Does your engine run hotter when fighting a headwind?

[Scott & Heather]

We are headed from Palm Springs California to grants pass Oregon and on the flat our bus is definitely running a little bit hotter we are fighting heat a little bit more. There's a very strong direct headwind indicated by all the windmills spinning wildly can this actually cause our coach to run a little hotter?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[digesterman]

We are headed from Palm Springs California to grants pass Oregon and on the flat our bus is definitely running a little bit hotter we are fighting heat a little bit more. There's a very strong direct headwind indicated by all the windmills spinning wildly can this actually cause our coach to run a little hotter?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It has with our semis so I think true of a bus too. Depends on the time of the year and running nite or day too

[gumpy]

Side wind for me. Going across Nebraska or South Dakota in July or August when temps are above 90 cause high temp gauge readings and result in slower progress. But generally, I stay off the interstates, so it's usually, not too much of a problem.

[luvrbus]

Head winds and cross winds will do it,did you notice the boost hanging steady   

[Dreadnought]

It makes sense that the engine will run a different temperature.

When I worked on helping to design/optimise HD truck engines I made this presentation:



On a modern truck, with a 13 litre engine- on the straight and level with no head winds, the truck will require about 160 bhp or power, however if there's some head wind and a gradient this requirement rises significantly to 300 bhp. Obviously the cooling requirements are very different. This is very different to a car, where even with a cross wind the aspect presented is quite small so there's no significant power requirement difference and a similar story for a cars weight.

A bus, despite being a lot less weight than a Semi Truck, will still have collossal requirements up hills and against cross winds. Our engines are quite small compared to modern 13-15 litre class 8 trucks too, little 9.3- 12.7 litre engines, sometimes not turbo charged making say, about 800 ft lbs rather than the more usual modern standard of around 2000 ft lbs.

[Dave5Cs]

Yep that cross wind from those windmills will have an effect on you not to say what getting hit by one of those big blades would do, wow.....
Dave5Cs

[Beachfinn]

Yep, I was running hot coming through the plains , heading to denver. Verg strong side winds.

Sami

[Utahclaimjumper]

  The more fuel going thru the engine at a given speed the more HEAT,,,the more headwind the more you press the go pedal to maintain speed,,more HEAT..>>>Dan

[Geoff]

Yes, you hit a headwind just right and the radiator can't suck air resulting in an overheated engine.  Been there a few times.  All you can do is pull over and run the engine at fast idle 'till it cools down, and hope the wind/or road changes direction.

--Geoff

[Iceni John]

It's almost always windy in the Banning Pass!   The wind has nowhere else to go between the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto mountains.   When I was taking flying lessons my instructor told me that sometimes the trucks below him on the freeway would be going faster than a Cessna 152 against the afternoon wind!   Driving into the headwind is like bicycling against the wind  -  you can't defeat it, so just slow down and try to find the fastest continuously-sustainable speed, then stick with it even though you sometimes think you can go faster.   It's like when all the trees are growing bent the opposite way that you're traveling, such as on the Sonoma and Mendocino coast of Northern California  -  it's time to just slow down and take it easy.

At times like this a turbo boost gauge is useful  -  it shows just how hard the engine is working, i.e how much heat it's producing.   For me, 18 PSI boost is the most I can sustain indefinitely in average SoCal temperatures, and if I let it get above 20 PSI the temperature gauge will immediately start to climb.

John

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks for the input. We definitely were struggling yesterday until the wind subsided. Went through some serious water using the misters. We overnighted in ButtonWillow and tonight will overnight in Corning. Then tomorrow hopefully arrive in Grants Pass. Geoff I wondered if the right wind might actually prevent the rads from
Pulling in air.....btw, no one mentioned the nice grades up and down coming out of Palm Springs. Wow. I pulled in 2nd gear at 43 mph for most of it. Then the most recent decent was long and I had to stay at the recommended 35mph and still had smoking brakes even with down shifting and careful brake stabbing. That was my first intro to any seriously long up and down grades. Nothing quite like this out east. And this is our first foray into the west with the coach in 6 years of full timing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HB of CJ]

My old long gone Crown Supercoash 10 wheeler had a choice of three different gears cruising along at 55 mph.  Eight, ninth or tenth.  Fuller RTO910.  Just a slight head wind did away with tenth gear.

What was interesting was that side winds also affected the cruising ability in the higher gears.  Slight grades also started taking away the selected running gears.  It did not take much to slow her down.

Climbing the six percent grades ended up selecting 6th or 7th gear.  Adding head winds plus a steep grade sometimes also reduced her by one gear.  Cruising down the highway at 55 was easy.

Tail winds had the opposite effect.  Some conditions resulted in chugging along at 55 mph in tenth gear without harding using any gas pedal position.  Very slick.  But such conditions were very rare. 

[TomC]

I've had heating situation with tail wind hitting me from the right rear. No air on the left for radiator.

[uncle ned]

Scott  going into a head wind you are using the right foot more.

And did you let Hard Headed Ken into your ecm.  if so up goes the HP and the heat.

super smart young man.  at least young to me.

uncle ned

[Scott & Heather]

Yep, ken did his magic. Amazing difference but yet at the cost of some added heat. When we finally get some actual cold temps to drive in, this coach comes alive.. unstoppable


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk