Increasing coolant concentration to raise coolant temp?
- Thread starter FCD
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I'd look into the sensor sending unit and gauge to verify they are accurate. Otherwise if it is running fine I don't think I'd worry too much...perhaps put some cardboard in front of half of the radiator when it is really cold out.
And by the way....what outdoor ambient temperature are you considering cold?
Not all of them do, it varies by brand, i've checked the SDS for the one i use and it does not contain 2-Eha, on an older SDS i found from 2020 it turns out it did, but it seems they have removed it.
Not very cold, about 40F right now in the mornings, in Jan-Feb it maybe goes a little below freezing sometimes.
60/40 is the normal blend here. 50/50 doesn't offer enough freeze protection (only good to around -35*)
Well, so the coolant arrived today, i drained 1.5L out and dumped the 1.5L of concentrate in, let it run for a bit and then went for a drive around town for a bit, 15 minutes or so, i would have gone longer but we have almost 45mph winds here right now and the roads were littered with tree branches and leaves and i'd rather not scratch my brand new paint job.
I did notice a difference , maybe not huge but after about 10 minutes driving the gauge was creeping up to about a 1/3 and by the time i got back it was somewhere between 1/3 and almost 1/2, just lugging it around not putting my foot down at all between 25-40mph.
If the weather improves tomorrow I'll take it for a longer more "spirited" drive up the mountains, as long as the roads aren't littered with branches or closed, rain is forecast too so we'll see.
I did notice a difference , maybe not huge but after about 10 minutes driving the gauge was creeping up to about a 1/3 and by the time i got back it was somewhere between 1/3 and almost 1/2, just lugging it around not putting my foot down at all between 25-40mph.
If the weather improves tomorrow I'll take it for a longer more "spirited" drive up the mountains, as long as the roads aren't littered with branches or closed, rain is forecast too so we'll see.
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And no, i can never catch all the coolant in the pan , the lower rad hose to the water pump sits right ln top of the crossmember , steering rack, and oil pan guard lol.
I’ve done this coolant trick in a car that struggles to heat up in addition to taller tires and heavier wheels to increase load on the engine. It did improve heat retention in the engine but also lost fuel economy.
I can see taller tires and heavier wheels lowering your mileage but increasing engine temp a bit? i kind of doubt it.
The original wheels and tyres on my car, which are on the car now in the pic you see are 13x5,5, with Pirelli Classic Cinturato CN36 185/70/13 86V tyres ( the exact tyres it came with from the factory BTW )
, but for a couple of years i had some 13x7, 205/60/13 86H Nankang NA-1s on it, cheap Chinesium tyres, but decent, those wheels weighed a lot more than these and i barely noticed any difference in fuel economy, it gets between 18-22 average, then again i only drive it about 3000-4500 miles a year, but Ford recommends 98 RON ( 93 US ) for these engines for some reason, despite only having a 9.0:1 compression ratio, but it does run better on it and with the timing set accordingly, that's that 1.76,5you see there, about 7.04$ per US Gallon , which is great.
The only notiiceable difference was how hard it was to park with the wider wheels without power steering
The original wheels and tyres on my car, which are on the car now in the pic you see are 13x5,5, with Pirelli Classic Cinturato CN36 185/70/13 86V tyres ( the exact tyres it came with from the factory BTW )
, but for a couple of years i had some 13x7, 205/60/13 86H Nankang NA-1s on it, cheap Chinesium tyres, but decent, those wheels weighed a lot more than these and i barely noticed any difference in fuel economy, it gets between 18-22 average, then again i only drive it about 3000-4500 miles a year, but Ford recommends 98 RON ( 93 US ) for these engines for some reason, despite only having a 9.0:1 compression ratio, but it does run better on it and with the timing set accordingly, that's that 1.76,5you see there, about 7.04$ per US Gallon , which is great.The only notiiceable difference was how hard it was to park with the wider wheels without power steering
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I can see taller tires and heavier wheels lowering your mileage but increasing engine temp a bit? i kind of doubt it.
The original wheels and tyres on my car, which are on the car now in the pic you see are 13x5,5, with Pirelli Classic Cinturato CN36 185/70/13 86V tyres ( the exact tyres it came with from the factory BTW )
The only notiiceable difference was how hard it was to park with the wider wheels without power steering
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Engine load determines the heat generated and fuel economy. Taller gearing or increased wheel weight/diameter both increase load on the engine during acceleration. However it doesn’t have an effect while idling or decelerating.
I went up 2.1 % in diameter and added 5 lbs per wheel and I lost 10% in fuel economy at 65 mph. That is from additional load on the engine.
The speedometer was recalibrated as well for the larger tire diameter.
Well, i went for a longer drive today, it was colder than the previous days too but i would say the coolant temp has definitely gone up to a more normal range.
But then, i'm two blocks away from my house and at a stop light the car starts idling rough , like it wants to stall, admittedly i was pretty low on gas , i managed to get home and parked it and it died, the gauge was just barely above the reserve, but usually i can still get a few miles out of it like that.
I thought, that's weird, if i rev the engine it doesn't do anything weird, but it wants to die at idle, it was running great just 5 minutes before!
It starts, although after cranking for longer than normal and dies within a few seconds of running, unless you give it gas, weird.
I took out the idle jets out and they were clean, so was the fuel filter, i pulled the top of the carb off ( Weber 38/38 DGAS ) all clean, float isn't broken, the needle isn't stuck, then i put the inlet hose in a bottle and cranked it over for a few seconds and i barely got a shot glass of gas out of it.
I don't think it's sucked up crap from the bottom of the tank as i cleaned it really well a few years ago, and i drive it very often so it can't be bad gas, i just put gas in it last week, only about 1/3 of a tank in ( call me cheap ), try paying 7$ a Gallon working a middle income job...
So i walked to my nearest gas station and bought 10L of gas, surely enough if it is out of gas, it might be, you can't get new fuel sending units for my model anymore so i had to make a good one out of my used one and another used one i bought... So the gauge may not always be very accurate... I don't think it's the mechanical fuel pump, it's done like 20k miles since i bought it, anyhow, i poured the gas in the tank and tomorrow I'll put the carb back together and hope it was just out of gas
If not i guess i'll start checking the ignition, points, condenser etc ( I have yet to find an electronic ignition system that makes it run right ) , one of the 5 different ones i bought did, for about 3 months ,and one day it just died and left me stranded, luckily i knew this might happen and i had a spare set of points, condenser and the old coil in the trunk and swapped it back in 15 minutes and voilà.
The joys of owning a classic.
But then, i'm two blocks away from my house and at a stop light the car starts idling rough , like it wants to stall, admittedly i was pretty low on gas , i managed to get home and parked it and it died, the gauge was just barely above the reserve, but usually i can still get a few miles out of it like that.
I thought, that's weird, if i rev the engine it doesn't do anything weird, but it wants to die at idle, it was running great just 5 minutes before!
It starts, although after cranking for longer than normal and dies within a few seconds of running, unless you give it gas, weird.
I took out the idle jets out and they were clean, so was the fuel filter, i pulled the top of the carb off ( Weber 38/38 DGAS ) all clean, float isn't broken, the needle isn't stuck, then i put the inlet hose in a bottle and cranked it over for a few seconds and i barely got a shot glass of gas out of it.
I don't think it's sucked up crap from the bottom of the tank as i cleaned it really well a few years ago, and i drive it very often so it can't be bad gas, i just put gas in it last week, only about 1/3 of a tank in ( call me cheap ), try paying 7$ a Gallon working a middle income job...
So i walked to my nearest gas station and bought 10L of gas, surely enough if it is out of gas, it might be, you can't get new fuel sending units for my model anymore so i had to make a good one out of my used one and another used one i bought... So the gauge may not always be very accurate... I don't think it's the mechanical fuel pump, it's done like 20k miles since i bought it, anyhow, i poured the gas in the tank and tomorrow I'll put the carb back together and hope it was just out of gas
If not i guess i'll start checking the ignition, points, condenser etc ( I have yet to find an electronic ignition system that makes it run right ) , one of the 5 different ones i bought did, for about 3 months ,and one day it just died and left me stranded, luckily i knew this might happen and i had a spare set of points, condenser and the old coil in the trunk and swapped it back in 15 minutes and voilà.
The joys of owning a classic.
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Well, yesterday i went out to run some errands around town and afternoon rush hour traffic was horrible, over an hour of stop and go traffic, so the engine had plenty of time to warm up.
When i got home the gauge was **** near the middle so i pulled outthe infrared thermometer and measured the temp at rhe thermostat housing and the top of the intake, ( where the sensor is too ) readings varied from about 82-93c depending on the exact spot ( 180-197F ) so i guess it is warming up and the gauge is just probably not reading quite right, not that that is unexpected from a 70s Ford.
When i got home the gauge was **** near the middle so i pulled outthe infrared thermometer and measured the temp at rhe thermostat housing and the top of the intake, ( where the sensor is too ) readings varied from about 82-93c depending on the exact spot ( 180-197F ) so i guess it is warming up and the gauge is just probably not reading quite right, not that that is unexpected from a 70s Ford.
That's a good-looking Capri.I can see taller tires and heavier wheels lowering your mileage but increasing engine temp a bit? i kind of doubt it.
The original wheels and tyres on my car, which are on the car now in the pic you see are 13x5,5, with Pirelli Classic Cinturato CN36 185/70/13 86V tyres ( the exact tyres it came with from the factory BTW )
The only notiiceable difference was how hard it was to park with the wider wheels without power steering
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Thank you, but make no mistake, it's a daily driver, not a garge queen, i use it to go shopping, carrying stuff from the local home depo type place, helping friends move their stuff from one house to another etc, going to the beach in summer, raining in winter, without exception hehe.
I remember these cars well, cabin heat was never a strong point even when new. Going more than 50/50 bring not much improvements in your climate.
I would check for a partially clogged heater core, anything over 160f should provide plenty of heat in a clear system. I wouldn't do the old cardboard in front of the radiator trick where you are located, A lot of old AMC owners (and others) did that, over heated the engine and lost the bearings.
I would check for a partially clogged heater core, anything over 160f should provide plenty of heat in a clear system. I wouldn't do the old cardboard in front of the radiator trick where you are located, A lot of old AMC owners (and others) did that, over heated the engine and lost the bearings.
This one was sold originally in Finland, so it has the Heavy Duty heating system aswell as mud guards in the front wheel arches.
If you turn the heat on full you roast like a chicken inside.
If you turn the heat on full you roast like a chicken inside.
