Crazy idea?

[81Wagon]

So there I was at an intersection, half an hour ago, watching the smoke drift its way out the driver's window of the SUV in front of me. Well, at least she didn't have the windows rolled up with young children trapped in the car (as was the case when my best friend's aunt would pick us up from camp years ago - "Why do you kids keep rolling down the windows? It's COLD out there! Stop it!").

The light turned green and, apparently nearing the end of its useful life as a cancer inducer, the cigarette was tossed backwards out the window at me as the woman started her way cross the intersection.

THis is the second day in a row that someone has thrown a burning piece of trash out of their car directly in front of me (I am all for the $3,000 to $20,000 fines proposed here in California for said crime).

Anyway, my first though was "if only one of my windshield wiper nozzles was aimed the other way, I could douse her!" (or at least her car ;-). Following that, I imagined it might be interesting to mount an extra tank and nozzle at the grille aiming outward... I could imagine the occasional situation where it would be useful, and at least it would be better for the environment than some other methods of retribution .

For the record, I'm not advocating a potentially illegal and dangerous idea, this was merely a thought experiment .

But it did lead to another, more legitimate idea: turn that hypothetical extra nozzle at the grille around and point it at the radiator! Could this technique be used to spray water on the radiator (hopefully resulting in additional cooling as the water evaporates/boils off) in extreme conditions?

For example, there are many long stretches of steep hills on the highway in the desert between Las Vegas and the Utah border. I've made the trip in cooler weather and my wagon made it up each one, but it got VERY close to 120 degrees a few times. I imagine in the middle of the hot summer (when I am planning yet another trip, loaded up with passengers and possibly a trailer) the situation might be worse. It would be interesting to see if wetting the radiator would help alleviate the problem!

Can anyone think of any down-sides to such an experiment? Could spraying cool water on a hot radiator cause a problem? Will it make any difference? Am I crazy?

[whunter]

You can spray water on the radiator for additional cooling.
You would need 4 to 5 gallons to really do any good on a long hot drive.

On the cars with headlamp wipers, you can just pull the hoses off of the nipples for the washers, and you have two perfectly aimed jets that will shoot a couple of feet.

Spraying pedestrians is fun.

[81Wagon]

Originally posted by whunter
You would need 4 to 5 gallons to really do any good on a long hot drive.[/B]

Could be. If I only use it when absolutely necessary I might get away with a wiper-fluid-tankfull (what is that, a gallon?) on any one particular hill. I guess I'll have to try it and see!

Originally posted by VeeDubTDI
On the cars with headlamp wipers, you can just pull the hoses off of the nipples for the washers, and you have two perfectly aimed jets that will shoot a couple of feet.

Spraying pedestrians is fun.

LOL. I would imagine so . When picking up friends in a driveway or parking lot I often pretend not to see them, stopping at the last minute (obviously not at any kind of speed, I don't want to kill anyone one accident!). The only thing keeping that joke from getting old are the amusing fake death scenes they like to enact on the hood of my car, but even so it's wearing thin. (As a side note, one time I did this a friend decided to run at my car, jump, and "dive bomb" the hood with his butt... 210 pounds slammed into the center of the hood and not a bit of damage! I love this car!). It would be great to surprise them with a good soaking instead... :p

[rickg]

You're about 40 years too late with this idea. I remember when I was a kid my dad had a canvas bag that you filled with water and hung on the grill in front of the radiator. It seeped water thru the cloth and acted kinda like a swamp cooler when going across the California desert.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2020&item=4132830377&rd=1
I suppose they're still available in some areas.

[DslBnz]

Originally posted by 81Wagon
Could be. If I only use it when absolutely necessary I might get away with a wiper-fluid-tankfull (what is that, a gallon?) on any one particular hill. I guess I'll have to try it and see!



LOL. I would imagine so . When picking up friends in a driveway or parking lot I often pretend not to see them, stopping at the last minute (obviously not at any kind of speed, I don't want to kill anyone one accident!). The only thing keeping that joke from getting old are the amusing fake death scenes they like to enact on the hood of my car, but even so it's wearing thin. (As a side note, one time I did this a friend decided to run at my car, jump, and "dive bomb" the hood with his butt... 210 pounds slammed into the center of the hood and not a bit of damage! I love this car!). It would be great to surprise them with a good soaking instead... :p

Don't EVER dive-bomb an aluminum hood. A W123 maybe, but NO W126 OR LATER MODELS. :p

Wow, some interesting and eccentric threads are starting to finally emerge from this recent babble.

kewl stuff!

Just make sure your auxillary fan is working, and there is no blockage in the cooling system. And make sure you have the proper mixture, of course. 120 degrees sounds REALLY abnormal, unless you were pressing that diesel at its redline for quite awhile with the AC full blast up mountainous terrain.

[81Wagon]

Originally posted by DslBnz
Just make sure your auxillary fan is working, and there is no blockage in the cooling system. And make sure you have the proper mixture, of course. 120 degrees sounds REALLY abnormal, unless you were pressing that diesel at its redline for quite awhile with the AC full blast up mountainous terrain.

Flooring it up a steep hill with a fairly loaded car for four or five minutes straight in warm weather... doesn't seem too abnormal to start overheating. I don't think the aux. fan comes on for anything except the AC in older 123's like mine; I just recently wired in a switch/relay to turn it on if necessary, actually.

My boyfriend and I had a 80's volvo station wagon (you know, the mom mobile) and we used to turn the rear washer jet towards the sidewalk and get pedestrians as they cruised by, or obnoxious drivers. His friends' mom showed us this one...

[JT8Mech]

Here's a link to a water/alcohol injection setup for gas powered turbos. (It might work on a diesel, but AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!) My thought is to use this in front of your radiator/inter/aftercooler. Link

One of the pages even has some part numbers to put it together.

[clarknova]

81Wagon:
interesting idea with the additional cooling pump for the rad...
reminds me of the flax water bags the old timers would hang in front of the radiator for desert trips.
as far as the aux fan - my parts guy (perhaps you know him - Randy with EPS in Goleta) was saying the aux fan is on a 100 degree Celsius switch (212 F!). SoyDriverMatt has his old 240 on a manual switch and I'm about to do the same.
I'm all for the water sprayer in the front grill, very handy for the incompetent drivers in our neck o' the woods. actually in the process of designing an aimable one for a friend's car, if it works out well I'll probably put one in mine
let me know what you come up with...

[R Leo]

My pals and I did this when we were much younger.

We rigged 3 different squirters on a '67 Ford F-100 (plenty of room under that hood for mischief)....one straight out the passenger side, one out the front grille and another in the back. A chunk of rubber vacuum tubing with the mainjet from a Mikuni carburetor jammed into the end provided a perfect stream for hosing the unsuspecting motorist or pedestrian.

Of course there was the time when the trickster became the trickee when we rigged one of the pumps to run whenever the brake pedal was depressed and aimed the nozzle to point right at the driver's crotch....

[81Wagon]

Originally posted by clarknova
my parts guy (perhaps you know him - Randy with EPS in Goleta) was saying the aux fan is on a 100 degree Celsius switch (212 F!). SoyDriverMatt has his old 240 on a manual switch and I'm about to do the same.

Never been to (or heard of) EPS. If you check out this thread there's been some discussion as to which 123s have this feature and which don't (looks like the consensus is "we don't know" ;-). I DO have the temp sensor by the thermostat, but it doesn't seem to do anything: it has power with ignition, but grounding it doesn't turn on the aux. fan. Jumping the switch on the receiver/drier will. I checked my wiring diagram and the only thing hooked up to the aux. fan relay is the receiver/drier switch. Gotta wonder what that sensor is for, then...

Originally posted by clarknova
I'm all for the water sprayer in the front grill, very handy for the incompetent drivers in our neck o' the woods. actually in the process of designing an aimable one for a friend's car, if it works out well I'll probably put one in mine

Aimable from inside the car? Or do you have to get out and adjust it manually? It would be great if you could sit in the car and aim left or right as needed... :p

[clarknova]

81Wagon:
aimable from inside the car, of course
just haven't figured if we're going with mechanical linkages or servo control. should be able to get about a 135 degree sweep out of the front grill.
thinking an old pressure washer nozzle (the swirly ones) would make for a nice coverage pattern, obviously without the excessive pressure.

check out EPS (European Parts Specialists).
the guy's name is Randy and has been working on MB's for twenty-some years. he's a good source for technical info and great for parts. his website is still under construction but you can find him at 5960 Mandarin Ave. Suite A in Goleta.

BTW - great article on the algae bio-d!

[Pete Burton]

81 wagon - you are indeed correct in assuming that wetting the radiator will help cool it. the question is how much and is it worth it? Either way, it would be a fun experiment. You could for example use a few spray nozzles from an old windex containers and manifold them so they all make a wide, fine mist. Degrease the hell out the outside of your radiator, so all the water sticks to the rad. It's the evaporation from the surface that carries away the heat. If your water is pumped from an insulated cooler it will be of course much more effective than water at underhood temps of maybe 140F. But here's another idea... Turn off your wonderful A/C, roll down all the windows and turn your HEATER on full blast. During short bursts your passengers shouldn't get too uncomfortable and the heater ABSOLUTELY pulls extra heat out of the cooling system and exhausts it out of the car. I've done this with several vehicles over the years and it always helps a good deal.

Originally posted by clarknova
81Wagon:
aimable from inside the car, of course
just haven't figured if we're going with mechanical linkages or servo control. should be able to get about a 135 degree sweep out of the front grill.
thinking an old pressure washer nozzle (the swirly ones) would make for a nice coverage pattern, obviously without the excessive pressure.

try an ajustable side mirror the hole unit
would be perfict for aiming