How to Clean Your Engine Compartment

Engines run cooler and more efficiently when a thick film of crud doesn’t interfere with heat transfer। This is especially important with modern engines that operate hotter in more compact engine compartments. Clean engines make it easier to see oil, automatic transmission and coolant leaks and monitor the condition of drive belts. Dirt and dust also can cause premature wear of components and belts. And it’s much more pleasant to make repairs in a clean engine compartment. If you need just one more reason to keep your engine spotless, consider that keeping engines free of oil and fuel-soaked gunk goes a long way toward preventing underhood fires.
.. more »

Detect a radiator problem

* When the car is cold, look at the radiator overflow.
* Open the radiator cap and look inside the radiator.
* If the radiator is empty, fill with antifreeze or water, and close the cap. The overheating problem may be caused by problems.
* Flush the radiator if it is not empty but the water is rusty. You may need a new radiator if that does not correct the problem.
* If it is leaking, flush the radiator and treat with a commercial radiator sealant. You may need a new radiator if this does not correct the problem.
* Look at both the lower and upper radiator hoses located at the top and bottom of the radiator on the backside and held by hose clamps.
* Make sure the hoses are securely clamped to the radiator and are not leaking.
* See a mechanic if the car is still overheating.

Perform a Radiator Flush

Your car's radiator needs to be clean to be cool. As time goes on, your car's radiator builds solid deposits that can clog the cooling system. A quick, inexpensive radiator flush can keep the system in shape.

Before you start your radiator flush, make sure you have everything you need. There's nothing worse than draining your radiator only to realize that you need to drive to the auto store for something!

What you'll need to perform a radiator flush:

* Phillips head screwdriver or wrench (whichever your radiator drain requires)
* Cloth rag
* Radiator Flush solution
* Coolant
* Funnel
* Used coolant receptacle

*Be sure to let your engine cool completely before you loosen or remove the radiator cap. Hot coolant can be painful!

Make your engine more efficient and ...

Increase displacement - More displacement means more power because you can burn more gas during each revolution of the engine. You can increase displacement by making the cylinders bigger or by adding more cylinders. 12 cylinders seems to be the practical limit.

Increase the compression ratio - Higher compression ratios produce more power, up to a point. The more you compress the air/fuel mixture, however, the more likely it is to spontaneously burst into flame (prior to the spark plug igniting it). Higher octane gasolines prevent this sort of early combustion. That is why high-performance cars generally need high octane gasoline - their engines are using higher compression ratios to get more power.

Stuff more into each cylinder - If you can cram more air (and therefore fuel) into a cylinder of a given size, you can get more power from the cylinder (in the same way that you would by increasing the size of the cylinder). Turbo chargers and super chargers pressurize the incoming air to effectively cram more air into a cylinder.

Cool the incoming air - Compressing air raises its temperature. You would like to have the coolest air possible in the cylinder because the hotter the air is the less it will expand when combustion takes place. Therefore many turbo charged and super charged cars have an intercooler. An intercooler is a special radiator through which the compressed air passes to cool it off before it enters the cylinder.

Let air come in more easily - As a piston moves down in the intake stroke, air resistance can rob power from the engine. Air resistance can be lessened dramatically by putting two intake valves in each cylinder. Some newer cars are also using polished intake manifolds to eliminate air resistance there. Bigger air filters can also improve air flow.

Let exhaust exit more easily - If air resistance makes it hard for exhaust to exit a cylinder, it robs the engine of power. Air resistance can be lessened by adding a second exhaust valve to each cylinder (a car with 2 intake and 2 exhaust values has 4 valves per cylinder, which improves performance - when you hear a car ad tell you the car has 4 cylinders and 16 valves, what the ad is saying is that the engine has four valves per cylinder). If the exhaust pipe is too small or the muffler has a lot of air resistance then this can cause back-pressure which has the same effect. High-performance exhaust systems use headers, big tail pipes and free-flowing mufflers to eliminate back-pressure in the exhaust system. When you hear that a car has "Dual Exhaust", the goal is to improve the flow of exhaust by having two exhaust pipes instead of one.

Make everything lighter - Lightweight parts help the engine perform better. Each time a piston changes direction it uses up energy to stop the travel in one direction and start it in another. The lighter the piston, the less energy it takes.

Inject the fuel - Fuel injection allows very precise metering of fuel to each cylinder. This improves performance and fuel economy.