hey guys how many of you guys do this and does it help your car warm up faster in the cold? i am thinking about doing it and just wanted to see what you guys have to say about it thanks
I've seen that overseas,,it helps the engine stay hotter so when the fan kicks on, it doesn't
suck in alot of cool air. It helps with their heater stay very hot.
I wouldn't do that....
I used to do it on my van when i drove it and it was like 0 degrees or lower (without windchill factor) because the van had a larger radiator for some reason and took forever to heat up and didnt say too hot.
but on my J, its warm in a matter of minutes and i have no problems with it staying hot. i dont recommend it on a J.
I would only do it for the warm period and not driving unless the temps are really low like the teens or below 10 degrees.It also does wonders when u need to flush ur rad and refill with new coolant speeds up the time and heat factor to get the therm up to temp to open and get all the air bubbles out.I do this and is perfectly a ok .
how much would it cost me to do that?
The cardboard over the radiator is an old timer trick to do 2 things:
1. To keep ice and snow out of the radiator and/or condenser core when driving in sub-zero temps and bad weather. Don't forget, there are parts of North America and Europe that dip below the freezing point of standard coolants (around -20 degrees?) and that see regular traffic both private and commercial.
2. To keep your 580 cube six cylinder diesel up to standard operating temps when driving in sub-zero temps where a beefed up cooling system (made to keep the big engines cool when overloading or operating in very high temperatures) will overcool the engine and prevent a proper warm up and cause smoking, inoperative cab heater, bad fuel mileage, etc.
I would NEVER put anything over the radiator in ANY car or light truck I owned. If the car doesn't warm up to at least 160-180 degrees in the coldest of weather something is wrong. Either the thermostat is stuck or you replaced the radiator with a massive racing radiator designed to cool a much bigger or more abused engine than you have. I actually did this on a street driven Camaro and the car was a dream to drive in the summer with my dual 1" core Griffin but in the winter, I needed a heavy coat and thermals to drive it even with a 195 thermostat. The temp gauge would go up to around 200, and then drop equalizing at around 160 degrees. A bad radiator cap could also cause a low operating temp by preventing the system from pressurizing and raising the boiling point of the coolant.
ahh sounds good maybe i wont do it then
