The purpose of covering the grill during cold weather

Question

In some countries it is quite popular to cover up the front grill in winter (especially on diesel engined cars). As I understand the intention is to inhibit airflow to the radiator, but why would you do that if coolant flow to the radiator is allowed by the thermostat only when operating temperature is reached? As far as I can tell it all it could do is cause harm, such as overheating and lost intercooler effectiveness.

I've actually seen special plastic or fabric covers sold for specific models, so it must have SOME kind of use:

So what's the catch, when do you need one if your cooling system is in order? I've heard of people saying that sometimes the interior heater is so effective that the engine is having trouble keeping the temperature up, but how would covering up the non-functioning radiator work? Is cold air hitting the outer shell enough?

Answer 1

I can see a few reasons to do this:

• The weather in some places will be so cold that even with the thermostat fully closed the cooling system isn't able to warm the engine up to operating temperatures. Inhibiting air flow through the radiator will reduce the amount of heat rejected to the surroundings, allowing the engine to get up to temperature. The cold environment lends to a reduced risk of overheating.

• Preventing air flow through the radiator grill helps reduce drag coefficient on some vehicles, which helps improve fuel economy. BMW has introduced a dynamic kidney grill on their 2016 7-Series for this purpose (provided the necessary conditions are met - so the system is never active on a hot day with the engine under load).

• Because everyone else is doing it and it looks "cool". Though this reason is more psychological than technical :)

I'm not sure if there is anything diesel-specific going on here.

Answer 2

This is old, but some of these comments annoy me. I live in Fairbanks AK and drive a 90's diesel Chevy. It takes a 15 minute idle period (in addition to at least an hour with the block heater plugged in) and 3-5 miles of highway driving for the coolant temp to get over 120 degrees when it's 10 degrees or colder. When the temp is below -20f or so, the coolant will never reach the proper operating temp, even pulling steep hills at 70mph. My rad cover lets my temps be in acceptable operating range in less time, which reduces idling and engine wear. Enough cooling takes place to prevent overheating, though I will take it off if I need to tow when it's that cold. It's also not true that closed thermostats prevent all water movement, they are not water tight.

Answer 3

An anectodal answer to this...

Back in the '70s I owned a Moskvich 412, a Russian car built to survive in Siberia. This had a brass venetian blind arrangement in front of the radiator that could be opened and closed from a lever beside the steering wheel.

The handbook stated that this blind should be closed when starting the vehicle at temperatures below -10ºC and should be opened when the temperature gauge reached normal. It also said that in temperatures below -40ºC it should never be opened. The reasoning given was that the blind reduced airflow throughout the engine compartment, not just through the radiator itself. This gave the engine a chance to reach an efficient temperature. But of course the blind could be opened if the engine started to overheat.

So, yes, there is a point to blanking the radiator and it doesn't cause damage if you keep an eye on the temperature gauge.

The car had a petrol engine, not diesel. There is nothing particular about blanking the radiator of a diesel. As the weather never gets that cold in Southern England I never closed the blind in anger.

Answer 4

Pretty simple answer here. Autos and trucks were designed with an expectation of outside temperatures of aprx 65 degrees up to 110 degrees aprx. the entire engine system is designed to run fairly well under these temps. However as anybody in these cold areas knows It may be cold, but wind chill makes it worse! When you drive your adding windchill to your radiator! By blocking the majority of the grill opening you in effect make the space smaller as well as blocking the wind so heat can assist in controlling radiator freeze from excessive cold at the cores. Hope this helped. Additional information on Thermostat function. This device sets in the engines upper block inside a pocket of coolant. Only when the coolant reaches a temperature the device is set for will the device open and allow coolant flow but only till the coolant flow temp has dropped under the set range and again it closes. The thermostat is meant to slow or fully stop the flow till the radiator up front is able to cool the coolant to the point it will dissipate heat again from the block. The block water temp is far hotter than is the radiator thermostat temp. If allowed to simply flow the block would heat the water to boiling point without the thermostat holding back and allowing the air passing around the core to cool the coolant suffsiantly.