Coolant additive to SPEED UP engine warm-up??

[Ashmck]

I was at O'reillys and saw a small can that advertised FASTER ENGINE WARM-UP.

It was basically an additive that you poor in to your coolant and it makes it so you have warm air in your car faster because it speeds up the engine warm up process or something.


Seems if this REALLY worked it would help with FE?

[diamondlarry]

That does sound interesting.

[GasSavers_BIBI]

Or you can use a block heater combine with synthetic oil.

[kamesama980]

well from the coolant system it isn't going to change the engine running much so all I can think of is that it makes the coolant less efficienct at carrying heat...basically it takes less heat to change the temperature of it.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by BIBI

Or you can use a block heater combine with synthetic oil.

This is the approach that I took with the Prius.

[GasSavers_BIBI]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

This is the approach that I took with the Prius.

Do you have a SG on your Prius, and if so, how good is a block heater?

Since I can get one on my 92 vx, you could get me some feedback about the impact on your Prius.

[trebuchet03]

Sounds like something to increase thermal conductivity (if it actually works).... Likely not going to have a significant impact given the large amount of heat going into the coolant to begin with.

[Erdrick]

Just going to throw this out there... Doesn't water allow for cooling of hotter temps, and straight coolant allow for running in colder weather (ie, prevent ice from forming)? Thus a mix of about 50/50 allows for driving in most conditions found in America.

Maybe thinking along these lines you may be able to formulate your own mixture that allows for faster warm ups?

[StorminMatt]

Originally Posted by Erdrick

Just going to throw this out there... Doesn't water allow for cooling of hotter temps, and straight coolant allow for running in colder weather (ie, prevent ice from forming)? Thus a mix of about 50/50 allows for driving in most conditions found in America.

Straight water has FAR better heat transfer properties than ANY mixture of water and antifreeze. Whenever I have run straight water, I notice that the heater blows HOT in a way that it NEVER normally does. Also, the engine runs cool as a cucumber even in the most extreme of conditions. The problem? Besides freezing in the cold, water has no corrosion inhibitors. However, if you livein a warmer climate, you can probably get away with using less than 50% antifreeze. This will improve cooling system performance.

[JanGeo]

Rate of heating is a function of the thermal resistance of the protective coating lining the engine metal surfaces in the water jacket cooling surfaces from the coolent being used and the energy needed to raise the temperature of the coolent. Hard to believe that an additive could radically change those properties enough to make the engine warm up faster unless it magically blocks off a leaky thermostat.