> The theory behind running a thermostat housing rather than
> running with no thermostat, is that you need to provide some
> restriction in the system to slow the coolant flow.
There may also be some twisted unreasonable-engineering reasons -
some cars have multi-port thermostat housings that direct the flow
hither-and-yon (like through the heater core, etc.) and may not get
the right flow pattern without the housing.
> If you run with no thermostat, the coolant circulates to
> quickly. The coolant will pick up the heat in the engine but
> then can not get rid of it because it does not spend enough
> time in the radiator.
This is a myth. It is thermodynamically impossible to get less cooling
with more flow, unless you are getting cavitation (and your cooling system
would probably explode before you can get that kind of flow rate).
> So it circulates back into the engine
> still hot with very little heat capacity left.
The problem with this statement is that it ignores the fact that if the
coolant is hotter, so is the radiator, and if the radiator is hotter, you
are getting more cooling effect. A hotter radiator radiates more heat - more
heat radiated is more cooling. Have we gone over this before?
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John R. Lupien
lupienj@wal.hp.com
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