Car Engine Overheating?

Question

If the petrol car engine works at moderately high speed, while the car is stationary, ( The gearbox is not connected to the crank shaft ) continously for several hours with constant speed (RPM), does it overheat? or any kind of damage would be happen?

Answer 1

It should not overheat as long as the cooling system is working properly. The radiator cooling fan absolutely must work well since you will not have any cooling action from moving through the air. And obviously you need adequate coolant and a working water pump. As long as all of that is good, you should be fine. Although it sounds like a lot of wear and tear on an engine for no good reason.

This is even less stressful to the engine than cruising on the highway at 70 mph because the engine only has to put out enough power to overcome internal friction and not air and rolling resistance. Less energy required to run means less energy wasted as heat.

Answer 2

That is great mialage for a 13 year old car. There can be many reasons for your car to overheat. First check your coolant level. If it is running hot when you are going slow or in stop and go traffic then it is probably the fan. Next time the temperature starts to get above the normal have the hood open and look at your fan. If it is not running then thats the problem. The fan works off a temerature sensor and a relay if its electrical. If the fan doesnt come on when its suppossed to then you have to find out if its the fan motor, the relay, or the temperature sensor. Its not going to run until the car reaches a certain temperature so watch your temperature gauge and when it gets right above normal then look at your fan. It could also be your thermostat, which lets the water out of your motor and into the radiator when it gets 190 or so degrees. There are other things that can make it run hot, but based on what you said these two things are probably the best place to start. Make sure not to run your motor hot any more. It is very bad for the motor to run it hot. It can severly damage your motor. Other things that could be causing your motor to run hot is a bad water pump, a bad radiator, an internal or external leak, a bad radiator cap, and blown head gasket.

Answer 3

The potential for overheating and doing major damage is there.
Engines in autos need constant air flow threw the radiator for proper cooling of the "antifreeze" if the R.P.M.S are high enough at a stationary position for long periods of time, then you will not get enough air flow or heat deflection form the cooling system. This would cause damage to your engine block, cylinder heads. gaskets , etc. to many thing can go wrong that I cannot list them all. Some newer cars have a "high flow" electric fan to greatly reduce this from happening.
Remember the possibility of this happening is still there. Best advice I could give. Dont let your auto idol for long periods of time at high idol.

Answer 4

Testing labs for motor oils routinely run V-8 engines on test stands, standing still, in the 'lab', at a 'fast' RPM rate, for the equivalent 100,000 miles continuously. So long as the radiator is connected and the engine fan is running they do not overheat. (note: the exhaust *is* vented through metal pipes to the outside).

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Answer 5

this depends on a variety of factors. Define moderately high speed. 3000rpm? how big is your radiator? Are you running water or antifreeze or a mixture? How much coolant does your water pump push? How big is the engine? How many cylinders? How many liters? How hot is it outside? Is the wind blowing? There are even more factors than this but you get the point.

Answer 6

What are you talking about? Running it on test stand to run it in after rebuilding, or running it in car to run in before finishing up installing it? Or have it pulling a generator or pump?

If what you are saying in your question is that you are running it in the car for extended periods to run it in after rebuilding it, then if it over heats or not is going to depend on the radiator size first. second on how much air is getting through the radiator to cool it, second. Third,well you should have hooked your water hoses up before ever starting it:

Second one: Air through radiator: What you can do to solve that problem is set up a fan in front of the radiator to blow air through the radiator to cool it.
Remember this most side saddle engines (engines with front wheel drive mounted sideways have electric fans on their radiators which are thermostatic controlled but are not designed to be sitting running at high RPM's for extended times they are just not big enough to handle the air needed to cool the radiator.
And yes you over heat an engine you are going to hurt it. Anywhere from blown head gasket to wrapped heads to busted block. depending on how bad you over heated it.

Answer 7

The engine is at speed, but producing little power.
The heat load should be within the capacity of the cooling system.