Tootsie7944

Very true! Good call haha

DB2-R81

The fan is useless at speed it will actually impede your cooling ability or the amount of air moving through your radiator while moving.

mc-integra111

I have thought this as well. My temperature activated fan switch went bad and I installed a manual toggle switch for this past weekends race. I experimented with it on and off during the sessions. There was no difference in water or oil temp at all with the fan (stock Honda) on or off. This is not a perfect test, since even with the fan off the fan itself (stationary blades and housing) are still an obstruction. However, I can say that just a fan spinning or not spinning doesn't matter.

essex

A lot of people don't use any fans, wrap your mind around that

jaje

Fan helps when running in traffic and definitely when sitting still or in the pits coming out and cooling down. Hard wire the fans so you can turn them on / off - I run a warning light when the engine gets too hot as a reminder to flip them on.

Obviously I'm wrong as oil does no cooling in modern cars - and we can run engines without oil now and just use coolant. That's fantastic - we can now not have to buy expensive engine oil!

rice_classic

Finally something I can correct. This is what we call an over-arching statement. It does not hold true in many situations that road racers experience BECAUSE many road racers use Oil coolers.

For Oil Coolers that are mounted in front of the radiator:

A: If the oil cooler is touching the radiator and there is not space for air between the Oil cooler and the radiator then the air flowing through Cooler will effectively pass through the radiator and the at Speed the radiator fan can pose as an impedance, however the impedance is rather small.

B: If the Oil Cooler is NOT touching the radiator, meaning there is a gap of air in between them, this gap will create an area of "turbulence" that will then keep the air from adequately flowing through the radiator once it passes through the oil cooler. Most of the oil cooler setups I see at the track there is space between the cooler and the radiator. In this instance you would need the radiator fan to run to "PULL" the air past that turbulent space through the radiator, otherwise without very little air would pass through the portion of the radiator behind the oil cooler.

C: Air takes the path of least resistance. Let's use a CRX as an example without an oil cooler. The opening the bumper only exposes the bottom 1/3rd of the radiator. Any air that doesn't pass through those Fins will roll around the sides of the radiator unless you've blocked all the passages between the bumper and the sides of the radiator. So if your fan runs, it might impede the air flow through that lower 1/3rd portion of the radiator on that half side of the radiator. All-in-all.. that's very little impedance. However, the radiator fan will be pulling air through the upper 2/3rd portion of the radiator (the area NOT exposed by the opening in the bumper) in which incoming air would not pass through very easily. This would more than make up for any impedance caused by the fan on the lower 1/3rd portion.



As for not running fans. Your radiator just needs to be large enough (efficient enough) and with adequate enough air flow.

I run a fan with a manual switch for my cool down lap and when it's sitting idle coming off track.

NirVTEC

Royal Purple comment

DB2-R81

Maybe my comprehension is as bad as my use of superlatives, however I am not reading your corrections, just don't get it?

rice_classic

I often ADHD, once my tangent has begun.

What I was correcting was the statement about radiator fans being useless while at speed. I was correcting the fact that it's an over-arching statement that is not true most of the time.

As it turns out, the radiator fan (assuming it's on) can INCREASE the amount of air that passes through the radiator even at speed depending on what's in front of the radiator, the size of the air opening in the bumper and how easily air can flow around the sides of the radiator.

Hope that helps.

Jaker

Hondata SManager software now allows temp control and speed control of the rad fan. You can alter the temperature at which the fan turns on, and also switch the fan off when your vehicle reaches a pre-set user definable vehicle speed to reduce the stalling out of the fan, and improve cooling at speed.

Andrie Hartanto

see this kind of statement really rubs me the wrong way. Obviously this is not only wrong but it is ridiculous. You need to run oil, but for lubrication.

You can definitely run an engine without oil cooler as long as the oil doesn't break down. But in no way the oil is used to regulate engine temperature.

jaje

Well according to several posters here including yours oil has nothing to do with cooling an engine. As I expected I'm talking to experts here right? I'm amazed at the professional opinions I'm getting from several fluid dynamics engineers and physicists who are proving to me that oil does nothing to help cool an engine.

It's not like it has constant contact with metal surfaces throughout the engine that are critical to its proper operation. It's not like there's an "oil pump" that circulates the oil through the engine. Who'd of thought that a liquid pumped throughout an engine would cool it...ironic that that's how coolant works too!

Now, I don't know how I can possibly defend statements against those who tell me to drain coolant from an water cooled engine then run it for a long time to prove that oil has nothing to do with cooling the engine. It's just plain ignorance - and quite funny.

Natural Aspirations

No water you say?

descartesfool

The other option is of course to leave oil in the sump for lubrication and then just replace the coolant with oil with a fresh top-up of the radiator after a good drain. Then you will have a fully oil cooled engine. Water pump might be huffing and puffing for a while after a cold start, but it will be well lubricated. Let us know how that works out.