Hello guys, I rarely talk on forums but I have recently seen a lot of comments posted on AGS lately and I thought I would chime in. If the AGS is working properly you will see no temperature rise out of the ordinary with AGS. I am dumbfounded by why anyone would deactivate or bypass this system. Big commercial over the road trucks have been using a form of AGS for over 60 years. Its a proven performer as far as gas savings and aerodynamics go. Tractor trailer trucks all over the country have been using the AGS for a very, very long time. I think if AGS had a problem with over heating engines, or any other issues of concern, they would of discontinued the AGS 60 years ago and billions of miles ago.
There is more than enough air entering the grill area to cool the engine normally. The shutters begin to open around 203 F so the engine can get to operating temperature sooner. This is needed for good fuel economy and more power. Engine tolerances and clearances are optimal at these higher temperatures. Engine oils are made to operate at these higher temperatures. Synthetic oils can operate above 300 F easily without problems.
Many inputs are provided to the ECM to open or close the shutters and coolant temperature is one of them. Engine speed, oil temperature, air conditioner and several other inputs to name a few.
When you read temperature on the temperature gage the error tolerance is normally +/- 5% , which means you can be looking at an acceptable gage error tolerance of a difference 20 degrees. For an example, an actual temperature may be 200 degrees, low tolerance would be 190 degrees and high tolerance would be 210 degrees. Keep in mind, these instrument gages are not calibrated.
If your AGS is operating normally, you do not need to remove any shutters or deactivate the AGS system to maintain the engine at normal operating temperature. It will make no difference in temperature with or without AGS at that time, because the shutters are wide open anyway before the engine starts to get to hot. Actually, lowering engine temperatures will do more harm than good. Oil temperatures will not reach 212 degrees to boil off the water condensation that normally accumulates in the crankcase overnight or cooler weather. Water will result in acids and sludge forming in the oil.
We should not compare modern engine temperatures with older engine temperatures from decades ago. Years ago engines were made from cast iron. Their tolerance and metal material was much different than they are made now. Older cast iron engines are terrible at transferring heat with the metal components compared to today’s modern aluminum engines. If you recall, old bath tubs were made deliberately of cast iron, which would keep the water in tub hotter much longer than other metals.
Piston rings must maintain a certain temperature to meet optimal efficiency with the cylinder etc. After the engine gets to operating temperatures, the sooner richer fuel mixtures can stop entering into the cylinders, thus saving fuel and making the engine oils and engine last longer. Stoichiometric in physics tells us just adding fuel without correct air ratio decreases the effectiveness of combustion, thus, less power. When an engine is less than operating temperatures, the fuel mixture must remain rich to burn, thus, produces less power.
I would like to clarify, I am talking about trucks and cars that are in production to be used on roads and highways etc. I am not talking about race engines built for track with different compositions.
