[TRobinson6]

1. i forgot how long the factory coolant was supposedly good for but do you trust it or change your antifreeze every 30k anyway?

2. a temp gauge is crucial . i did this before with a secondary cooling fan. i ran the sensor in thru the end of the hose then wrapped the thermostat housing and sensor line with friction tape then put the hose on and applied a double clamp. the sensor was right in the flow stream and sensed the temp and kicked the fan on when needed. now here is the crazy part...why not do that with the outside sensor and then get a reading of the antifreeze (assuming the lcd will go that high)

 

[jimvw57]

muh easier to use an ultragauge or a scangaugeII plugged into the OBDII port

 

[Johannesl]

I second jimvw57. I have the ultragauge and think it was the best investment thus far.

Using a mount sold by proclips also keeps it in a convenient spot without being a permanent mount. I find I hardly use my pod tachometer now since I have it displaying rpms and having the temp readout helps too (though mine usually reads around 188-194*F).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sokoloff]

Maintenance list shows coolant service every four years for the ICE and no mention for the EV.

Len
2014 EV

 

[Rustedwrench]

1. i forgot how long the factory coolant was supposedly good for but do you trust it or change your antifreeze every 30k anyway?

2. a temp gauge is crucial . i did this before with a secondary cooling fan. i ran the sensor in thru the end of the hose then wrapped the thermostat housing and sensor line with friction tape then put the hose on and applied a double clamp. the sensor was right in the flow stream and sensed the temp and kicked the fan on when needed. now here is the crazy part...why not do that with the outside sensor and then get a reading of the antifreeze (assuming the lcd will go that high)

Coolant change interval is in the book nobody reads called the owner's manual.

First you state coolant gauge then you state the sensor turns the fan on. It is not clear what you are doing. Why do you need another sensor to turn the fan on? Does the engine control unit not turn the fan on? If not, do you not know how to repair it properly?

You can not use the outside temperature sensor input because it is used as a input for the climate control system.

 

[TRobinson6]

sorry i did not explain myself fully. i was putting a secondary (aftermarkret) cooling fan on. that was the reason for the sensor on it

 

[DreamCarOwner]

sorry i did not explain myself fully. i was putting a secondary (aftermarkret) cooling fan on. that was the reason for the sensor on it

I seem to remember here on the forum that the dash hi temp light kicks on at 244 degrees and the head gasket fails at 248 degrees. I think if you shut the engine down the split second the temp light came on, the temperature of the coolant trapped on the engine would probably cause the temp to climb the 4 degrees needed to fail the head gasket. The factory fan does an amazing job to keep the coolant cool in outside temperatures within reason. Just think of the engine cooking back there sitting in traffic with no airflow over the engine itself. It's been reported on here that some Smart engines failed in the heat and the engine got hot enough that it melted the plastic intake to some degree(no pun intended), now that my friend is hot. I think if I were to add a auxilary fan I would somehow use it to move air back at the engine because the radiator fan moves enough air to blow the grass on the ground around the front of my Smart. I think that most rear engine cars like VW and Porsche are air cooled. Are there any more rear engine cars that use coolant and a radiator up front other than Smart? DCO

 

[jzchen]

I seem to remember here on the forum that the dash hi temp light kicks on at 244 degrees and the head gasket fails at 248 degrees. I think if you shut the engine down the split second the temp light came on, the temperature of the coolant trapped on the engine would probably cause the temp to climb the 4 degrees needed to fail the head gasket. The factory fan does an amazing job to keep the coolant cool in outside temperatures within reason. Just think of the engine cooking back there sitting in traffic with no airflow over the engine itself. It's been reported on here that some Smart engines failed in the heat and the engine got hot enough that it melted the plastic intake to some degree(no pun intended), now that my friend is hot. I think if I were to add a auxilary fan I would somehow use it to move air back at the engine because the radiator fan moves enough air to blow the grass on the ground around the front of my Smart. I think that most rear engine cars like VW and Porsche are air cooled. Are there any more rear engine cars that use coolant and a radiator up front other than Smart? DCO

Speaking with my cousin and his wife, both car enthusiasts, the days of the air cooled Porsche have been gone. He actually noted that the value of the air cooled ones have been going UP....

In CECS we learned of different ways to get data from one point to another, and ways to make it more reliable. One way is redundancy/repetition. I guess one could put in another fan, so that if one fails, the other would still be working. Low probability that both would break down at exactly the same time, (but I struggled in the probability class....)

What was this thread about? I think I better go back to sleep.... Sorry...

 

[jzchen]

Ah, 4 years, or 40k miles.

2. The sensor is designed to measure air temperature. Something to do with resistance change due to air density changing with air temp change. I have no idea if the same principal works for liquid/coolant. One could try. I have no idea how "happy" SAM will be about it....

 

[Rustedwrench]

It's been reported on here that some Smart engines failed in the heat and the engine got hot enough that it melted the plastic intake to some degree(no pun intended), now that my friend is hot. I think if I were to add a auxilary fan I would somehow use it to move air back at the engine because the radiator fan moves enough air to blow the grass on the ground around the front of my Smart. I think that most rear engine cars like VW and Porsche are air cooled. Are there any more rear engine cars that use coolant and a radiator up front other than Smart? DCO

A smart that has a properly working cooling system and radiator fan will not overheat. Unless maybe you drove it to Mars.

There are numerous vehicles with mid- or rear engines and a front mounted radiator. They don't overheat either unless something is broken.

 

[TRobinson6]

actually i wasn't talking about the smart car when i installed a second fan...that was a different car. i have not seen the underside of my car yet but is there anyway to install a fan back there to blow air around the engine bay?

when i had my PT turbo every day when i got home i would raise the hood to allow the heat to escape thereby allowing all rubber and plastic to exend it's life. thats why i ask the question of installing a fan back there somehow. i have a surplus store where i can buy fans of all sizes......just a thought


then i'll think of a secondary pusher fan in front of the radiator

 

[jimvw57]

take a good close look under the hood and you will see how compact it is under there. I bet you will change your mind about a secondary fan and a lot of other things under there.

 

[DreamCarOwner]

actually i wasn't talking about the smart car when i installed a second fan...that was a different car. i have not seen the underside of my car yet but is there anyway to install a fan back there to blow air around the engine bay?

when i had my PT turbo every day when i got home i would raise the hood to allow the heat to escape thereby allowing all rubber and plastic to exend it's life. thats why i ask the question of installing a fan back there somehow. i have a surplus store where i can buy fans of all sizes......just a thought


then i'll think of a secondary pusher fan in front of the radiator

Hi Mr. Robinson. Now this is just my opinion what isn't worth anything, but when I had my engine dropped down to remove the head, I too thought about the possibility of a small fan to move some more air out of the engine bay. I thought that as a result of the way the engine was "trapped" in the engine compartment that alot of hot air that naturally rises would get trapped up under the engine access cover. But I removed the belly pans (front and rear) and I noticed that there is a "tunnel space: that is designed into the belly pan that allows air to channel fron the front of the vehicle to the rear and that would move air out of the engine bay as you are driving down the road. Now sitting at a stop light or in stop and go traffic the air would only be moving in that tunnel space when the radiator fan kicked on. And as Jim said there is very very little room to even think about mounting a fan. But Mercedes designed the Fortwo to be a city car, that was it's designed purpose, so I'm sure they took into account hot days and stop and go traffic. The 450's had a different style of airbox and had a turbo, so they had an intercooler in there that had it's own fan. But I'm sure it gets plenty hot in there. I doubled up the carpet in the back of mine so I didn't melt the ice cream before I got home to my house out in the country. DCO

 

[jimvw57]

don't forget the vents just below the rear lower hatch, driving down the road, you get a lot of air out those too.