

Another is the faster a fan turns the better. When it comes to engine cooling fans, one belief is the more blades you have the better. Always run an anti-collapse spring in the lower radiator hose. This has never been true because there’s positive pressure on the lower hose during fill. Another hose manufacturer states you don’t need the anti-collapse spring because it was used only for factory-fill purposes. The anti-collapse spring prevents hose collapse. Because the lower radiator hose channels coolant to the water pump and engine, it is susceptible to negative pressure and collapse at high rpm. Truth-you must have an anti-collapse spring in the lower radiator hose if you have an older vehicle with a conventional cooling system. There are those, including hose manufacturers, who believe you don’t need an anti-collapse spring in the lower radiator hose. Also use a coolant enhancer like Water Wetter, which improves surface tension and heat conductivity. If you’re running straight water, always add water pump lubricant and a corrosion inhibitor. Straight water in your cooling system is a bad thing. Never operate your engine without a thermostat.Īnother myth is “water is the best coolant.” While that IS true, the caveat here is that water is also the best source of corrosion. Even on the open road, coolant never has a chance to park in the radiator long enough to give up heat energy to the atmosphere. When coolant never has a chance to give up heat via the radiator it gets hotter and hotter especially if you’re stuck in traffic. Removing a thermostat only adds insult to injury. One of the greatest cooling system myths is to remove the thermostat to eliminate overheating. 6 Cooling System Myths & SolutionsĮngines overheat or run too cool because we keep making the same mistakes again and again. Excessive compression ratio and incorrect valve timing can cause overheating. Incorrectly installed cylinder head gaskets and intake manifold gaskets can cause overheating. Debris in the water jackets will cause overheating. We’ve seen trash in water jackets from factory machining operations and freeze plugs carelessly knocked inside water jackets during teardowns. There are hidden reasons why engines overheat. That temperature range is achieved with a right-sized radiator and fan combo, along with appropriate water pump speed and coolant flow between engine and radiator.įor engines to operate properly they need a constant temperature range in which to operate. An engine’s cooling system has a tricky juggling act of keeping an engine in the 180 to 210 degree F window. Your engine’s cooling system is there to do one thing-to extract enough heat to keep an engine happy yet maintain enough heat to keep an engine efficient. There are many misconceptions about engine cooling yet there’s one basic truth. To do this effectively, you want sufficient coolant flow through the water jackets, yet at a reasonable speed to where it takes on and transfers enough heat to remain at a constant temperature. To be effective, a cooling system must give up more heat than it takes on from the engine. Yet, the question remains: Why Do Engines Overheat? Solutions have even transcended the cooling system with electronic engine control, improved cam profiles, oil coolers, and even better exhaust scavenging.ĭid you know the average engine gives up 75 percent of its heat to the air? Your engine gives it all away via the cooling system, exhaust system, and heat transfer to the air around it.

In fact-we’ve become better at it in recent decades with better radiators, water pumps, and cooling fans.
COOLANT ENGINE FACTORY HOW TO
(Air cooled engines aren’t mainstream unless you own a Corvair, VW, or a motorcycle, so we’re not going to talk about them here.)Īs the internal combustion engine has evolved, we’ve become versed on how to deal with overheating (and underheating) issues in fluid-cooled engines. For as long as there have been internal combustion engines, there have been cooling systems-either air or water cooled.
