store used to give out. We put it
in a newsletter column at least once, though it was
more simply put.
For the record: A 50-50 blend of antifreeze and water
provides the optimum efficiency for most modern cooling
systems (since this is british-cars and not info-vw,
I won't add comments about liquid-cooled vehicles only :-).
If you run more than 50% coolant, your engine will run
hotter, though the boiling point will be higher. A 50-50
blend gives the best compromise between a raised boiling
point and cooler temperatures, so if your car is running
hot, make sure you have a 50-50 blend in the system.
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