Welcome aboard!
----- if the water doesn't stay in the radiator long enough for it to cool down, when it gets back up to the thermostat the water won't be cool enough to shut it...t-stat stays open and the even hotter water flows through the radiator and doesn't get cool enough the subsequent times either.......
hello,
that is a commonly held belief,but incorrect. see this snip from:
14 Rules for Improving Engine Cooling System Capability in High-Performance Automobiles
Produced by the National Automotive Radiator Association (NARSA) and by Richard F. Crook, Transpro, Inc.
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Coolant Flow Rate
Looking at the previous expression, we can see that slowing the coolant down is the wrong way to go. If the heat load is constant, lowering the flow will increase the temperature drop through the radiator, making the bottom tank, or radiator outlet, temperature less than before. If the bottom tank temperature goes down, the top tank temperature must go up to maintain approximately the same average core temperature so that the heat load may be transferred to the cooling air. At the reduced power setting it would rise above 190 degrees F and at 240 hp the engine would be overheating worse than before. In fact, because the lower flow rate results in lower coolant velocity and less “scrubbing action” in the tubes, the average coolant temperature must rise slightly in order to transfer the heat load from the coolant to the cooling air, making matters even worse.
What would happen if we increase the coolant flow? Will it go through the radiator so fast that there won’t be time for cooling to take place? Not at all, from the expression, we can see that if the heat load is constant, increasing the coolant flow rate will reduce the coolant temperature drop through the radiator, resulting in a higher bottom tank temperature. If the bottom tank temperature is increased, the top tank temperature must go down to maintain approximately the same average core temperature. This is what we were hoping to achieve. With the top tank temperature now less that 190 degrees F at the reduced power point, we can expect that the system will be better able to run at 240 hp without overheating, In fact, because the increased coolant flow rate results in a higher coolant flow velocity and better “scrubbing action” in the tubes, the average coolant temperature decreases slightly while transferring the same heat load to the cooling air, further lowering the top tank temperature, resulting in better cooling performance.
From this we see that increasing the coolant flow rate will result in better heat transfer performance. There are some cautions to be observed in increasing coolant flow rate, however. Going too far may result in aeration and foaming of the coolant, possible damage to the radiator by overpressure, cavitation of the pump, due to excessive pressure drop through the radiator, and erosion of the radiator tubes. The ideal coolant flow rate is one that will provide optimum coolant flow velocity through the radiator tubes in the range of 6 to 8 feet per second. Flow velocities above 10 feet per second should be avoided."
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FWIW,I used to think the same,but have wised up to what really happens.
regards,Rod:-D
