dbg@ihldt.UUCP (01/24/84)
It was once suggested to me that driving at highway speeds at very cold temperatures would remove enough heat from the radiator to actually freeze it up in spots. The resulting constriction would then cause the car to overheat. It sounded far fetched to me but he swore it happened to him. Anyway there clearly is more heat removed than needed in some very cold circumstances and I'd rather not have my thermostat floping backing and forth more than needed (I've had mine suddenly stick shut in sub-zero weather), so I use cardboard. D. Green ihldt!dbg
phl@druxy.UUCP (01/25/84)
A truly well designed car like the 1936 Packard has (there are still some around) the louvres in the grille mechanically linked to a thermal sensor in the radiator. When the radiator is cold the grille is closed and only opens when the radiator requires cooling. Isn`t it a pity that forty-eight years after some now long-dead (probably) engineer solved the problem we are still using cardboard? If you are interested you can buy a well designed 1936 Packard for about $50-$100 kilobucks.
chevy@ihuxq.UUCP (01/25/84)
By the by: If you cover your radiator with cardboard, make sure the cardboard covers ALL of the fan blades. If you don't, what happens is the fan blade has nice and smooth going when it's behind the cardboard, but when it hits the wind (you're moving, of course) it shakes the fan blade and weakens the metal. Later, (after a few years of doing this) you or your friendly mechanic is doing something under the hood, a fan blade breaks off and cuts a severe hole in you or your friendly mechanic. I know someone who this happened to, but he was lucky; the fan blade hit the hood of the car first, put a nice big cut in it, then bounced off the hood and hit his arm. He only needed about 20 stiches, he lived. Especially on older cars - the ones where the heat isn't too hot - this is not a recommended practice. Change the bloody thermostat or reverse flush the system to clean that heater core out. -- Kris Sherwin AT&T Bell Laboratories - IW
martin@auvax.UUCP (Don Martin) (02/02/84)
I leased a 1980 Buick Park Avenue in 1980. In the winter of 1981, I had problems with what the mechanic said was icing of the carburator. I also had problems with the car getting warm even though I had to drive for 25 miles to get to work. The official recommended solution was `cardboard' over the grille. Mind you the temperature often gets down to -20C and on occaision to -40C or colder. Don Martin (auvax!martin)