A radiator is pretty neat. It looks like a big sheet of steel with radiator hoses coming out of it. That is partially true to be fair. We can give you a more detailed description on how a radiator works.
Your radiator is one of the key components in cooling the engine. Your cooling system is dependent on the hot coolant flowing through the radiator and taking heat away from the engine. We’ll tell you how it does it and why it’s so important.
How does a radiator cool an engine?
We’re glad you asked, basically, it takes hot coolant from the engine and cools it with air through the radiator. Then the cooled coolant is pumped back into the engine to maintain ideal operating temperature.
The water pump sucks coolant through the radiator hoses and pushes it into the engine. This is the coolant system. As the engine can get very hot, coolant is used to raise the boiling point of the liquid to help stop the boiling water from coming out of the radiator cap.
The radiator has a bunch of small pipes running across it, these channel the water from the inflow tank to the outflow tank. Because there are small gaps along these channels, cool air flows between the small channels. This is how the coolant is cooled. The bigger the engine the more surface area the radiator will need to cool the coolant.
A radiator works by way of heat exchange. Hot coolant is cooled by cool air, that air then warms up as the energy is transferred. In order to have enough coolant to ensure that the channels are full of liquid, this is where coolant levels and coolant flushes are required. These make sure there are no air pockets and the ratio is correct.
Other cool facts about radiators
A lot of them cool transmission fluid as well. The automatic transmission pumps fluid up to the radiator to be cooled and then back again. Helping keep the weight of your transmission fluid where it needs to be.
A lot of performance orientated modern cars have separate systems for that now. They also often have shrouding and heavy duty fans to keep everything as cool as possible.
What to do if there’s a problem with your radiator
Just head over to our “Services” page here at My Auto Shop. We can help you quickly, cheaply and conveniently get any issues with your radiator fixed in no time at all.