possible overcooling issues....(new food for thought)

[y87inside]

As yall may or may not know, im currently a student at Louisiana Tech College enrolled in the automotive technolgy program. In one of my books, (a really good one) Modern Automotive Technology, there is discussion of issues with overcooling your vehicle. Most of which have been talked about on this board....poor fuel economy, more emissions, insuffcient warmth from the heater etc. One that it talked about ive never seen discused here..... "Overcooling can cause increased part wear. Because parts are not at full operating temperature, their clearances will be too great. The parts will not expand enough to produce the correct fit." This does make sense being that their are some engine parts clearances that must be accurate to thousanths of an inch. Any insight into this?

[ianwells100]

me personally, wouldn't put a 160 thermo on my car, i live in vancouver, kinda chilly in the winter, but definately a cold engine isn't gonna wanna be thrashed around, as its not up to 'operating' temperature... basically, i'm just saying that its common sense that when the engine's cold, the fluids aren't flowing around fully, not protecting everything, and yeah, just that things aren't up to the temperature they were designed to operate at...

sorry if what i've said makes no sense...

[firebird1]

now thats just silly, :D seriously, i have a 160 thermo, and running temp is always ~180, it could be 10 degrees or 100 degrees. havent had a single problem. i does take longer to get hot, but thats what engines do

[ReodDai]

160 thermo doesn't nothing on its own but run coolant through the engine sooner. The coolant can only get so cool without the cooling fans running. Even with the fans running the coolant can only reach a certain temperature which wouldn't be low enough to keep a running engine under 170degrees is most circumstances. Therefore you won't overcool a car by putting a 160deg thermo in it and setting the fans to turn on sooner. Unless you live in a very very cold places that you would actually require the TB coolant line.

[y87inside]

Originally posted by ReodDai:
160 Even with the fans running the coolant can only reach a certain temperature which wouldn't be low enough to keep a running engine under 170degrees is most circumstances.

True but, Even if the coolant temp was at 180 degrees with the 160 stat and fan switch installed...... thats still 40 degrees off from what our cars were designed to run at right? Stock fans kick on at what, 210-220? I dont know how much expanding the metal in our engine does + or - 40 degrees, but again we are talking thousanths of an inch of clearance. I just wonder if its enough to put parts out of spec clearance tolerances.

[navyblue2000]

keep your foot out of the gas when the car and weather is cold and you'll be fine [img]graemlins/slap.gif[/img] ;)

[ReodDai]

actually coolant at 180 would only be 15 degrees under stock. Since your thermo is suppose to keep the car at 195degrees at all times and kick on the fans if you get to 210. Most 160deg thermo cars operate at 170-185 degress which is more than warm enough for operating and still cool enough to benefit performance wise.

[hockeyman]

Heat is "any" engine's worst enemy. I don't see how running a cooler temp will ruin it. I've been running a 180* or lower thermo in my past 3 cars over 7 years now, and they run top-notch.
Maybe running an engine less than 160* will lead to it's demise, but not anything more...just my opinion.

-Marc

[ November 20, 2003: Message edited by: hockeyman ]</p>

[navyblue2000]

the problem with 160*, really, is that cursed engine light from running open loop too long.

I run a 180* thermostat, and without fans, when moving, stays a constant low 170's, sometimes high 160's in winter. without fans stopped it gets up to the 190's, low 200's, but that's expected...with fans on it never gets above 200 stationary.

[strange_trp]

160* = longer warm-up times = more chance for blow-by contamination and cylinder wall wash from the excessively rich warm-up mixture. this leads to oil dilution and reduced lubricating efficiency.
160 no.
180 0k.
plus the cutoff ECT for closed/open loop operation (idle rpm, trans shift points, fuel mixture, ses light) on many vehicles is around 156-158.

[Justin Kirkham]

I have a 160... my fuel efficiency went up... beyond that I have no data.

Oh, and my car usually runs at about 175-180. I think that's just fine. Now, if it was at 160, I might be concerned, but my car it rarely below 170.

-Justin

[NightEye]

Help me understand something?

Why is a too-cold engine not a good thing? Does it have something to do with causing too much friction between moving parts and lead to quicker wear & tear?

[ReodDai]

Fluids in your engine must reach a certain temperature to operate right. Vicosity of oil at certain temperatures is different.

[NightEye]

So for our cars, 160 is too low for the fluids? Or just low enough to possibly cause problems?