Curious - is a car designed for long drives without overheating?

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rayonline

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#238121 3-Jul-2018 22:08

A curious question. If a car is serviced and in good condition, are cars designed to work correctly with 10-15hr daily drives? Does overheating only happen when there is something in question?

Just curious, nothing has happened.

Cheers.

Talkiet

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#2048649 3-Jul-2018 22:09

Yes.

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

richms

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#2048651 3-Jul-2018 22:19

Yes, Even if you are putting signifigant load on one the radiator should be sized to cope without problem, They are made to work in 40+ degree climates without problem.

Richard rich.ms

djtOtago

1149 posts

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#2048653 3-Jul-2018 22:21

Yes,
And do so several times a year, with a loaded car, and towing 600kg

Sidestep

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#2048680 4-Jul-2018 04:28

rayonline:

A curious question. If a car is serviced and in good condition, are cars designed to work correctly with 10-15hr daily drives? Does overheating only happen when there is something in question?

Just curious, nothing has happened.

Cheers.

Yes - car engines are designed to quickly come up to a specific temperature range, then operate continuously without over (or under) heating - in all driving conditions and independent of outside temperatures.

All the various metals, alloys, ceramics, plastics and lubricants that make up your engine have thermal 'sweet spots' for maximum strength and performance, and engines are built with specific clearances to allow for thermal expansion. Where these all overlap is the engine's targeted operating temperature range.

To maintain this operating temperature - except for when first started - Internal Combustion engines spend most of their time shedding excess heat.

Liquid cooling's commonly used for heat transfer. As much of the engine as possible's bathed in coolant, a 'water pump' circulates it.
To shed heat the hot coolant's pumped through a 'radiator' where the heat's radiated to the atmosphere and the - now cooler - liquid returns to the engine.

Management of this coolant to a specific temperature range keeps your engine from over or under heating.
Typically a coolant range of 85–95 °C is the goal, it's usually the coolant temperature that the gauge on your dashboard displays.

Commonly a flow restrictor called a 'thermostat's used to keep coolant circulating within the engine until it reaches the correct temperature range, which happens within minutes of a cold start. When the engine's fully warmed up all the coolant's allowed to circulate through the radiator.

The radiator's usually at the front of your car to allow airflow at driving speeds to dissipate heat, at low speed, under load or in very hot conditions mechanical or electric fans kick in to boost that airflow. If outside temperatures are too low, the thermostat partially closes to reduce the coolant flow through the radiator and prevent over cooling.

Under normal conditions your car would only overheat if something's gone very wrong with the cooling system, or if a mechanical failure in the engine's generating so much heat the cooling system can't cope with it.

Bung

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#2048683 4-Jul-2018 06:55

Just in case rayonline is planning to be or working for a cult leader, "normal driving conditions" do not include extended periods at very low speeds. When the Moonie cult leader did his drive bys meeting his followers there was a problem with his Rolls Royce overheating because the airflow through the radiator was too low. The solution was simply to swap cars regularly which was easy as eventually he ended up with 93 of them. Some old cars like MkII Jags had problems in slow traffic as the radiator grill was too small.

sidefx

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#2048701 4-Jul-2018 07:48

djtOtago:

Yes,
And do so several times a year, with a loaded car, and towing 600kg

10-15 hours in a day several times a year? Wow, impressive. I was gonna answer yes too then read the 10-15 hour thing. While I would expect the answer is still yes I realised I never do more than about 3-4 hour stints without taking a break and the most I generally do in a single day is like 6-7...

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

hio77

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#2048702 4-Jul-2018 07:50

The car will do it fine, It's the human that may be the concern :)

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Linux

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#2048706 4-Jul-2018 08:18

They could go 24/7 non stop these days

John

MikeAqua

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#2048708 4-Jul-2018 08:24

djtOtago:

Yes,
And do so several times a year, with a loaded car, and towing 600kg

Ditto, but with >1,500kg. Don't see any over heating of transmission or engine.

Mike

MikeAqua

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#2048709 4-Jul-2018 08:27

sidefx:

10-15 hours in a day several times a year? Wow, impressive. I was gonna answer yes too then read the 10-15 hour thing. While I would expect the answer is still yes I realised I never do more than about 3-4 hour stints without taking a break and the most I generally do in a single day is like 6-7...

Take turns driving and you can cover a lot of ground in day, if you have to, without any one driver overdoing it.

Mike

Fred99

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#2048717 4-Jul-2018 08:54

Bung: Just in case rayonline is planning to be or working for a cult leader, "normal driving conditions" do not include extended periods at very low speeds. When the Moonie cult leader did his drive bys meeting his followers there was a problem with his Rolls Royce overheating because the airflow through the radiator was too low. The solution was simply to swap cars regularly which was easy as eventually he ended up with 93 of them. Some old cars like MkII Jags had problems in slow traffic as the radiator grill was too small.

Was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - not Moon/Moonies.

In those days the radiator fan was usually belt driven via pulleys from the crankshaft, speed was determined by engine speed / RPM, but they used a "viscous fan" coupling system so that the fan wasn't spinning at maximum speed until the engine was warm - as it heated up the coupling between the pulley and fan was supposed to stop slipping, the fan was supposed to turn faster. It was a pretty horrible compromise between having a large noisy fan that may do the trick - or a smaller fan that might not be good enough to provide adequate airflow.

MikeAqua

7773 posts

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#2048780 4-Jul-2018 10:12

Bung: Just in case rayonline is planning to be or working for a cult leader, "normal driving conditions" do not include extended periods at very low speeds. When the Moonie cult leader did his drive bys meeting his followers there was a problem with his Rolls Royce overheating because the airflow through the radiator was too low. The solution was simply to swap cars regularly which was easy as eventually he ended up with 93 of them. Some old cars like MkII Jags had problems in slow traffic as the radiator grill was too small.

I see the problem there ... British cars.

Mike

Scott3

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#2048785 4-Jul-2018 10:18

As others have said, in general, Yes. 2 hours driving isn't really any different from 14 hours driving for a car. Everything will have reached stable temperature.

Car manufacturer's do tests in death valley (very hot location in USA) by loading the car (and trailer) payload to the max, and driving it uphill throw it. (or simulate it on a dyno in a climate controlled room).

This don't apply to old air cooled VW's etc.

The old ute I learnt to drive in had a primary fan on the radiator that ran all the time, and a secondary electric fan. When climbing a mountain range with a heavy trailer, the engine temperature would rise, untill you would hear the noisy secondary fan kick in, and it would drop down again.

It should be noted that it is possible to overheat cars in extreme adverse conditions, such as soft sand driving. In particular soft roaders, which have a power take off instead of a transfer case, or center diff. Extended driving on sand or similar can overheat the coupling that send power to the rear axle. Even in "proper" 4wd's, the combination of low speed, and very high power requirements on soft sand can overwhelm the cooling system and cause the engine to overheat.