Radiator - What You Need To Know About It?

The radiator is not uncommon as far as car terms go, and most drivers would have heard of it in some context or other.

While radiator troubles are far less common these days (think back about 20 years ago when it was a rather common sight to see cars stopped by the side of the road with a steaming bonnet), it’s still a key component of your vehicle and instrumental in keeping your engine running.

Despite the increased reliability of radiators in modern cars, knowing some basic information about your radiator might save you some trouble in the event of an unexpected mishap.

As its name suggests, it radiates something – in this case – heat.

We know that engines produce great amounts of heat during operation, largely due to combustion which is needed to drive the vehicle. But as heat builds up, components in the engine lose their efficiency and start to fail to operate as intended, so the heat must be dealt with and managed properly.

Therefore a heat exchange system is required to cool the engine, and this is what the radiator’s primary function is: to release the waste heat produced by the engine to the ambient air.

To describe the cooling system of your car simply, a pump sends coolant (the bluish green fluid you see in a translucent bottle under the hood) around channels in the engine which absorbs the heat produced. The coolant is circulated to the radiator where a fan draws air onto the fins of the radiator to allow the heat to be transferred from the coolant into the surrounding air.

And in case you’re wondering what this crucial piece of equipment looks like, look no further than through the front grille of your car and at the shiny silver box thingy with lots of little slats or fins on it.

That also, is generally the functional reason for having a front grille on a car – it’s to let air in. Although these days they’ve taken on a new meaning of being a symbol, some getting larger with each new iteration of the model.

So now that you know what a radiator is and what it does, you also should know that you don’t really have to do anything on a day to day basis to maintain it.

However in the unfortunate event that a leak springs in the hoses or if a stone damages the radiator (think flying gravel on the North-South Highway), there’s usually not much of a warning sign. What you do need to keep an eye out for occasionally is your temperature gauge, which reads the temperature of the coolant.

Once this goes beyond normal levels, it usually signifies a problem with the cooling system. Drive your car to the nearest workshop to have it checked out as soon as possible if the temperature is only beginning to creep up above normal.

If you wait overnight, there’s a chance that a leak might worsen, and you should never attempt to drive the car with low or no coolant at all.

In the event you notice steam coming out of your bonnet, stop the vehicle as soon as it is safe, and wait for it to cool down. Do not attempt to open the bonnet immediately, and especially do not open the radiator cap because the high pressure and temperature of the system could result in you getting severe burns.

When in doubt, it’s safer to call for assistance than to tinker with the car yourself. Remember that the heat exchange system on the car is quite dangerous, so if you must top up coolant yourself, ensure the car is sufficiently cool and take necessary precautions like using a wet towel to open the cap.

#Car #Care #maintenance #SG #Singapore #Autos #Radiator

Credits: