Properly maintained automotive and truck Radiators are one of the forgotten keys to preventing you from shopping for a rebuilt engine
From the days when Daimler Benz and Ford rolled out the first production cars a bit less than a century ago, to the modern day Ferrari’s and Shelby Mustangs, cars have always been one of man s greatest fantasies. The smell of burning rubber is something everyone at least thinks about sometimes. However, few car owners realize the intricacies that lie under the hood of the car.
A cars engine has several hundred parts that are constantly in motion. Any sort of movement gives rise to friction, which in turn produces heat. In a car, motor oil is pumped throughout the engine block to lubricate the parts, but this is insufficient to overcome the tremendous heat generated. To counter this problem, the radiator is put to use. A car radiator is a heat-exchanging device that keeps the engine cool by getting rid of excess heat through the radiation process.
A car s radiator, usually made of an aluminum tube, is bent into several folds to form a rectangular shape. The purpose of this design is to maximize the surface area. The radiator is filled with a liquid coolant, usually a mixture of water and ethylene glycol. As the heated coolant moves from the engine block to the radiator, it gets cooled because of the aluminum body of the radiator that dissipates the heat. In most cases, an electric fan forces the cool air from outside into the radiator, thus speeding up the cooling process.
The radiator cap, known as a pressure cap, regulates the pressure generated by the steam within the radiator. Once a predetermined level of pressure is reached, the radiator cap gives way to release the excess pressure and avoid any explosion under the cars bonnet.
The car radiator should be well maintained in order to get optimum engine performance. It should be regularly checked for blockages in the path of the coolant that may hamper the cooling process. Apart from this, one should also regularly refill the coolant in order to enjoy a wonderful and safe car ride.
Preventing radiator problems and subsequent engine failure is simple and inexpensive compared to having to buy a rebuilt engine. That is why I talk about maintenance so much, prevention saves a lot of money over the solutions. Trust me.
You’re right that many engine problems often occur due to lack of care when maintaining an engine (or even lack of maintenance), but there are often other causes. We routinely encounter circumstances when specific models tend to be defective. There’s a long list of lemons that date back to the time of the Edsel. Therefore, most drivers should monitor the problems that their vehicle exhibits to determine whether its a defect, or simply their own poor maintenance schedule.