Odd cooling problem

[amalventano at sc.rr.com (Allyn)]

> Once the engine is off, the source of heat is gone and temperatures start
to drop, not rise.
> Think about it.

> Larry

sorry larry, not so (well, kinda, read on). with the engine running,
portions of the block/head are hotter than the coolant. this difference in
temperature is what makes the heat transfer across the metal (via
conduction) into the coolant (via convection). once you shut the engine off,
the coolant stops flowing and the temperature equalizes across the
block/head/coolant (via conduction, even in the coolant - convection stopped
when the flow stopped). head/block temps do in fact drop as you stated, but
initially the excess heat travels into the coolant that stopped in the
block/head. this causes the coolant to initially heat up when the engine is
stopped.
hth
Al