Under hood temps in Phoenix AZ. Cowl hood or vents?

[SCBS]

Under hood temps in Phoenix AZ. Cowl hood or vents? I've got a 2000 Yukon 5.3, living in Phoenix the summertime temps are brutal. Does a Cowl Hood or hood vents/louvers actually allow the heat to escape enough to drop the temp? Or should i just leave the stock hood as GM designed it?

 

[Bill 1960]

Paging @Sparksalot . He’s done it.

It seems to me that they must help, but I don’t know by how much. Considering the amount of airflow through the radiator and front fan, you’d need big vents for a significant temperature drop in the engine bay I think.

I don’t think the engine per se suffers, but mine was idled a lot on the Texas border and it fried the corrugated wire harness loom. Or maybe that stuff was crap to begin with, it’s crispy and brittle under the truck well back from the engine compartment.

 

[drakon543]

your best option is to get a better flowing fan setup. cowl hood will help a bit but nothing overly noticeable on the temp gauge. ive never experienced it myself but they say ceramic coated headers can lower engine bay temps. the ceramic and better flow will allow hot exhaust gases to leave the engine bay faster i geuss.

 

[corvette744]

What does drop the temp mean are you running hot what is temp at idle.If over 210 i would be installing a aluminum radiator for better cooling.You do have electric fans right or flex fan?Also your fan shroud is intact.

 

[SCBS]

The truck is not running hot, it's just HOT in phoenix in the summertime =) This truck has been in the family since new, I just inherited it. I decided to fix it up and make it survive Phoenix summers. An aluminum radiator/fans is on order, I planned on adding headers so the tip about having them ceramic coated is on point.
I don't want to add the cowl hood or vents unless it will actually help vent the under hood heat, if it doesn't, i'll install a HD hood for looks...

 

[Sparksalot]

I added louvers to the hood on thecopcar. It was fine in street conditions, but I didn’t like to under hood temps moving slowly on dirt roads.

Holding your hand above one while idling after it’s up to temp, and you can definitely feel the heat rising, even on a hot day.

 

[rayra]

Just lower the engine thermostat. I'm running a 160F the last few years and engine works fine, passing smog, and even in last Summer's 115F days in Vegas, didn't have any heating problems. I was even towing heavy trailers over the 4000'+ passes between SoCal and Vegas without any issues.

2002 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN 1500 5.3L V8 Thermostat | Shop Now at RockAuto

Cooling System Parts and More for Your 2002 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN 1500 at Reliably Low Prices. Fast Online Catalog. DIY-Easy. Your Choice of Quality. Full Manufacturer Warranty.

www.rockauto.com

 

[Blackcar]

GM spent a lot of time to keep engine running at operating temperature in all conditions. Which includes getting air thru radiator in certain conditions and a lot of this testing is done in Arizona with what they mule vehicles for testing because of environment there. If temperature gauge is running at correct temp everything is fine.

 

[mountie]

Hmmm..... I popped open my '05 Yukon hood..... Lowered it slowly.... Looking under the hood from a fender, ...... I was just wondering......
Go to a salvage yard. Pick up that plastic cowl / vent / screen cover , where the windshield / hood meet when closed. I wonder if that can be fabricated to create a nice 'escape' air opening?

Almost a cowl induction kinda space to let the hot engine air run out & up the windshield??

>>> Hood vents are great until it rains or you wash the truck <<<
The OEM harness loom is crap. Mine turned into Kellogs Corn Flakes. I went to Summit and re-covered my wires with the 'slip-on' braded . Very nice .

 

[Sparksalot]

Hmmm..... I popped open my '05 Yukon hood..... Lowered it slowly.... Looking under the hood from a fender, ...... I was just wondering......
Go to a salvage yard. Pick up that plastic cowl / vent / screen cover , where the windshield / hood meet when closed. I wonder if that can be fabricated to create a nice 'escape' air opening?

Almost a cowl induction kinda space to let the hot engine air run out & up the windshield??

>>> Hood vents are great until it rains or you wash the truck <<<
The OEM harness loom is crap. Mine turned into Kellogs Corn Flakes. I went to Summit and re-covered my wires with the 'slip-on' braded . Very nice .

I looked at that for a bit. Even with the cowl gone, and the seal at the rear edge of the hood removed, there isn a significant gap between the hood and the top of the firewall.
the base of the windshield is also a high pressure area, which is why cowl induction works. Heat is going to flow out and over the windshield unless you’re moving slowly.

 

[SnowDrifter]

Excuse my while I be skeptic for a sec


What are you solving for? These rigs were designed and built in Texas(ever wonder why these seem to drive best at ~80mph?). Not like they didn't consider heat.

My 2 cents: Convert to efans, while you're in there, flush your cooling system with distilled water, throw dexcool in the garbage, and put honda coolant in it. (PEAK # PAB0B3). Mind your dilution as you'll be adding concentrate to a system filled with distilled water. I usually target 60/40.

Lower temp thermostat is a waste of time IMO. All it does is make it open sooner. Do you want your engine to run at 170? or 200? Open is open. You'll get no more cooling out of a low temp tstat.


FWIW on my '05
- It has efans
- I run the honda coolant mix I suggested
- hottest I've had it was 118 degree weather. Coolant temp was 206. Honestly it was the trans that was struggling the most with temperature. Was in the high 140s with a trucool 40k.
- I used some diodes and wired in a manual override switch for my fans so I can tick them on if I arbitrarily decide I want them to run faster than the PCM wants

 

[ivin74]

Excuse my while I be skeptic for a sec


What are you solving for? These rigs were designed and built in Texas(ever wonder why these seem to drive best at ~80mph?). Not like they didn't consider heat.

My 2 cents: Convert to efans, while you're in there, flush your cooling system with distilled water, throw dexcool in the garbage, and put honda coolant in it. (PEAK # PAB0B3). Mind your dilution as you'll be adding concentrate to a system filled with distilled water. I usually target 60/40.

Lower temp thermostat is a waste of time IMO. All it does is make it open sooner. Do you want your engine to run at 170? or 200? Open is open. You'll get no more cooling out of a low temp tstat.


FWIW on my '05
- It has efans
- I run the honda coolant mix I suggested
- hottest I've had it was 118 degree weather. Coolant temp was 206. Honestly it was the trans that was struggling the most with temperature. Was in the high 140s with a trucool 40k.
- I used some diodes and wired in a manual override switch for my fans so I can tick them on if I arbitrarily decide I want them to run faster than the PCM wants

What is so different about the honda coolant?

 

[SnowDrifter]

What is so different about the honda coolant?

PHOAT based over OAT that came with our vehicles

Just a newer formulation

Easier on plastic, less apt to gunk up deathcool style.

I opted for this over other formulations as it's silicate free. So gentler on water pump seals.

And it's a different enough color from OEM that I wouldn't accidentally add dexcool or something to it. Toyota uses a similar formulation, but theirs is pink/red, and I could easily see myself or someone else not paying close attention and mixing chemistries without a second thought

 

[exp500]

Chin spoiler/air dam. Give those big fans a lower pressure to aim at!

 

[Mudsport96]

Ebay some second gen T/A fender vents and graft them in to the truck. Might look cool

 

[mountie]

Do a search for "race car air vent"..... " race car air duct "....... " fender air vent "......

Tons of ideas.....

 

[SCBS]

It's super hot in Phoenix, just want to reduce the under hood temps. I'll be installing an aluminum radiator with electric fans, was just curious if venting the hood would help

 

[mountie]

I wonder if you can fabricate vents through the inner wheel/fender well.... with splash shields on the wheel side? ( It may "un-pack" the air better, than cutting up your bodywork )?