How do modern cars regulate temperature so well?

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As others said, until the import manufactures brought their well engineered cars over, all the public knew were the basic engineered cars the big 3 were pumping out. If you’ve only had ground beef (big 3 cars in the last century) that’s tastes pretty good. However if you’ve also had beef tenderloin, only then will you realise there’s better tasting (better engineered cars) beef available.

Back then cars overheating going up a slight hill on a hot summer day was normal, the public thought that was part of driving a car. Until the import cars starting coming over, it was just expected overheating was part of car ownership even without pulling a trailer.
 
Still...............I want mine to run like modern.
Do I not have enough radiator? Fan?
Better controller?

All of the above?

Jeff
 
Think about all the technology that newer cars have that are meant to keep everything running in a consistent range. They have EFI which keeps the air fuel ratio the same. Also, 4 valve per cylinder heads with variable cam timing, along with ignition systems that can start dropping cylinders if things start to get too hot. Add that to some of the other things already mentioned and our old cars are barbaric. My plan is to run EFI, big radiator, high flow water pump, with the best thermostat I can find, plus electric fans and controller, and hope it keeps my 408 cool.
 
Think about all the technology that newer cars have that are meant to keep everything running in a consistent range. They have EFI which keeps the air fuel ratio the same. Also, 4 valve per cylinder heads with variable cam timing, along with ignition systems that can start dropping cylinders if things start to get too hot. Add that to some of the other things already mentioned and our old cars are barbaric. My plan is to run EFI, big radiator, high flow water pump, with the best thermostat I can find, plus electric fans and controller, and hope it keeps my 408 cool.
Sequential port fuel injection is absolutely in my future build.....
Edelbrock ProFlow 4

Jeff
 
That EFI may bail you out right there. Running lean raises CHT and that increases engine heat. Electronically controlled EGR valving does the same thing, introduces non burning exhaust gas into the intake to keep CHT down and reduce NOx. Its all part of a package that keeps stuff at its optimum temp...and in a modern car that's like 230 to keep combustion at its highest level to reduce emissions. Older cars wont like that high of a temp with their iron heads and poor head designs. Its just evolution of the internal combustion engine, the less heat they release to the radiator, the more it can use to push the pistons down and the more mpg or power it can produce out of 1.6l.
Dont believe the hype on sequential EFI. No performance gains at upper RPM's as they cant fire fast enough sequentially to feed the engine on an open valve.
 
Jeff, Tell us about your Motor. Stock build. Stock cam. Bored over.
Reason why I ask. I've owned a lot Of Mopar's. The Only one I ever had a problem with running
Hot was a '66 Block 440 it was bored .60 over I drove on the street every day. The machine shop
said they needed to go that far over. I wasn't happy about it. That car ran Hot from the day I put it in my
car. Did it have a blocked water jacket. Probably not, But maybe. Or Maybe Cuz less material on the cylinder wall's.:(
I just know That was the only time I had a problem. And I lived in Florida most of my Life. And half of My Mopar's have had A/C.
 
Cars are made better today....
Why can't my Cuda be made better....that is the essence of my thread.

Jeff
If the radiator and fan (be it electric or mechanical) are up to the job, it will cool. That's providing your block isn't full of sludge. I know it doesn't get as hot here as where you live, but I do not deal with cooling issues, even on a 90* day. However, when it's 90, i choose not to be in them... LOL
 
Jeff, Tell us about your Motor. Stock build. Stock cam. Bored over.
Reason why I ask. I've owned a lot Of Mopar's. The Only one I ever had a problem with running
Hot was a '66 Block 440 it was bored .60 over I drove on the street every day. The machine shop
said they needed to go that far over. I wasn't happy about it. That car ran Hot from the day I put it in my
car. Did it have a blocked water jacket. Probably not, But maybe. Or Maybe Cuz less material on the cylinder wall's.:(
I just know That was the only time I had a problem. And I lived in Florida most of my Life. And half of My Mopar's have had A/C.
It's a. 030 over 318 (321) with home ported iron heads, Whiplash cam, stock 8.1:1 compression, Mopar stock iron intake and Edelbrock 4 barrel. Champion aluminum radiator, dual electric fans and an Autocoolguy controller. Dougs D453 headers.

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Jeff
 
Man, nothing in that engine sounds outta whack. I'm sure you have it timed properly. I've never used aluminum radiator or electric fans on the old car's. Always factory radiators and clutch Fan's.
 
Show us that fan setup. Sounds completely coolable with what you got.
 
I moved my '76 318 roadrunner other day, and forget about it, left running a good half hour. Temp still was at its usual 180 degrees. All OEM radiator, fan, shroud, stock engine, etc. Temp was 96 and heat index was bout 106. NO wind. Texas.
Go figure.
 
318willrun is correct , modern vehicles don't have real gauges , as I was told they are merely virtual gauges and will tell you what the manufactures want you to see. None are a directly wired gauge. All pulse width modulated thru the buss and software .The fuel and tachometers are fairly accurate thou.
 
One of the ways modern engines run consistent temps and warm up fast is newer thermostat designs.

They have a second "plug" which controls the bypass. When closed the coolant circulates in the block only, when the Stat opens the radiator comes into play.

Then add on massive flowing electric fans, well sealed core supports, under Chassis aerodynamics which helps evacuate air front-to-rear to prevent hot air being recirculated from the engine bay back to the grille.

Of course not having a big rowdy cam, lots of waste heat, imbalanced cylinder filling, and headers also helps..
 
318willrun is correct , modern vehicles don't have real gauges , as I was told they are merely virtual gauges and will tell you what the manufactures want you to see. None are a directly wired gauge. All pulse width modulated thru the buss and software .The fuel and tachometers are fairly accurate thou.


Woah. I hope the speedometers are accurate too???

I think you might be thinking throttle (or drive) by wire is some sort of witchcraft compared to the traditional throttle cables that had a physical linkage between the gas pedal and carb or throttle body?

Rest assured, throttle or drive by wire is not witchcraft. Nowadays, most cars do not have that cable. Instead, the throttle valve is electronically actuated by the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) using inputs from the accelerator pedal. Based on the inputs, the ECU is programmed to run an actuator (a body which moves under the influence of an external element, most probably an electronic unit). The actuator, in turn, opens the throttle valve or butterfly valve to a specified amount. The actuation process is carried out by a servomotor.
 
Extra note.....radiator to fan is sealed up tighter than a cow's *** at fly time now.

Jeff
 
Add an air dam.

I've noticed my engine will slowly creep up in temp when idling. But if I have any amount of headwind, or just pop the hood release my temps stabilize at the thermostat temp. Hell, if I park somewhere dusty I can actually see air blowing forward from UNDER the car, which I'm sure gets recirculated through the radiator.

One of these days I intend to install an Air dam or even louvered hood vents to see if I can eliminate that.
 
Rad looks tight, great fit on that shroud. Could there a shroud under the rad to the core support so the car is not pulling heated air from under the car? I googled that fan control but came up with the PWM 150 model. Probably just a fancier version of your dial type. So your temp sender is on top reading the motors temp and the controllers sender is on the bottom reading the output of the rad. What happens if you run the controller cooler? What type of stat are you running? Id run that controller at its coolest level and see if the motor responds. if not it may be a circulation issue. I know with an electric pump controller (your could probably do double duty as one) you can run no stat (or just a restrictor) and have the pump off during warm up and start it cranking when the temp starts to climb.
 
Interesting thread. My car acts a lot like Jeff's. (op).

On a 90* day driving around normally, it will stay between 180-190. In bad traffic and lots of red lights it creeps to 205. If it's 75* outside and I'm cruising at 55 mph it runs lower than the thermostat setting of 180.

I don't stress until it starts going over 205.

I wonder if @Ccas can shed some light on the new car cooling.
 
It runs 190 most of the time, but when it's hot outside it climbs over 200 - 205....
That's without AC which I am definitely going to add AND a mild 318 build....couldn't imagine what it would do with AC and more hp (stroker planned in future)
Some days when the outside temperature is mild, 190 around town and 180 on the freeway. ...
It's all over the place.

All seals in place and good condition.

Jeff
That does not seem bad at all.
 
25 degree (or more) temperature swings?
Mine's always been that way. I mean, it's no where near overheating. If it gets to 215° or so, I'd start to be concerned. Assuming you are using 50/50 antifreeze/water, and the stock 14-psi pressure, boilover is way up around around 250° (of course we don't want it running anywhere near that hot!).
 
It's Jamaican voodoo.
Nope... Cajun VooDoo...

As mention they don't put any numbers on the gauges or they flat out lie to you.

The class 8 truck manufacturers used to use good old fashioned analog gauges so the DRIVERS of yesterday could take note of the temps and pressures and report any questionable numbers.

Today's STEERING WHEEL HOLDERS wouldn't know the proper oil pressure or coolant temp if it bit them in the ***. I drive a 2017 Kenworth with 505,000 miles on it. The gauges barely move, or are way off, because KW' s fleet buyers don't want their pussy drivers writing up non exsistant engine issues with every post trip DOT inspection.

Same with the car makers... accurate info would have the service departs swamped with nonsensical complaints about operating systems... everybody would think they own a new Corvette then come in and complain about back seat legroom.
 
The key word on the newer cars is cooling SYSTEM.. This includes the coolant flow within the engine, also.
The main reason the oems don't put numbers on the temp gauges, is they don't want to scare the uninformed driver. I have seen a few vehicles, that have 195 t stats but don't turn on the cooling fans untill about 240 degrees.
 
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