Quote:
Originally Posted by COcyclist
Aerohead is right on this one and I have used this trick many times, with the heat on full blast and the windows down. Climbing these long mountain passes will make the coolant heat up. I did have a question for the OP. Did your car boil or steam? Are you sure it overheated? Personally, I don't get too concerned if the Scanguage reads 205º or even higher. Boiling is 212º at sea level and you have a 15 lb. pressure cap on you radiator that raises the boiling point even higher. Also, on most modern cars the temperature guage acts more like an "idiot light". You can see the actual temperature on the Scanguage and the guage doesn't even move. I trust the Scanguage to tell me what is really going on. But as always, buyer beware, it may be better to open up your grill block before you go to the mountains than to cook your engine.
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CO,that's a good question.
What I've observed,is that if I do not remove some of the heat flux from the cooling system on the ascent,and then pull into a filling station and park;once the engine is turned off ,the coolant will boil out into the over-flow receiver,with some spilling to the ground.Bad!!!!!!!!!! Ethlyene glycol Bad!!!!!!!! It makes me feel like a *%&$#@)(+_<>?@#!
This is at 8600-feet at Cloudcroft,NM where baro pressure is reduced.If I run the heater fan,the problem goes away.
This used to happen to me close to sea-level in my El Camino with the 396 c.i. big-block,say,waiting in line at a drive-in theater in Van Nuys,Calif.This is probably where I used the trick for the 1st time.I'd blame my girlfriend.