Thursday, August 5, 2010

Engine Overheating: Causes & Cures

Internal combustion engines run on heat. Chemical energy in the fuel is transformed into thermal energy when the fuel burns, which produces mechanical energy to push the pistons, spin the crankshaft and drive the vehicle down the road.

As efficient as today's engines are, they still waste a LOT of the heat energy they produce. The average gasoline engine is only about 22 to 28% efficient. That means over two-thirds of the heat produced by each gallon of fuel either goes out the tailpipe or is soaked up by the engine itself. Diesels squeeze a little more bang out of each buck's worth of fuel with efficiently ratings of 32 to 38%, but even that leaves a lot of waste heat that must be managed and carried away by the cooling system.

Ironically, the hotter an engine runs the more efficient it becomes.

But how hot is too hot?

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