Radiator madness

Cooling a hot summer engine

IF you can keep your cool when all
about you are josing theirs and
blaming it on their radiators ...
(with apologies to Rudyard
Kipling). Every year, you see the
same sight -— the steaming radia-
tor, the no less steaming driver, the
disabled car — and it’s so unneces-
sary.

How does your cooling system
work? Coolant circulates through
the engine, picking up engine heat,
and back threugh the radiator,
where it cools. It's that simple. The
components of the system are:

1. Radiator: A core, or tube, is
surrounded by fins of light metal.
The more surface area these fins
expose to the air, the more heat
they can reject.

2. Water Pump: Running off a
belt connected to the engine, the
water pump forces the coolant to
circulate. Keep an eye on the belt to
make sure it’s not worn or cracked.

3. Hoses: The hose running
from the bottom of your radiator
takes coolant into the engine block,

the hose at the top returns hot
coolant to the radiator to be cooled.
There are also hoses running to the
back of the engine compartment —
these are for the heater in your car.

4. Thermostat: The thermostat is
in the return (top) hose. It closes
when cold, to reduce coolant circu-
lation and help your engine warm
up as fast as possible. Then it opens
to maintain a constant engine tem-
perature by regulating the flow of
coolant.

5. Fan: The fan behind the radi-
ator docsn't blaw — it sucks. It
draws air through the radiator to
increase the cooling effect at low
speeds. At highway speeds, it usu-
ally isn’t needed as the ram air from
driving is ample to keep cool.
These fans operate off a thermostat
so they are not using engine power
all ihe time.

6. Pressure Cap: Cooling sys-
tems are pressurized to ratse the
boiling point. This pressure

. NEWS photo Terry Paters

ED Onsori checks the ail leve! on a car
as part of the vehicte'’s reguiar preven-
tative maintenance at Electro-Rad Auto
Service. With summer finally starting ta
heat up, your car’s engine temperature
is an important thing to monitor.

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OR PO OO ek ee ae od

for better
performance

_& fuel economy

depends on the pressure cap on the
radiator (sometimes on the over-
flow reservoir).

7. Overflow Reservoir: Most
cars have a translucent plastic con-
tainer which contains coolart. This
allows you to check the level with-
out opening the radiator.

8. Coolant: We talk about water
cooled engines and water pumps,
but the coolant of choice is actually
a 50/50 mix of ethylene glycol and
water. Water alone would cool the
engine, but it would also lead to
corrosion. The coolant cools the
engine efficiently. resists freezing
in winter, resists boiling in summer,
lubricates the water pump, and
inhibits corrosion.

If 56% coolant is good, then .
70% coolant must be better, right?
Maybe. But straight coolant will ”
turn to slush at -22°C — it performs
better when it’s diluted. Check out -

See Check page 34

Check and clean the throttle body
and replace fuel filter & air cleaner
element and electronically chett-
the injection system. Readjusr the
hase idle speed if necessary, Clean
carbon off of valves, All parts
replaced will be genuine GM Parts.

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Chee,