From: T i m on
On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:22:22 +0000, Mike <nospam(a)nospam.com> wrote:


>Loose the water flow past most temperature gauge sensors and the
>accuracy of the reading goes completely out of the window.

Understood.

> On some
>vehicles you'll have a very low or zero reading that won't change
>significantly regardless of engine load and the next thing you'll
>experience is a seized engine.

Agreed, maybe there was still some water wherever the temp sensor is
on that lump then because it definitely fell back to it's 'normal'
position when you backed off the throttle and climbed when you gave it
some work to do.

And like I said, it didn't seem to hurt it. ;-)

Cheers, T i m



From: Grimly Curmudgeon on
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Usenet Nutter
<individualnet(a)takeoutmyteethgmail.com> saying something like:

>At one time some folk put a piece of card in front of part of the rad
>to get it to heat up more quickly ....Is that still done or is it not
>recommended ....even in this weather ?

Still very necessary in some parts of the world - like the Ice Road
Truckers' territory. I was somewhat amused to see a large cut-out M for
Mack, in the radiator shield. In those kind of temps, there is a very
real probablity of the water freezing in the rad if the stat closes down
a bit and restricts flow and even when working properly, if the engines
on a light load the cold carries away so much heat the cores could
freeze.
In the recent temps in the British Isles, I would have put a blank over
part of the rad on a longer journey.
From: Kostas Kavoussanakis on
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

> Pete M pretended :
>> Aircon tends not to work at below 4 degrees in modern stuff no matter what
>> you do as it's designed not to in order to stop the system freezing solid.
>> It states that in the handbook in most cars built since they swapped over
>> to R134a back in the early 90s. Just because the AC light comes on doesn't
>> mean the AC is operating. It mentions it in most car handbooks - it does in
>> the Mk2 Granada one I've got here, so it's not a newfangled idea.
>
> They shut the compressor down, when the temperature of the heat exchanger
> falls below 4 deg to make sure they do not build up ice. Bypass the sensor
> and they can be blocked up solidly with ice. On recirculate, with the air
> from the cabin passing over the heat exchanger matrix, the cabin air will
> usually be warmer than the 4 degrees cut off.

I popped in to ask a related question and found this. Both my cars (53
Almera 1.8 petrol and 04 Accord 2.0 petrol) have climate control and
both have a button to clear the windscreen which: revs the fans;
points the heating to the windscreen; sets it to direct flow from the
outside (i.e. no recirc); and set the A/C on. Knowledge that A/c
should not really run below freezing puts me in a mad flap to switch
off the A/C immediately as it switches on.

So my question is if the mechanisms to protect the A/C can be trusted.
And, yes, on the Accord I once messed up the A/C cancellation and
found out when I got out of the car 8 miles later on hearing it going
at the front (not just the light). Indicated -1 springs to mind.

What do folk know about this?

Cheers,

--
Kostas
From: Duncan Wood on
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:02:34 -0000, Kostas Kavoussanakis
<kavousan(a)epcc.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

> On Wed, 6 Jan 2010, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
>
>> Pete M pretended :
>>> Aircon tends not to work at below 4 degrees in modern stuff no matter
>>> what you do as it's designed not to in order to stop the system
>>> freezing solid. It states that in the handbook in most cars built
>>> since they swapped over to R134a back in the early 90s. Just because
>>> the AC light comes on doesn't mean the AC is operating. It mentions it
>>> in most car handbooks - it does in the Mk2 Granada one I've got here,
>>> so it's not a newfangled idea.
>>
>> They shut the compressor down, when the temperature of the heat
>> exchanger falls below 4 deg to make sure they do not build up ice.
>> Bypass the sensor and they can be blocked up solidly with ice. On
>> recirculate, with the air from the cabin passing over the heat
>> exchanger matrix, the cabin air will usually be warmer than the 4
>> degrees cut off.
>
> I popped in to ask a related question and found this. Both my cars (53
> Almera 1.8 petrol and 04 Accord 2.0 petrol) have climate control and
> both have a button to clear the windscreen which: revs the fans; points
> the heating to the windscreen; sets it to direct flow from the outside
> (i.e. no recirc); and set the A/C on. Knowledge that A/c should not
> really run below freezing puts me in a mad flap to switch off the A/C
> immediately as it switches on.
>
> So my question is if the mechanisms to protect the A/C can be trusted.
> And, yes, on the Accord I once messed up the A/C cancellation and found
> out when I got out of the car 8 miles later on hearing it going at the
> front (not just the light). Indicated -1 springs to mind.
>
> What do folk know about this?
>
> Cheers,
>

Well even if it didn't work all that happens is that it ices up.
From: Dave Plowman (News) on
In article <Pine.SOC.4.64.1001301954580.15672(a)tnearg.rcpp.rq.np.hx>,
Kostas Kavoussanakis <kavousan(a)epcc.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> I popped in to ask a related question and found this. Both my cars (53
> Almera 1.8 petrol and 04 Accord 2.0 petrol) have climate control and
> both have a button to clear the windscreen which: revs the fans;
> points the heating to the windscreen; sets it to direct flow from the
> outside (i.e. no recirc); and set the A/C on. Knowledge that A/c
> should not really run below freezing puts me in a mad flap to switch
> off the A/C immediately as it switches on.

My BMW with climate control does not switch on the AC when you go to
defrost. Which is what the setting you've described is called by them.
A heated front screen is probably a better option.

--
*It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.