Hey umm... do those high pressure radiator caps from Mugen, Spoon, or Greddy etc. really do somthing? Is it worth the money? Anyone have them? If they do help a bit and is worth the $ where can I find one that fits my 95accord EX (f22 stock radiator)? Thanx

 

don't waste your $$$

 

You should stick to a stock 15PSI cap IMO. Raising the PSI of the cooling system will effectivly increase the boiling point at which your coolant begins to boil. I wouldnt reccomend this on a stock plastic radiator not to mention your coolant will, in general, be at a higher temperature.

High pressure radiator caps are generally for racing use, IMO.

 

Stock plastic radiator? What? Don't you mean aluminum? And it raises the pressure inside the cooling system. And if you know the equation: PV=nRT, then you'd know that with increase in pressure, the temperature drops. So no, the temperature DOES NOT go up but rather go down. That's why Spoon and other manufacturers are producing higher pressure radiator caps: to make your cooling system work harder and lower the engine temps. The only downfalls are that the cap isn't cheap and that the cooling system will get overworked. So replace the cap with a stock cap when you don't need the extra cooling.

 

Plastic end tanks big guy and they are the suck as it is.... why stress em. Obviously the core is aluminum.

I never said the car itselfw ould run hotter or cooler, I said the pressure will increase causing the BOILING POINT OF THE COOLANT to rise. Boiling point and ambient temperature are two different things when you're talking about a pressurized cooling system. water boils at 212 degrees at 1 atmosphere. The coolant in your system heats up and gets pressurised so that it boils at a higher temp than 212, ie you dont want your coolant to boil as you get steam. Basically its supposed to increase the cooling system to operate at a higher temp without blowing its top into the overflow bottle. Not to mention having steam say in the cyl head causing hot spots etc is not a good thing if you're a hard/race driver/car owner.

So ... tell me how the cap is going to decrease the temp of your coolant? Its really going to do neither if you're a normal Accord driver like most of us except put undue stress on an already skimpy cooling system.

 

i gotta agree with GimpyAccord, and also the point that the stock radiator is made out of plastic (top) which is a bad design

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by showgunz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> And if you know the equation: PV=nRT, then you'd know that with increase in pressure, the temperature drops. </TD></TR></TABLE>

what? no. that equation is for an ideal gas, and if everything else stays constant, as pressure increases, so does temperature. look at it this way, using algebra P/T=nR/V. the volume doesn't change, and the number of molecules doesn't change (and R is a constant), so as you increase P, you have to increase T. as an example, say nR/V=1=P/T for ease of calculation. now if P is 1, T is 1. if you increase P to say 5, T also increases to 5 to keep P/T equal to 1. i know it's rough, but you follow what i'm getting at.

 

I see, So yeah I'm definitely not getting a radiator cap then thanx

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krotchwaffle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what? no. that equation is for an ideal gas...</TD></TR></TABLE>
You shoulda stopped right there. Your coolant isn't an ideal gas, so don't even think about using that equation. At all.

Your radiator cap is just a pressure-relief valve. The thermostat controls temperature. The radiator cap just lets a little liquid out as it gets hot & expands.

With an OEM (plastic-tank) radiator, I wouldn't get a high-pressure cap. Honda picked the relief pressure for a reason, based on the strength of ALL the cooling system parts.