Cooling System Theory

0xDEADBEEF said:

There's a balancing act. If the water flows too fast through radiator it won't cool down,

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Sorry to quote such an old post, but this theory irks me. There's no such thing as coolant "flowing too fast through the radiator" because fast flowing coolant is also spending less time in the engine getting hot. It's a two way street basically, you can't have one without the other.


But anyway... this is such an awesome build! I love the drive train choice and the color choice too!

AK 99 said:

Sorry to quote such an old post, but this theory irks me. There's no such thing as coolant "flowing too fast through the radiator" because fast flowing coolant is also spending less time in the engine getting hot. It's a two way street basically, you can't have one without the other.


But anyway... this is such an awesome build! I love the drive train choice and the color choice too!

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If it's spending less time in the engine block getting hot, it's not efficiently pulling heat from the block.

0xDEADBEEF said:

If it's spending less time in the engine block getting hot, it's not efficiently pulling heat from the block.

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That's true-ish. But that also means that the coolant is entering into the radiator at a lower temperature.

It's just a theory that has been proven incorrect oodles of times. Hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of people have run with no thermostat and the only side effect is a lack of engine heat in cooler temps. No effects on the ability to cool the engine while working hard in hot weather.

AK 99 said:

That's true-ish. But that also means that the coolant is entering into the radiator at a lower temperature.

It's just a theory that has been proven incorrect oodles of times. Hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of people have run with no thermostat and the only side effect is a lack of engine heat in cooler temps. No effects on the ability to cool the engine while working hard in hot weather.

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The whole idea of the system is to keep the engine cooler, not the water cooler.

I have experimented with running no thermostat on cars that only see the track and my results (not temperature) were better with any thermostat. Once I got some heat in the system the top hose kept blowing off without a thermostat.

0xDEADBEEF said:

The whole idea of the system is to keep the engine cooler, not the water cooler.

I have experimented with running no thermostat on cars that only see the track and my results (not temperature) were better with any thermostat. Once I got some heat in the system the top hose kept blowing off without a thermostat.

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Right, and colder water has a better chance of cooling the block.

I certainly don't claim to be an expert on the subject and the science behind it. All I know is that many many people besides myself have run a truck, pulling a load, with no thermostat and it has not performed any less favorable in any sort of way, compared to with a thermostat.

P.S. I'm not trying to start an argument, just having a discussion. I just wanted to say that since it's the internet and it can be hard to tell sometimes.

AK 99 said:

Right, and colder water has a better chance of cooling the block.

I certainly don't claim to be an expert on the subject and the science behind it. All I know is that many many people besides myself have run a truck, pulling a load, with no thermostat and it has not performed any less favorable in any sort of way, compared to with a thermostat.

P.S. I'm not trying to start an argument, just having a discussion. I just wanted to say that since it's the internet and it can be hard to tell sometimes.

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Heat doesn't transfer instantly.

Nothing bad results for me when not running a thermostat. I did some research into at the time, but it was a while ago now. One difference may be that I did this with an LS engine (C5 Corvette).

I enjoy both arguments and discussions.

I live in the camp that says a thermostat helps give you a functional cooling system. I use them in everything, always drill a small hole in them.

Sean Buick 76 said:

I live in the camp that says a thermostat helps give you a functional cooling system. I use them in everything, always drill a small hole in them.

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I agree, the thermostat helps to get the engine up to temp quicker and hold it at that optimum temp while running under differing loads. The ECU is programmed to work best at a given temp so lowering the thermostat rating, or removing it altogether, can have unforeseen results. Also remember that the water cools the combustion chambers, and the oil cools the internal components, so the cooling system directly affects the combustion characteristics.

AK 99 said:

Sorry to quote such an old post, but this theory irks me. There's no such thing as coolant "flowing too fast through the radiator" because fast flowing coolant is also spending less time in the engine getting hot. It's a two way street basically, you can't have one without the other.


But anyway... this is such an awesome build! I love the drive train choice and the color choice too!

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The problem is cavitation, and it's completely dependent on the engine and vehicle in question.

The cooling system is pressurized, and as the coolant flows the resistance to the flow created by the water pump is what makes the pressure. The thermostat is a point of restriction, but not the only point.

Cavitation happens when coolant under pressure passes the last restriction before the water pump. If the pressure in the system is low enough, the coolant can boil and the water pump cavitates, which means coolant doesn't flow again for a few seconds until the coolant (hopefully) returns to liquid form.

It happens on some cars, and not on others when you remove the thermostat. Your best bet for removing the thermostat on any car is to remove the center of the thermostat and leave the outer ring.

I found this video. No idea who this guy is or what his credentials are if any, but this jives with my understanding of it (which could be wrong, I'm just a code monkey) and experience.