6 cylinder coolant flow

[NonMember]

4 hours ago, DrKai said:

But if it's really bad I may add a water/ oil heat exchanger. 

I don't think that will help with warm-up times. They're usually reckoned to take advantage of the faster coolant warm-up to help get the oil up to temperature faster.

I haven't studied the BMW system but the ones I looked at some years back included a two-way valve to allow water to be circulated within the engine only - effectively doing what the thermostat does.

[johny]

Dont know much about electric pump systems but if its speed can be controlled over a wide range couldnt the water flow be kept very low during warm up so effectively acting like a thermostat?

[DrKai]

Yes that's basically what the controller does although there's some limitation to how slow exactly it can flow due to localised boiling. BMW does in deed have a biomass system but the pump itself has been successfully used on a lot of race/ sprint cars without only mentioned it as most people think Davies Craig when considering ewp and these push a hell of a lot more water. 

[DrKai]

So from what I can see the irregular port leads directly to the thermostat with a small additional hole to pump housing. The rectangular one leads directly to the pump housing. From that the logical conclusion is that the rectangular port on the head receives cool water and the irregular outputs the warm

[johny]

no no no😂 the thermostat is the discharge of the pump so anything receiving a supply of water must get it from there. The rectangular port goes to the centre of the impeller which is the pump suction so its impossible to have the flow any other way....

[DrKai]

Sorry Johnny you've lost me. As far as I can understand the pump sucks cool water from the bottom radiator hose. I'm looking at the pump housing and the rectangular port is the one connected to the pump therefore I assumed the cool water being sucked up by the pump is forced out through the rectangular port. The warm water. Then leaves via the irregular port. If the pump was sucking from the rectangular port surely that would mean it was pumping in to the bottom radiator hose as it can't be sucking from 2 sides of the pump at once? What am I missing?

[DrKai]

On 02/11/2020 at 10:12, 68vitesse said:

I found a higher resolution version of this, can now see directional arrows, which appears to show the flow as per my thoughts 

[JohnD]

Kai,

I'm sorry that so many have inserted their false coins into the mechanism of clarity, jamming it for you!

Please read my post above again: "Look at the back of the OE water pump housing - the port on the right goes up to the thermostat.      The port on the left goes down to the  water pump.   Obviously when you look at the front of the head the positions are reversed!"

So looking at the front of the head, the port on the left is the exit, the port on the right is the entry.

John

[DrKai]

Thanks JohnD

This makes sense to me 

Apologies to have stirred up such a kerfuffle

[Pete Lewis]

nothing wrong with a Kerfuffle  it makes a good read and we need variety and a few laughs in this incoming lock down

Pete

[johny]

3 hours ago, DrKai said:

Sorry Johnny you've lost me. As far as I can understand the pump sucks cool water from the bottom radiator hose. I'm looking at the pump housing and the rectangular port is the one connected to the pump therefore I assumed the cool water being sucked up by the pump is forced out through the rectangular port. The warm water. Then leaves via the irregular port. If the pump was sucking from the rectangular port surely that would mean it was pumping in to the bottom radiator hose as it can't be sucking from 2 sides of the pump at once? What am I missing?

I think perhaps one of the problems is that it must be remembered we're talking about a centrifugal pump here so regardless what that sketch shows the water has to enter at the centre of the impeller and gets flung to the outside where it leaves by a hole to the thermostat housing. The water coming from the radiator via the bottom hose mixes with the manifold and head returns in a chamber that feeds to the centre of the impeller. You can see the entry point as the inner hole in this photo and then for maximum efficiency the impeller 'blades' have to run as close as possible to the intermediate ring:

 

[johny]

In fact this second picture is useful as it shows the complete suction chamber - the centre bulge that is fed by the bottom hose connection, the manifold threaded return pipe and the rectangular head return inlet...

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, johny said:

In fact this second picture is useful as it shows

... that the rectangular hole is deep and feeds from the far side, which is the impeller outlet, while the irregular hole feeds up to the thermostat with only a small hole to the suction chamber. This photo is even clearer:

So sorry, johny, you're just plain wrong.

[johny]

ooops have I had it wrong all this time then😬 Is there no other connection to the irregular port other than the thermostat and that small hole?

[NonMember]

The irregular port also includes (up near the thermostat) the temperature gauge sender and the feed for the inlet manifold (and car) heater. Both of these obviously want the hottest water available, which is the stuff coming out of the head. Water pump pushes cooler water into the engine, hot water coming out gets split three ways - radiator, heater and a small bypass for when the other two are closed off.

[johny]

well if theres no other connection to the thermostat chamber then, as you say, it can only be fed from the head via the irregular port and I had better go back for more training as a white belt Triumphero😂

[SpitFire6]

Looking at the picture.

On left into head. On right out of head.

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, SpitFire6 said:

Looking at the picture.

On left into head. On right out of head.

That's right. Left, I mean. The right is right, too. 

[SpitFire6]

& shake it all about?

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, SpitFire6 said:

& shake it all about?

What you do behind drawn curtains is entirely up to you.