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Basic Cooling System Theory

If you actually sit down and think about it, the Internal Combustion engine is an extremely inefficient way to provide the power for a car. The majority of the energy provided by the fuel provides heat and this is wasted. If this isn’t removed quickly then this causes the engine to become so hot that the parts melt!

Enter the cooling system. This system exists to remove excess heat. As the efficiency of engines has improved over the years, the various systems designed to provide cooling have got smaller and smaller. In the 1950’S the average cooling system was large enough to contain 24 or more litres of coolant. Nowadays the average is in the region of 8........

The way the whole thing works is really quite simple. The heat is transferred from the hot engine parts to the coolant, which flows to the radiator where the heat gets transferred to the air that is flowing through the fins. Then the coolant flows back into the engine where it picks up more heat and so on .

The main problem that occurs is problems with the flow. Flow problems are pretty simple to figure out, usually there is an obstruction such as a stuck thermostat, water pump not turning, collapsed radiator hose, plugged radiator, air bubble in the engine, etc......