Electric Water Pumps

[Intrigued]

Everybody should remember that you need some water flow at all times the engine is running, to keep from having hot spots around the heads. (Can you say "warped heads" and "head gasket leaks"?) Even with the thermostat closed there is water circulating through the heater core, which is good in the winter for your body and the engine both!

[MetroMPG]

It would be interesting to know the duty cycle of a hybrid's e-water pump (I'm assuming they've got them). Just to see what they're doing after a cold start, and during engine-off periods.

[Intrigued]

You know, I would think an efficient way to do it would be a two-speed setup, similar to what cooling fans use. When the engine gets hot, both the fan and pump kick into high speed. :-)

[guudasitgets]

Intriged this controller does that, the speed varys depending on the cooling required, but for me I think it would be fine just either on or off with no thermostat. Like I said this setup is too pricy for my little beater.

[Clev]

I think this would be cool to use with a block heater. If you can run the pump on low while heating and eliminate the thermostat, you'll have a nice even temperature through the block, rather than heating the water in one area, and having it hit a cold engine block when you start the engine.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by Christ

Honda kit - image not specific, but it's a Honda kit image - Golden Eagle Racing products.

Summit Racing - List of Chevy bolt-on water pumps, Electric driven.

Looks like the cheapest drive kit that Summit has is $84+ shipping, the cheapest bolt on they have available for the Chevy is: $159.99, 35GPM.

Was looking for the Honda kit, but thought both kits were from the same vendor... Thank you!!

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by Intrigued

Everybody should remember that you need some water flow at all times the engine is running, to keep from having hot spots around the heads. (Can you say "warped heads" and "head gasket leaks"?)

I was thinking the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Hot spots around the combustion chamber along with a slightly lean mixture might result in aluminum heads getting soft and the seats loosening up, but the gage never reporting and overheat condition.

Definately low-buck, a while back I posted a picture of the one the Hudson Boys put on their Geo Metro <another thread> salt flats racer, that looked interesting to me. They used the universal kit sold by Moroso <Summit, Jeg's, etc> that I've seen on many drag cars. The ones that Christ is talking about for sb Chevy, and others, that bolt directly to the block and replace the OEM water pump are the cat's pajamas, real popular at the racetrack over the last 5 years or so.

I suppose you could reduce the voltage to slow the pump down during low engine loads, but I'm not sure if those things are rated for continuios duty on a daily driver or would flow enough volume during high load operation. Forget getting any meaningful data out of the drag parts manufacturers, the customer isn't spending enough. The more expensive one that guud is using might come with a little more customer support.

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by guudasitgets

Intriged this controller does that, the speed varys depending on the cooling required, but for me I think it would be fine just either on or off with no thermostat. Like I said this setup is too pricy for my little beater.

Yeah, most of us can't afford a lot of the things we would like. I was thinking out loud there that a cheap DIY would be using the control circuit for the cooling fan (a lot have a two speed relay setup) and modify it to drive a water pump motor at the higher speed when needed. It would be pretty car-specific, but there ought to be a way! If nothing else, a windshield wiper motor has to be close to a continuous duty cycle, and somewhere back there was a post about someone using one of those.

You know, there's a lot of different things that I have heard about over the years (like this) that are beginning to gel together into what would be a long-term experiment into getting much better gas mileage. Kinda exciting!

[bgd73]

I was thinking the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Hot spots around the combustion chamber along with a slightly lean mixture might result in aluminum heads getting soft and the seats loosening up, but the gage never reporting and overheat condition.

+1

else we'd have electric water pumps ....
mimicking the thermal curve for all temperatures is difficult, I like the solidity of a water pump and simple thermostat that opens rheostically. the thermostat electric is as smart as it gets...in fact I go seek one. Even the older classic thermostat is still a champ.

and furthermore, there is still failures, inlines will always be a gasket exploding host spot imbalanced retarded culprit...woops I rambled a bit....

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by bgd73

...inlines will always be a gasket exploding host spot imbalanced retarded culprit...

You do have a unique way of saying things... !!