chasing the last few degrees of coolant temp.

[Dave 2000]

Winter where I live on the coast is rarely below 4 degrees C however, yesterday it was 10 on the coast and a 30 minute drive inland over the mountains and we were at -4 C and in snow.

Me and my big mouth, the snow hit the south coast! So our little village was temporarily cut off in the evening, worst weather in the region for 30 years and one area the first snow for 80 years! Hmmmm......go to work inland where it is colder or stay at home....decisions decisions.

regards

Dave

 

[bugsnbikes]

when i deleted the cats i saw an immediate 2geg temp drop overall with up to 10deg drop on the high end/long low uphill climbs and noticeably quicker temp drops when cresting hills. my cats were 163k miles old and not plugged. my overall inference is that cats do back up the heat and aid in heatsoak of the engine on longer drives. ive often wondered if installing a fan above the headers and aimed to evacuate heat (blow it down into the underbody airflow stream) would help with heatsoaking of the engine.

 

[Dave 2000]

Cats are in effect a partial blockage, and they really do heat up, now they are removed you may find you pick up the odd MPG as well as less heat soak. Fans above the headers would be different but unsure how effective they would be? If the headers are cast then they would hold heat for quite some time, tube headers cool pretty quick IME without any help.

Perhaps fit the cooling fan which was OE in hotter climates in front of the radiator, it could be put through a timer relay that activates when you switch off the motor, the VC stops and the electric takes over?

Mine (all electric/no VC) is wired so it can come on/stay on regardless of ignition position, I know it helps a little with under bonnet temps but not do much for actual engine temps, you would need to go to an electric water pump for that to be effective.


regards

Dave