What is heatsoak?

[punishercb]

Just as the title says, what is it? I searched and only found threads complaining about it. What exactly is it and how does it affect performance?

Chris

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

In a nutshell it is throwing hot air at an intercooler faster than it can cool it. If your turbo throws more boost/air (which is heated by the turbo) at your intercooler than it can cool down at any one time, the intercooler will let hot air pass by because its capability to cool is maxed out, and the intercooler itself will start increasing in temperature. Hot air is not good for performance because it is less dense than cold air. Maybe someone could give a more scientific answer, but that is it generality.

 

[PaleDSM]

That is a pretty good description.

Very simply it is when the intercooler can't disapate heat fast enough due to efficiency or not enough air passing through the core.

 

[punishercb]

Thanks alot man. I've been reading about it alot but had no idea what it was. Really good description.

 

[MiCrOz]

So would it be a good idea while running at tracks to put ice in my SMIC between runs to prevent heatsoak?

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

So would it be a good idea while running at tracks to put ice in my SMIC between runs to prevent heatsoak?

Yep,the colder the better. Ice your whole engine down if you can! I've seen guys with T-bird supercoupes fill their whole engine bay up with ice bags. They were low 12's too.

BTW don't put ice IN the intercooler, put ice bags ON it. You don't want water in your IC pipes.

 

[Snail Tuning]

heat soak can also accur in other things besides the intercooler.

on my honda, the enginebay, and turbo would get so hot that the engine would get heatsoaked, between runs at the track. so i did the old washer trick and proped the back of the hood open, and it droped my engine bay temps by 50 degrees. you could see the heat comming out from under the hood, when it was parked.

also heatsoak can accur in your oil. if your downpipe is touching your oil pan it can heat your oil to much, and start to warm your whole engine. same thing with coolent. if you have to small of a radiator, you can heat soak your engine. Heat soak is basicly something getting to hot, where it starts to decrease in power output. comminly found in intercoolers, or engines.

making vents to release under hood temps, wraping exhausts, and using a big FMIC helps decrease heatsoak. but it can still accur.

 

[punishercb]

ahh, thanks for the info. I never even heard of heatsoke until a few weeks ago. I think that I should be okay for now since i only have a few of the basic mods.