Your Auto’s Cooling System
Provided By: CarInsurance.com
Last Updated: Monday, October 27, 2008
Learning about your car means finding out what the various systems do for it. The cooling system is not the air conditioning unit that cools you inside of the vehicle but what keeps the engine from overheating. Here is a description of how the cooling system functions in your vehicle.
Let’s take a quick look at list of components that make up your vehicle’s cooling system. The main equipment involved in the cooling process include: coolant, overflow reservoir, water pump, radiator, fan and thermostat. Other parts involved with the cooling system include belts, and hoses and a few sensors.
Your automobile’s engine is constantly burning fuel and causing friction. These two occurrences build up heat. While much of this heat is directed out through the exhaust system some of it is trapped in the engine compartment. The function of the cooling system is to remove excess heat from the engine so that the engine will operate properly.
The engine works best when its coolant is around 200 degrees Fahrenheit (F). When the engine is at the proper temperature it is hot enough to vaporize the fuel but cool enough to allow the engine oil to flow freely and smoothly. If the engine gets too hot it will overheat and parts will possibly be damaged. If the car is too cold than the fluids involved in running the engine cannot flow properly, it is likely the car will not start up.
The cooling system thus does double duty - keeping the engine from getting too hot or too cold. There are two types of cooling systems that can be found on vehicles. The types are air-cooled or liquid-cooled.
With an air-cooled automobile the engine block has metal fins that direct heat away from the cylinders. A powerful fan forces air over the fins thus cooling the engine by pushing the heat into the air. Air-cooled cars are not very common anymore.
When you think of air-cooled vehicles older Volkswagens or Porsches are usually what comes to mind. Newer versions of these vehicles have progressed to liquid cooled due to stricter noise laws in Germany where they are built. The fan that forced the air out was found to be loud, especially compare to liquid-cooled vehicles.
In liquid-cooled automobiles, the cooling system circulates fluid through passageways of the engine block. As the fluid passes through the hot engine parts it absorbs and helps to eliminate heat thus cooling down the engine. The liquid continues through the radiator where heat collected from the cylinders dissipates.
The radiator works as a heat exchanger as it transfers the heat from the liquid to the air blowing through the radiator. After getting cooled off the coolant continues back through the engine. This coolant “cycle” continues as long as the engine is operating.
The cooling system of your car is not complicated. Hopefully this article was able to help you understand the basics of how the cooling system works. Look for more articles on www.carinsurance.com that explain about your car’s other operating systems or components.
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