The cooling system in your vehicle is a system made up of several components, engines coolant most commonly known as anti-freeze, a water pump to circulate the engine coolant through a series of hoses and tubes to the radiator, a thermostat to control the coolant temperature and a heater core to provide interior comfort.

 

Let’s review what the role these parts play in the everyday operation of your cooling system.

 

Your engine coolant absorbs the heat that your engine releases under normal operating conditions. heat and circulates it to the radiator where the heat is dissipated. Even the best antifreeze cannot completely protect the coolant system from harmful deposits forever.  The anti-corrosion additives are used up over time, so the coolant must be replaced. 

Heat is one of several by products an engine gives off under normal operation. Some very important facts about engine coolant are:

Straight anti-freeze does not absorb and circulate as much heat as 50% antifreeze & 50% water does.

 

 

Your vehicles radiators main purpose is to allow air to pass through the cooling fins to reduce the temperature of the coolant and then it returns back to the engine again. Most common radiator problems is the cracking of the plastic tanks causing coolant leakage

 

The water pump circulates the coolant through the entire engine. Should the water pump stop circulating engine coolant the engine will severally over heat.

Maintaining cooling system temperature is the job of the thermostat.

 

A thermostat stuck in the closed position causes excess heat to build up in the cooling system which in turn causes a higher cooling system pressure. Higher cooling system temperatures and pressures increase the risk of cooling system component failures.

 

Boiling & steaming over, coolant hose and radiator failures are just a few areas that could be the result of a faulty closed thermostat.

 

Major engine damage and possible total engine failure can result from an extreme overheating condition.

 

A thermostat stuck in the open position poses a set of different problems. One of the biggest is lack of heat to the passenger compartment for heat and windshield defrosts operation. From an economy concern a stuck open thermostat will prevent the coolant temperature from rising to the specification. A computer coolant temperature sensor monitors this temperature to determine if the engine is warm enough to start controlling the amount of fuel required. Colder engine operation requires more fuel until the warm up period is completed and small amounts can be wasted when this warm up period is not meet due to faulty thermostat operation.

 

Lastly comes the heater core, a much smaller version of the radiator has the large task of providing comfort to the interior compartment. This is accomplished by way of the heated anti-freeze passing through and a fan to force heated air into the interior compartment. Clean anti-freeze is important so restrictions are avoided that minimize heat output .