Driving Lights vs Airflow ..... Myth?

I have IPF 900's on my 4.5 Patrol , no problems.

I have mates with LF 240's on their 4.5 Cruisers , no problems.

A couple of guys with LF 240's on their 3.0 TD Patrols , No problems.

I dont personally know anyone that has had overheating problems due to lights.

I have driving lights on my TD27 and no overheating problems. Well, no worse then before I fitted them anyway.
R.

They would have to disrupt the airflow, but it might not matter on most vehicles - didn't make any difference to my Jack. Cooling efficiency must be well above demand. My lightforces are the smaller ones though - the big dinner plate jobs (same wattage - extra CP) would cause quite a bit of disruption I guess. May only surface as an issue on vehicles that are "close to the edge" on cooling efficiency.

I've written so much shyte on here about over-warming issues that people are getting sick of seeing my posts.
I've got the Lighforce Blitz units on my Patrol and have tried them in the "proper" location as well as putting them right up on top of the bullbar.........makes no difference (and my truck is on the edge as banjo said).
Just my own findings....YMMV
Roachie

No heating problems on the hilux with 240xgt's

I have never had a problem with my CIBIE's

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in answer to you question.....
"Do driving lights affect the flow of air through the radiator on vehicles"...
the answer is YES.
Put anything infront of anything and move it forward and you have air flow restriction. Professor Julius Sum demiller taught me that... :-)

As for overheating, now thats another kettle of fish.

Theoretically possible.

But in practice - the next person who has overheating problems caused by driving lights will actually be the first.

Shaker,

I pretty much agree with everybody here, yes it does effect airflow but No that is not what is causing the overheating.
I had IPF 900's when my truck was overheating, but now have fixed (I hope) overheating and have put L/force 240's on to no detriment of running temp's. In fact mine now runs 10c cooler even with the big lights on.

Regards Trevor.

Just to differ from everyone,one of my mates used to have a hilux with a V8 in it and he fitted some bull lights on the bull bar.As soon as the motor was working hard the temp would climb high.He removed one light and problem solved,never o/heated again.I think he ended up fitting a small set of lights with no problems either.

I think that for them to cause overheating there would have to be something wrong anyway with the cooling system. After all the difference in airflow would be minimal compared to driving at 60kph or 100kph but they will affect the direction and turbulence and coulkd effect other things eg I had a 120 Diesel prado and the lights effected the power as the air intake ducts for the turbo are right behind them. This was measured on the Dyno but I don't have the vehicles or the figures anymore.

The Nissan badge on GQ grills blocks air by 17% according to the trainers at the Nissan club in Shiatney.
So yes,

as for 'the next person who has overheating problems caused by driving lights will actually be the first', its been reported on several forums over the years with large spotties blocking air flow enough to cause temp issues.. maybe not to the point of boiling, but gettin to red has happened.

Isn't that what the fan is for? The difference between the car sitting still and running at 60km per hour is the speed of the air hitting the front of the radiator. At some point that speed is greater than the fan can pull through and the fan becomes a bit of a waste of time. If you put large spotlights in front then you are probably relying more on the fan and less on the speed of the air coming in. If the fan is adequate by itself then there should be no problem as it can pull air from around a spotlight.

That sounds reasonably logical to me anyway though I am sure there are some holes in it :).

Tim.

Hi Gang,

Assuming that a lot of the bugs that squish onto my light covers would otherwise lodge in my radiator, I reckon that they may aid cooling.

Just a thought.

I know of someone a few years ago who cooked their saab (minute grill area) with a hefty repair bill when they cable tied a red nose on the front for SIDs day.

Expensive mistake. Don't see those noses anymore either but don't know if that had anything to do with it.

Never heard of it with a 4wd though.

Dave

Shaker
if the lights are far enough away from the radiator I do not think you will
have any trouble .if you are to close it will not allow the air to circulate behind may
even cause a vacum simular to a slip stream . hope this helps
Chris