Why does your car lose power in the heat?

The summer heat does not sit well with your car. When the outside temperature exceeds 35 ° C, your engine loses about five horsepower (up to 15 hp on some engines with turbo) and also increases fuel consumption by an average of one liter per 100 km.

Other drawbacks also appear brakes (fatigued earlier by overheating), the tire (its duration is reduced by 15%), the paint body loses losing brightness and interior, which tends to discolor and deform. All this is inevitable, but you can make the heat affect your car as little as possible:

Very hot engine intake air

All engines, whether diesel or gasoline, need to introduce air into the cylinders to burn the fuel. When the temperature is high, the air contains a lower proportion of oxygen and the mixture does not burn so easily, so that engine performance declines. This is seen especially in turbocharged engines or air compressor (lose up to 15 hp) because, as these engines need more air to function, lack of oxygen affects them more.

You can not do anything about it, but you ‘ll notice a greater loss of performance if you take the dirty air filter or spark plugs engine with too many kilometers, two operations maintenance cheap.

Overloaded cooling system

The cooling system ensures that the engine does not exceed the normal operating temperature (between 85 and 95 degrees). In summer, especially when you ride less than 40 km / h, the fan has to act more often and lower engine performance (around 2 CV). Fortunately, the increase in consumption is invaluable.

You can not be avoided, but if you change the coolant every four years and vigils level once a month help your car.

Air conditioner

The air conditioning of the vehicles uses a compressor driven by the engine. Therefore, every time it starts up, about four horses subtracts half performance.

You could stop using the air conditioning to avoid it, but the loss of power generated by having it running is so small that it is priceless. The increase of consumption (that exists) is not exaggerated either.

Connell
The author is an expert on occupational training and a prolific writer who writes extensively on Business, technology, and education. He can be contacted for professional advice in matters related with occupation and training on his blog Communal Business and Your Business Magazine.