Quote:
Originally Posted by wstar
Humidity does in fact affect cars multiple ways. In the case of intake air, it changes the air's density, and more importantly changes the oxygen density (how much available oxygen to burn in a liter of 'air' at a given pressure). As for cooling, humidity in the air changes the heat-transfer properties of the air, which again affects cooling (it makes your car hotter for much the same reasons it makes you feel hotter).
Edit: I'll give you that the car doesn't rely on evaporative cooling like skin does, but still, the heat-transfer properties of humid air are going to be different.
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We're not talking about the intake part of this. This is a radiator issue, not an MAF issue. Elevation & pressure is the biggest factor in what you're talking about, not so much humidity.
After numerous thermodynamics classes, the humidity you speak of for cooling is totally different. You're talking about latent heat processes which pretty much don't affect your radiator. Radiators rely on the movement of air over the exchangers which is a conductive process, not a latent process. Your A/C works on latent heating/cooling, not radiators. Actually, humid air can hold more heat than dry air, which would make it better to have humid air running over your heat exchanger. It's similar to a moist adiabatic process vs. dry.
Don't give people ideas about humidity causing this issue. It is completely irrelevant. Any engineer or atmospheric scientist knows this.