requesting a water pump experiment

[Bill in Houston]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Part B didn't really work out - the engine gets hot too quickly with the water pump disconnected (surprise, surprise!).

OOOOoooohhh, I always wondered what the water pump is for... :-)

Good try anyway. When you described the setup, I didn't even think about the car overheating that quickly, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. Hmm, what to try next...

Ooh, another way to skin the cat, maybe. Hook up your electric drill to the water pump, spin the pump at whatever speeds it would spin at if the engine was turning 1k, 3 k, and 6k rpm, and then use the kill-a-watt to see how much power it takes to spin the pump at those speeds. Just thinking out loud...

[MetroMPG]

I was thinking the same thing - just spinning the pump electrically & measuring current draw. It'd be the most accurate test.

[bzipitidoo]

That's too bad the engine heats up too quickly. I thought you'd have a few minutes before overheating. Sounds like it's only seconds.

How to run the engine without any water pump at all? Hmmm... run on pure ethanol? May not be cool enough, and fuel system may not be designed for alternative fuels. Spray engine with water hose? Probably not enough cooling. Switch 50/50 antifreeze/water mixture for 100% water? Wait until winter? Unhook radiator and just run water hose in one end of engine and open to the ground at the other? Really extreme: coat engine parts with ceramic so it can take higher temps?

Cool the oil? Pain to set up, I bet. If done wrong could ruin the engine. And besides water is much better than oil at carrying heat around. Easiest sounds like the suggestion to spin the water pump with a drill. A plain old electric motor with pulley could do the job, if you can find anywhere to mount it.