Purposly restricting radiatior air flow

[Berm-Saw]

in the winter time you see people putting cardboard infront of their radiator, or on semi's you see thoes leather radiator covers, do these have any beneifit? if your engine is running to cold the thermostat will comphensate for is by just stoping the coolant flow, or are they to make the heater blow warmer faster?

[aakmetz]

diesels need to retain heat to burn fuel properly and have max performance, due to the large size of the engine block and radiator, this is hard to do in extreme cold, on the newer style trucks w/ the more areodynamic design, winter fronts are less common, heat is retained better w/ less exposed surfaces. hope that helps w/ your question.

[Berm-Saw]

is it worth slapping a peice of cardboard infront of my silverado 5.3l? altho its a gas. it can get -20 here like its nothing..then when you thorw in 65mpg winds from driving down the road

[aakmetz]

are you having a problem holding heat? normally a modern gas engine will do just fine, if anything you might have a partially stuck open thermostat. if your having heating troubles, or a engine cooling fan staying engaged too much.

[Berm-Saw]

no i am not, but havent drove it in extrame cold yet, only have had it since july, i am sure it will be good tho

[aakmetz]

the coolant sensor for the fuel system will read down to -34 and will deliver the fuel as needed, so you'll have no problem, any colder stay in the house by the fire:smirk:

[07thommi]

I usually run cardnoard in front of the radiator in most of my vehicles in the winter. My dads V-10 Dodge will not pull temperature unless at least half or more of the radiator is covered with cardboard. You dont have to cover the whole radiator but I have found that it helps to cover at least part of the radiator. If the vehicle starts to run to warm pull over and take the cardboard out or cut down the piece of cardboard.

-mt-

[snowboarddude]

I have always used pizza boxes personally

[bdrushto]

FWIW, I've always been surprised at my 5.3L ability to come up to temp. It often takes it awhile to get there in the worst mornings where the engine isn't spinning up driving slow speeds, but it holds great once there. Driving in about -8*F is as far as I've had it.

[Berm-Saw]

-8 aint bad, mine is gonna be seeing about -20 to -40 around here

[KDXtreme200]

On nice cold mornings, the first start on my 96 351W is the equivalent to an old man with back problems getting out of bed. Always fun. And with just a single chamber muffler, the neighbors love me.

[Chickenhauler]

in the winter time you see people putting cardboard infront of their radiator, or on semi's you see thoes leather radiator covers, do these have any beneifit? if your engine is running to cold the thermostat will comphensate for is by just stoping the coolant flow, or are they to make the heater blow warmer faster?

It's a band aid to cover up a real problem, rather than actually fixing that problem.

I've NEVER run a cold front on personal vehicles or semi's, if it won't heat up in the cab, either the stat is bad, the pump isn't flowing, the heater core is plugged, etc. Something's wrong.

diesels need to retain heat to burn fuel properly and have max performance, due to the large size of the engine block and radiator, this is hard to do in extreme cold, on the newer style trucks w/ the more areodynamic design, winter fronts are less common, heat is retained better w/ less exposed surfaces. hope that helps w/ your question.

Installing a cold front on a turbo charged rig is a HUGE no-no. I know CAT and DD will void the warranty if they find a cold front, as it does not flow air over the charge air cooler, and can cause overheating of the engine much easier.

Even my Pete 379 with a Cat 3406 never had any problems keeping the water temp 180F, even when it was -30 and colder. Had more problems keeping the fuel liquid, but that's another issue.

[Smacaroni]

Wrap cardboard around your tanks, that'll warm up the fuel

I've only had a handful of sub zero F driving experiences. The car loved it.

Unfortunately now I really need to have the heater core flushed, this is the third or fourth radiator (tend to spring leaks), but the heater core has never been touched, so it takes a while for it to actually start doing anything when it's below freezing. The car doesn't mind, but my fingers do.

I wouldn't consider doing this on a modern engine, even if the t-stat was stuck open. On shows like Ice Road Truckers, they're doing this to trick the system into thinking it's warmer than it really is. Those guys are crazy.

[detox]

I'm with chickenhauler on this one. Something else is wrong if you need to cover the radiator.

[detox]

A block heater is an excellent idea for those -40 mornings. Maybe a cocktail and a fire would do, but I love a good block heater.