BlackS3

Hello

How bad is it for a turbo charged car/engine to push it when it is so hot outside ? What can happen to the car/engine, will it automatically reduce the power or will the engine suddenly "explode"?

Greetings from Switzerland.

David R

Answer - in real basic terms is that ANY engine produces less power as the ambient temperature rises as the density of oxygen molecules decreases, therefore decreasing the size of the explosion in the cylinder that powers the engine.

There is no control in the engine that "automatically reduces the power" the power is lost due to the physics of combustion.

Engines are designed and tested to run in a variety of conditions from very cold to very hot and the cooling system is designed specfically to cope with such extremes - provided that the coolant system is in good order it should be able to maintain the engine at the optimum operating temperature no matter what the outside temp (within obvious, sensible limits of course) hence the radiator and 2 fans for when things really start cooking!

You will not damage the engine driving it hard in warm conditions provided that there is adquate air flow - i.e. the assumption is if you are driving the engine hard the car speed is high and air flow to the radiator is high too allowing dissipation of heat. The only real danger is the "rolling road" situation where the air flow is poor and the engine stress is high.

The engine will not explode or expire, if anything you will start to notice the temperature guage creeping towards the hot end of the scale and anyhow, with the DIS on the A3/S3 you will be treated to a display of the light fantastic to warn you things are too hot - I have NEVER seen this happen in a newish car in Europe (even an impreza turbo in france at 38C after a very long hard drive)

In summary - dont worry about it - you will do the car no serious damage - just remeber to allow the engine to warm up to normal operating temp b4 blasting it from a cold start and allow the engine to idle for 2 minutes or so after a hard drive - not obeying these 2 rules is a much easier way of inducing premature engine wear.

Regards

David

Wando

surely the manual would warn you not to use your car on sunny days or would it void your warranty!!!!!