 Cooling - Foreword
The more you know about a particular subject, the harder it is to sell it to people. It's similar to football, where millions of armchair coaches watch the Bundesliga on the weekend
and think they can pinpoint exactly what's wrong with this or that team.
When I mention that I'm writing a book about refrigeration, some people are quick to ask a question. Recently, the question was why modern vehicles seem to have
increasing difficulties heating up the interior quickly enough.
I should have known better, since I tried to convince the person asking the question using my knowledge of the increased efficiency of diesel engines in particular. A common counterargument is
that gasoline-powered cars have also become significantly worse. Yes, those are more efficient now, too.
No, it couldn't be due to a mere few percentage points of improved efficiency; after all, the heating system is more than 50 percent worse. The disbelief on my conversation partner's face grows more and more,
increasing almost exponentially with my efforts to convince him after all. Why would manufacturers start installing electric auxiliary heaters now if it weren't for the issue of efficiency? Of course
we part politely in the end, but the doubts are by no means dispelled.
In the past, the interior would heat up along
with the engine; today, it has to wait until
the
engine reaches a certain temperature. |
Another case, one that's a little more difficult. You explain to a friend that antifreeze should be changed about every three to four years. You immediately notice the slightly cheeky grin on
his face. He said that the coolant in his last car hadn't been touched in 20 years; he'd only topped it off a little bit on very rare occasions.
The worst part is, the man is right. I know the car, and what he describes really did happen. It just goes to show what a tremendous job the engineers did in designing a cooling system
that’s so durable it can do its job for 20 years and about 300,000 kilometers without a single complaint. But what else is there to say?
Always refer to the user manual for
the recommended intervals. |
However, I have a problem with a group of so-called experts. These are the die-hard idlers. 140,000 kilometers without an oil change, and the engine supposedly runs just as well as it did on day one. Why
even change the oil? The practice proves that you can get by without it. It sounds logical, but it isn't.
After all, drivers like that typically haven't given the possible consequences a second thought. Whether the car uses a lot of gas or a little, the main thing is that it runs. They don't know whether the piston rings have long
since become stuck in their notches and the seal is now merely a formality. They can't even tell if the used oil is coming out in small clumps because they just don't change the oil (or have it changed).
Here’s a well-known saying: One of the worst things about older diesel engines was that, once they started, they almost always kept running, no matter how bad their condition was. A gasoline-powered engine, on the
other hand, breaks down and needs to be repaired. Just because a mechanical part follows its intended direction of motion does not necessarily mean that it does so in the manner intended by the developer.
But for some people, their experiences mean more than anything else. For example, someone might swear by a particular brand of tires and go to great lengths to make sure their car is equipped only with those products.
It's a shame that sets of tires are so expensive. I would love to set up a blind test for people like that, with a variety of different setups, and have them figure out which one they prefer just by driving.
| It's nice to stick to the facts. |
What can we learn from these examples? It is important to obtain information, but not necessarily to pass it on. Pay attention to the person you're talking to, and if you notice an increasingly skeptical look on
their face, tone down your attempts to persuade them. For most people, a car is more than just a means of transportation; they pour their heart and soul into it, and it’s never been easy to fight against emotions.
Conversely, this does not mean, of course, that we should now ignore every opinion based on practical experience. Practical experience is and will always be a particularly important component. For the workshop, for
example, the following should apply: If a fault occurs, the first step is to consult the experience gained with this model. But if you still haven't found it after 15–20 minutes or half an hour, you start searching
systematically.
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