At 08:07 AM 9/28/2001, Geoff Branch wrote:
>Ahhh, but won't more time in the radiator to dissepate heat mean more time in
>the engine to pick up heat??? Where is Ron Soave when we need a lesson in
>thermodynamics?
===
Yes, exactly! And that is what you desire... heat transfer from the block
to the air. The more heat transferred, the better (to a point, for fuel
burn efficiency). We are not trying to lower the temperature reading on the
gauge, we are trying to lower the engine temperature.
The mistake sometimes made is to interpret a gauge's low readings
as being a sign of good, efficient cooling when in fact it could be that
heat from the iron is not being transferred adequately to the coolant. I
sometimes liken it to trying to cool a chunk of red-hot iron given only 5
gallons of water to work with. Which would you rather employ, a spray or a
dunk. This is the case for not removing a thermostat which is meant to
inhibit the flow. Many heads have warped due to overheating in an engine
without a 'stat.
The coolant needs to go slow enough through the engine to pick up
the heat, but not too slow or the temperature difference between iron and
coolant wont be great enough. It also need to go slow enough through the
radiator to give off heat. By the same token, air needs to flow through the
radiator slow enough to pick up heat, but not too slow so that the hot air
lingers lessening the heat differential between coolant and air.
BTW, the coolant also needs to go past the gauge sensor slow
enough to transfer the heat to the bulb. I don't think it can go too
slowly, however, to adversely affect the true temperature reading.
HTH Peter C
Mr Soave seems to have gone West, temporarily.
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