Radiator Blocking for Winter Conditions

[shatto]

Oh, stop it!

I wasn't attacking you, I was commenting on functionality.
The holes are along the same radiator tubing. Offset holes would provide air to more of the tubes. But it might make no nevermind anyhow.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I didn't take that as an attack. I was merely stating that in my climate and driving conditions what I have works. Your vehicle & climate may be different. The first hole is lined up directly in front of the auxillary oil and transmission coolers. The second was placed to balance out the first, for a symmetrical appearance.

[JanGeo]

Yeah 205 F fan turn on for my xB and by then the cooling system is up to pressure and the water pump is weeping some coolent. Ideally you don't want to prevent the fans from cooling the radiator at all should them come on so blocking up front where it is easier to remove and not blocking the radiator core was my plan. I just insert white plastic foam sheets into the grill recess - put the upper one in two days ago since the colder weather is here and I wanted a little more heater heat. One down side is I need to monitor the engine coolent temp so I will have to give up a Scangauge number to that.

[brucepick]

I was able to block up the lower grill about 65-70% for summer, will probably be about 90% blocked for winter. Upper grill which is smaller, is now 100% blocked year 'round. When the seasons change I keep an eye on the engine coolant temp via ScanGauge to make sure it stays where it normally would be.

With the radiator located a good 8" behind the grill, the fact that some grill is open enables good air flow whenever the electric fan does come on. True that the opening is not huge but it's enough to let the fan do it's job. My a/c condenser is on one side and the rad is on the other. The unblocked grill is in front of the radiator. A/C side of grill is always fully blocked but when the condenser fan comes on it pulls in air via the open area that's over on the other side of the grill so the a/c works nicely.

Check on it as the seasons change. It's important to set it up so that whatever season you're in, the fan isn't coming on all the time. If it is, you need more open grill area.

Learn the temp range it's usually at with no blocking in moderate weather, say 60-70 degrees. Mine hangs out around 179-182 deg. F., 186 with a moderate upgrade climb. If the grill blocking makes it consistently hotter than your 'standard' then you might want to reduce the blocking.

If you have a ScanGauge or other digital readout, you should be able to see engine temp on the screen. Summer weather with engine idling showed me how the fan is programmed. I saw my coolant gets up to 204 or 206, and very rarely it will get up to 208. Temp starts down from 204-208 and will go into the 190's before it starts increasing again. Running down the highway I don't think the rad fan ever came on, unless I still had too much winter blocking in the grill. So I'd remove some, to get it to stay in the low 180's always.