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Since summer is upon us, I thought I'd ask a question pertaining to regulating engine heat.

I remember reading somewhere on another forum that running the heater keeps the engine running a degree or two cooler. Can anybody actually confirm this?

Yeah, my automotive intelligence shines again

Let me put it this way, my older 'styque used to run hot, so I took a page from Makinen's ( I think it was Makinen ) book, and used to run the heater if I got stuck in traffic. Kept the engine from overheating, that's for sure.

i've heard of that too, of course the logic being that running the heater will help release heat built up around the engine area thus making it 'cooler'

actually i dont know if im remembering correctly but i was watching a circuit battle on BMI and one of the drivers during the race blabbered about turning the heater on because his oil and the engine began overheating

yes it works

why ?

because the heater core acts as a 2nd(obviously smaller) radiator

Exactly what he said. A heater works by passing the engines coolant through a small heatercore, air going through the heatercore absorbs the heat and is then moved through the vents.

Correct

It was in the endurance battle... It apparently worked too :S lol

Personally I've not had the chance to try this, probably because I'm overly cautious when it comes to the supporting parts of the car. But I'll see if it works or not lol

This post has been edited by DreadAngel on Aug 3 2007, 07:01 PM

lol, when you live in a desert where it gets 117 outside, you learn how to cool a car

other ways may include...

a higher rated pressure cap
ducting(helps enormously)
hoses replaced every 2 years
water pump belts replaced and inpected
water wetter(use 50 water wetter and 50 water, it works)
bigger radiator

and of course, going faster

People use their heaters during drift events to cool em down.

Makinen used it to finish a WRC stage...

Must be fun here in vegas with a rotary

This is vehicle dependant or cooling dependant.
Air cooled vehicles like the VW Beetle has a different way of getting the heat during cold times.
It takes the heat from the exhaust by running air pipes on top of the exhaust pipe and thus heat the air.

Otherwise on water cooled vehicles it works like an extra radiator, the bad effect with this one is that you are the one to get the heat instead so in some cases it might not be an option if you are already being at the boiling point yourself.

I knew I remembered something about it!

Keep the discussion going. I'm eager to read more about this topic.

When you work at Wally-World you need to pinch as many pennies out of daily living as possible! This could be a way to prolong the life of your engine during summer months or in hot climates, me thinks.

I'm pretty sure you can do that, but you can cool the engine by putting it on neutral and revving it to make the cold air flow in the engine faster.

lmao no sry

the heat creatd by the engine moving faster is going to beat any cold air that would have entered the car anyway from a higher rev

well that works on some cars. but its not the cold air entering the engine, its a combination of the water pump truning faster and the radiator fan spinning faster.

HAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH this won't give you that much cooling difference.






okay. On to the topic at hand. Yes, turning on your heater works. Last summer when my electric fans were malfunctioning, I got stuck in stop and go traffic. Turning on the heater to full blast with my windows down my temp gauge about a 1/8 or so...saved my ass for overheating.

This post has been edited by Indecisive on Aug 5 2007, 10:11 PM

The mechanical fan to be exact, just to be found on engines with engines set lengthways instead of sideways, and not even all of them. Those with electric fans will only have the advantage of having the water pump turning faster.


Just clarifying for those that may not catch up on the difference.


Indecisive. what's so funny? The guy's right. This works very well during traffic jams.

This post has been edited by Inygknok on Aug 6 2007, 04:12 AM

How many cars have that nowadays?

barely.

In stop and go all you'll be doing is cooling the engine with slightly cooler hot air and hot water.

I saw this ultra ghetto way of cooling off your radiator.

Basically you rerouted your wiper fluid to the radiator and put some nozzles on it and TADAA!! Okay yeah, it was meant for an intercooler but whats the diff?

Barely? You make it sound like the flow of coolant has little to do with controling an engines temp. Youre removing the load and increasing coolant circulation.

Unfortunately, not as many as before. Usually just SUV's now. Guess the car companies find it more efficient to use electrical fans instead of mechanical fans. Can't argue since they're right. Even if it's just a bit less, at higher crank speeds, the mechanical fan assembly proves to be heavy.


Indecisive.... man, I wish I had a secretary to type for me. Do you know anything about fluid dynamics? And I mean honestly, not stuff you google up and so on so on, like some do. On to the point.


You know how in aerodynamics (which is included in fluid dynamics) how, for example, in a moving vehicle, a small barrier of air is formed across the vehicle, and on top of that "barrier", the incoming air flows over it? I'll give you an even better example that everyone in here should be familiar with. Who here has ever been in a car, doing about 50 or 60 (or more if you want) and stuck your arm far out the window (or top) and do the arm-wave thing against the air? You aim your hand forward, somehow flat, and the hand will swirve up and down. I know most of us have done it. Ok now, have you ever noticed how you can put your hand outside the car, touching the door, and your hand will barely feel the oncoming wind, in contrast to how you can easily feel the wind while sticking the hand completely outside? Your hand, when touching the vehicle like that, is now under, or inside, the wind barrier that forms across the car. They even did this once on Mythbusters, while testing out if pick up trucks should run with the lid up or down. Strange they weren't aware of the results.


Ok, so after this brief explanation. The same thing happens with fluids (hence, fluid dynamics, duhh). Close to the walls around the coolant passages, the same thing that happens with air happens with the coolant. A thin layer is formed, while a rapid stream flows over it (unless you remove the thermostat, which apparently affects this gravely, not sure of the full effects personally). The thin layer absorbs the heat, while the passing "stream" picks it up and drags it away into the radiator. From there on, you're smart enough to know what happens.


Another thing. Ever notice how in a hot day, even if the ambient is rather hot, having a fan next to you, even if it's just blowing hot air, is somehow a bit more pleasing? The air inside the engine bay may be hot, but the air outside isn't. So flowing out the hot air will obviously attract cooler air inside, in order to keep the altitude pressure level. It's like those hood "scoops" (I prefer the word vent for this case) that are in the front of the bonnets, but in reverse. Instead of eating air, they look as if they were there to spit out air. That's the actual purpose. It creates a sort of vacuum that, when driving at a decent speed, the hot air inside will be drawn out by the fast moving air outside due to different pressures.


And finally, hot water is actually somehow necessary. If the water was to be ice cold, it would cause damage to the engine. Are you aware of what happens to metals when they are extremely hot and you pour cold water on them? Not to mention, engine oil needs to be at a certain temperature in order to work at its optimum.


Anything else you wish to mention? I can keep going.

yup.......i do the hand wave all the time.....

but back to all the fluid dynamics.....
or just to the heater......

ive tried it once and it kind of works......but i mean man......it get effen hot....
the funny thing is that, when i leave the switch all the way to HOT, and having it off, it still shoots hot air out to my face....so thats what i do......i roll down the windows when im driving on the streets and then i roll em up a bit when im on the freeway (which is only for 10 minutes, just to get to santa monica,......im so lucky to work at SM ) then i just roll them down.....

one more thing.........PLZ always check ur radiator water at least twice a week.....
i say this with expirience.....anything that could go wrong, WILL go wrong!!!
Most of u know what happens when u dont have water......But nothing really bad happend to my car so its still okay......

oh yeah back to the heater......
doesnt really matter, like i said i just keep it on HOT without turning it on and it will be okay.....

sucks to be me though......NO AC!!!! (good thing i live near the beach! )

Does your car have its compressor? Might just need freon. A friend of mine bought a kit to refill the gas himself for... I think it was $45, over in Florida.

nope it doesnt have a compressor.......
so less weight for me

but not like i need AC anyways.....
im to hot for this city

lol

but i would really need it when i go visit my uncle at san fernando valley.....