goldfish65
Well-Known Member
....to cool the engine down by opening the hood for awhile when you park your car? You know, like in the old black and white movies, you'd see them do this. What do you think, does it make much difference?
When I bring my car home from the cruise ins I pop the hood to let the heat out. The engine will actually get hotter sitting there and will turn on the electric fan automatically. I have a switch for the fan if I decide that I don't want it running but I just leave it on. I never does drain the battery down. It will come on one time then shut off and then come another time then it doesn't come on any longer. It more than likely doesn't make a difference but getting the heat out of the engine bay might make stuff like hoses, wire, etc... last longer. A hood closed with no air circulating is as close to a oven you can get. lol
Good question.
A temperature sensor cycles the fan because the cylinder heat is going into the water and the water is no longer moving. The fan doesn't really cool the engine anyway. It cools the water.
The engine will actually get hotter sitting there and will turn on the electric fan automatically.
This is actually an old wives tale. A shutdown heat source can NOT magically generate heat.
What actually happens is, when you are driving, the cooling system is ejecting heat, but when you park the RESIDUAL heat -- the heat that is already "in" the engine mass -- now transfers some of that heat into the cooling system, and it is actually the COOLANT that gets hotter, not the engine.
Before we had them new'fangled 'lectric fans, it was common to park a vehicle and after a few minutes see it puke coolant either onto the ground or into the overflow tank
Technically, a fan does not "cool the water". All a fan does is create a movement of air. The coolant transfers heat to the metal in the radiator. The radiator they transfers heat to the surrounding air. The fan then moves the heated air out and replaces it with cooler air. When our belt driven beauties stop turning when we shut the engine off, heat is still transfered from coolant to radiator and from radiator to air. There just isn't any air flow (or water flow) to carry the heat away from the radiator. Opening the hood helps in this area as does turning on an electric fan to blow through the radiator. Those of you that have worked in a repair shop in the summer time will attest to that!A temperature sensor cycles the fan because the cylinder heat is going into the water and the water is no longer moving. The fan doesn't really cool the engine anyway. It cools the water.
your splitting hairs...
the engine is no longer running there for not making heat
but the temp still rises after shutting it down...
This is actually an old wives tale. A shutdown heat source can NOT magically generate heat.
What actually happens is, when you are driving, the cooling system is ejecting heat, but when you park the RESIDUAL heat -- the heat that is already "in" the engine mass -- now transfers some of that heat into the cooling system, and it is actually the COOLANT that gets hotter, not the engine.
Before we had them new'fangled 'lectric fans, it was common to park a vehicle and after a few minutes see it puke coolant either onto the ground or into the overflow tank
Box fan, hood open. BOOYAH
Now, now, don't judge. Splitting hairs like that is a skill and a talent. Not a very useful one outside of whipping up dumb arguments on the internet, but a skill and a talent nonetheless.
I'm sure we all agree on that, even the hair-splitter -- especially since if you look back thru the thread, you'll see nobody ever claimed the engine carries on making heat once it's shut down. Let's applaud another skill and talent of the hair-splitter; he appears to be very good at setting up and knocking down straw men.
Yep. Anyone (even the hair-splitter) whose car has a working engine temperature gauge can see for himself. Just stop the engine after you've been out for a long enough drive to bring the engine up to operating temp, turn the ignition back to the "on" position and watch the engine temperature gauge. It'll rise -- high! -- before it begins to creep downward.
I lost track......am I the hairsplitter or is 67dart273?? Maybe both of us....
I lost track......am I the hairsplitter