if a stock car comes with a 2 core radiater and you install a 3 core radiater, does that allow the engine cool down a lot MORE? or does that allow the engine to cool FASTER?

if you have an EXPERIENCED answer please explain how that happens.

Thanks.

I dont have much background and I do wanna learn. Never hurts to ask right?

 

Umm.. no sure about the experience, but.. A 3 core radiator as more surface area and should cool faster than a 2 core if all other things are equal.

 

anyone else sure about this?

 

For lack of a better explanation, a core is one "panel" of cooling tubes in the radiator. The number of cores is the number of "panels" of cooling tubes in the radiator (counting front to back).

A 3 core radiator has one more core than a 2 core radiator so, if the core sizes are the same which they usually are, then the 3 core radiator has roughly 50% more cooling CAPACITY than the 2 core (a 4 core would have 100% more or twice as much). In reality, though, the difference is not quite that much because the cores farther back in the radiator are exposed to higher temperature air than those in front so they do not remove as much heat.

Now to answer your question. What the 3 core radiator has is increased cooling capacity which lets it cool more AND faster depending on your definition. Since water flow through the radiator is the same for a given engine (it is determined by the water pump and engine rpm) what the 3 core radiator will do is remove more heat from the coolant pumped through it by the water pump than a 2 core radiator will.

This will result in KEEPING a motor cooler, especially in hotter weather (which I guess would be MORE cooling) or cooling down a motor that has gotten overheated faster (although the idea of the bigger radiator is to not get overheating to begin with).

Cars are generally designed with radiators of sufficient size to handle any normal driving including AC on in traffic in Phoenix in the summer. If a car is overheating due to the radiator (as opposed to low coolant or faulty fans/thermostat/pump) then usually either the radiator is becoming clogged with rust or something has changed in the car to produce more heat in the engine (specifically horsepower increases).

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> Steve

 

Thanks for the great reply steve! One more thing.

I noticed you said it will cool faster and MORE than it used to.

Ok, with the stock engine components and radiater the temperature goes to about 200-210. Now when you said it will cool more does that mean that the temperature will drop? So if the temperature used to be 200-210 will the temperature reduce to 180-190?

Please, dont look at those number they were just for the sake of getting my point thru.

Thanks again.