Hi Many years ago when doing a water pump replacement on my car I found an electric water pump alternative. The idea was that you remove the thermostat and the pump varies its speed dependent on the temperature of the water. The benefit was that the water pump pumps as fast as it needs to not as fast as the engine is running and so reduces parasitic power drain when its not needed. My question is, has anyone heard of this option for the Alloy-tech engines?
First there is the less wasted energy issue. If it takes 5 min to get to normal operating temp that's 5 min of pump spinning doing noting but cavitating and wearing out. then there are the times waiting at lights and such where engine is revving low and a higher flow rate through the radiator would be advantageous. An electric pump, like the one I had years ago, at start up would pump intermittently at start up to allow the engine to reach proper temp quicker and regardless of engine speed will pump the water at the most appropriate rate for the temperature. Its not to improve performance, though that is a side effect. Its also the only essential piece of equipment powered by the belt. If the belt breaks I, or more importantly, my wife, can drive without power steering and aircon and the battery will last long enough to get to somewhere to help. If the belt breaks in the middle of nowhere, the car won't drive too far without the water pump.
More chance of an electric pump playing up then throwing a belt. For a daily I wouldn't recommend it.
if belt breaks use wife's panty hose as fanbelt, it works, just have to go a bit slower so you dont overstress the pantyhose and i've done it before, long time ago
Just going to play devils advocate here...how long will the battery last having to power an electrically driven water pump? For a daily, and for any type of redundancy factor I would choose a conventional pump any day of the week. Sent from here, so you can read it there. via iPhone.
Battery should be fine as long as alternator is up to task. But as stated, belt driven for daily, electric for weekender if you want.
Don't knock them if you don't understand them. Davis Craig claim possible power gains of up to 10kw with fuel savings in the region of 3.5%- 10% Have a read and learn something new: Electric Water Pumps
My question was based on the situation of alternator belt having snapped/been thrown and alt is no longer providing a charge. Sent from here, so you can read it there. via iPhone.
Manufacturers claim many things. Just look at the claims beig made about manifold spacers. Sent from here, so you can read it there. via iPhone.
benboy, you have a point on extra horsepower/killawasps, less parasitic loss's etc, so can give you a gain (not sure how much-look at a lot of track cars) if you were chasing every ounce of power, good for a weekend cruiser maybe not for a daily, but it is your ride so go for it if you want to, will need a few changes to your belts as they would need to be suited to the pulley system minus the water pump pulley
