A comment I made in another thread just now started me thinking. I am a photographer and in the summer time we photograph high school seniors. We photograph in the studio and then outside at our location. Then we load up in the H3 and go to various locations usually within 2 or 3 miles. Besides the subject there is always a mom or my wife or someone else to help hold reflectors or lights or whatever. So I have 3 people and a bunch of gear in the back. When it is really hot I need to leave the H3 running, nobody wants pictures with sweat running of their nose.

Anyway my concern is that I am cruising around town with that load and then parking with the engine running and the AC on usually not for more that 5 minutes per location. then I move on to the next often nearby location and do the same thing. This whole process usually takes about 30 minutes and some days I may do this 3 or 4 times. Should I be concerned with engine overheating cuasing damage even though it seems fine and the Temp guage is not complainibg much? depending on weather and scheduling I might put the H3 through these conditions a total of 30-40 sessions a year. Ordinarilly in milder weather I shut the engine off each time I stop.

Sorry for the rambling post I just wanted to fully explain the situation. Is there any kind of auxillary cooling system I might consider. I plan on keeping the vehicle and expect to continue using it in this manner.

 

Keeping the engine running would probably be less heat stress on the engine than shutting it off. As long as the temp guage isn't going more than a tick over normal that is. Last summer when it was over 100 outside I shut the engine off but kept the key in the ignition and watched as the temp guage climbed and climbed for a minute as I watched. I figured this must happen everytime I shut the motor off, but I chickened out and restarted the motor to get the coolant flowing again before I hit the red zone on the guage. Letting it idle would bring the temp up above the normal driving range, but nowhere near what shutting it off did.

 

I think you should be fine as long as you keep an eye on the temp gauge.