Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
when my folks rented a 1972 Plymouth Fury III in Myrtle beach, SC in the summer of 72, it was the first car they ever drove with AC and my dad idled the car a bit too long with the AC on and it started to overheat
I always wondered if there was something wrong or that was the norm with those big beasts
The clear difference between then and now is how the the radiator's cooling fan operates. Back then it was powered by the crankshaft, so its speed was determined by the engine's RPMs. So when it was idling, the car was getting no cooling from the natural airflow of a moving car -- that's when the fan would be needed the most yet was running at its lowest speed. Nowadays of course the fan is operated electrically so it can operate independent of the engine's speed. Consequently it can operate at full speed when full speed is needed the most: when the car is moving slowly or not at all. And when the radiator is getting adequate airflow from a car moving at speed, the fan can be shut off entirely to reduce unnecessary load on the engine and improve fuel economy.
my 92 Toyota Tercel's AC went out back in the summer of 1999. I had a place fix it and it ended up being a wire that was under $5, but the labor and time to get to the wire was about $300
the year after the AC stopped working again so i just let it be, not wanting to spend another $300 at least to repair the AC again
now the car has 130, 000 miles on it, but if i did repair the AC, would it be an additional strain on the engine and would freon be needed after all this time and other things?
i have seen devices for $20 that pull the heat out of the car while it's sitting, to make it more comfortable to drive, but my commute is only 4 miles one way and the heat here in NY is worst in the afternoon, so i basically just have done without AC for over a decade and just keep both windows open in the summers
BTW in case you're wondering, my mechanic, who is excellent and gets my car to pass the emissions test every year with about an hour's worth of labor(has had a problem passing for the past 5 years), urges me to hang on to the car because he feels it runs great, and it does, because insurance here in NY, even with my great driving record, is very high for a new or used car
Not being nosey (well, guess I am, LOL), but what are you doing... manually controlling traffic lights for heavy unusual traffic?.
No. I had to sign people into a ranch where they were coming to do some volunteer work. In fact, after all I didn't have to use my car. I arrived at 6:50 am and discovered a nice tent for shade had been put up for me. It was fairly cool and breezy till about 11 when I went into the ranch house to go to the bathroom, and then I didn't go back to my post. Someone else came and relieved me. But the next time I do it, there may be no breeze and the location of my tent may not be close to the ranch house as it was today. So this discussion is very helpful.
Having a properly maintained and properly operating cooling system is a must for extended idling in hot weather with the A/C on.
Some other points: When the A/C is operating, the car's cooling system has to dissipate both the heat generated by the air conditioning process (which is substantial) and the heat generated by fuel combustion in the engine. In the latter case, running the A/C actually puts a load on the engine, which will increase fuel usage. As an example, my 4-cylinder gasoline-powered sedan uses about 0.20 gallons of fuel per hour at idle without the A/C; with the A/C, it increases to 0.38 gallons per hour--nearly double the fuel consumption. The cooling system has to dissipate that heat. The bigger the engine displacement, the more fuel it uses at idle, thus more heat to dissipate. Also, diesel engines, because of their inherently better combustion efficiency at idle, use less fuel at idle compared to a gas engine of similar size.
Excessive and unnecessary idling should be avoided whenever possible--it wastes fuel, causes more engine wear, and spews more pollutants into the air.
Having a properly maintained and properly operating cooling system is a must for extended idling in hot weather with the A/C on.
Some other points: When the A/C is operating, the car's cooling system has to dissipate both the heat generated by the air conditioning process (which is substantial) and the heat generated by fuel combustion in the engine. In the latter case, running the A/C actually puts a load on the engine, which will increase fuel usage. As an example, my 4-cylinder gasoline-powered sedan uses about 0.20 gallons of fuel per hour at idle without the A/C; with the A/C, it increases to 0.38 gallons per hour--nearly double the fuel consumption. The cooling system has to dissipate that heat. The bigger the engine displacement, the more fuel it uses at idle, thus more heat to dissipate. Also, diesel engines, because of their inherently better combustion efficiency at idle, use less fuel at idle compared to a gas engine of similar size.
Excessive and unnecessary idling should be avoided whenever possible--it wastes fuel, causes more engine wear, and spews more pollutants into the air.
the problem in those days was the cooling systems didnt have enough capacity to handle long idling sessions. most cars left the factory with cooling system capabilities designed to handle places like kansas or nebraska in the summer, not arizona or south carolina. more efficient radiators, better cooling fans, more efficient a/c systems, all help these days. in the old days new car designs were run at proving grounds in michigan for the most part, though ford and gm had proving grounds here in arizona as well.
I remember overheating problems in various 50s and 60s cars. By the 1970s apparently the makers had finally sorted things out.
And having the radiator overflow as standard equipment helped. I added that to a couple of 60s cars, it made the difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnfrisco
But what about my lunch time naps?
No worries! The thought police are not in your area. Yet.
the problem in those days was the cooling systems didnt have enough capacity to handle long idling sessions. most cars left the factory with cooling system capabilities designed to handle places like kansas or nebraska in the summer, not arizona or south carolina. more efficient radiators, better cooling fans,...
I remember my dad was a service manager for a Louisiana Dodge dealership. Every new Dodge truck that came in with A/C always had it's 4 blade fan replaced with a 5 or 6 blade one. I was pretty young then but I think it was standard practice.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
speaking of AC
No. I had to sign people into a ranch where they were coming to do some volunteer work. In fact, after all I didn't have to use my car. I arrived at 6:50 am and discovered a nice tent for shade had been put up for me. It was fairly cool and breezy till about 11 when I went into the ranch house to go to the bathroom, and then I didn't go back to my post. Someone else came and relieved me. But the next time I do it, there may be no breeze and the location of my tent may not be close to the ranch house as it was today. So this discussion is very helpful.
