Is it possible for a car to overheat in the winter?

H

Hey There.

New member
Please answer these two scenarios separately.
Q1: Lets say it is 5 degrees F outside and that is the daily max temperature. What is the likelihood that a normal passenger car engine would overheat with NO COOLANT in the system? Is it possible to be cold enough for the engine to run without coolant?
Q2: Have YOU ever seen a car overheat in the cold winter months?
 
1. a car will most likely overheat without coolant. it would have to be very very cold outside for this to not happen or you would have to be moving at highway speeds on a very cold day

2. yes
 
Yes its possible. thats why they have Anti freeze engine coolant. the heat will get so intense it will warp parts of your engine, then you can say "goodbye car". you must have coolant, just like you must have oil.

i have seen it happen, its happened to a cousin of mine.
 
Q1- what would happen with no coolant is yea you would fry your engine. Its not a VW so its not air cooled. its liquid cooled. Without blood do you think you would live??????

Q2. Yes if the antifreeze/coolant level isn't correct. i have seen the stuff freeze up and bust radiators wide open.
 
I think it would be almost certain that the engine would overheat without any coolant regardless of the outside temperature. The areas that are most at risk from overheating are internal engine parts like the cylinders, pistons, crankshaft, valves, etc...

It is hard to get that heat out from deep inside the engine without coolant. There just isn't anything to carry away the heat except for the oil. In fact, with hollow cavities absent of coolant, you have pretty good insulation keeping the heat in.

I've overheated an engine in the winter.
 
yes car will overheat in winter. air cool engines usually have fins on the engine block which dissipate heat and the air cools the fins. Since engine doesnt have any fins and it is in confined space that out of the air stream, it will over heat very quickly. Even the prosche air cooled engines have fans to cycle the air around the cylinders.
 
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