Blocking The Front Grill

[kevin h]

Well, its starting toi get cold enough for the daily mpg to drop like a stone.

anybody else thinking about the smart little trick of partially blocking the bottom grill?

If so, at what temperature and how much of the grill would you cover.

To those of you who have never thought of it, I tried this trick with my Gen 2 and remained above 60mpg throughout the whole of winter.

[acetip]

Well, its starting toi get cold enough for the daily mpg to drop like a stone.

anybody else thinking about the smart little trick of partially blocking the bottom grill?

If so, at what temperature and how much of the grill would you cover.

To those of you who have never thought of it, I tried this trick with my Gen 2 and remained above 60mpg throughout the whole of winter.

what effect is this going to have on climate control.imagine the condensers is in front of radiator.

used to stuff a bit of carboard in front of rad many years ago and cut a whole in it then increase the hole size to get best temp.on my old vauxhall victor i brought a wind up rad blind that worked very well.thats is till the wife picked it up after a mot,and some idiot played around with it at the garage and wound it all the way up.of course she never looks at gauges and by the time she got to her sisters the engine was prtty hot,luckly my brother inlaw twigged what was wrong and wound the blind down,and no lasting damage was done.they were the days, real motoring..thrmostats these day are far superior to earlier ones and will keep the temp of the engine up what ever the ambient tenp is,but the prius ia a diffeent matter so i can see the need for doing your mod.wonder if you can get a wind up rad for a prius. the one i had was a quality piece of kit,the winder fitted under the dash so you could adjust as you drove and was marked off in nnumbers so you knew where to the best spot was if you moved it.

[johalareewi]

Best place for info on grill blocking is over on prius chat.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-accessories-modifications/62556-2010-prius-grill-blocking-strategy.html

The main problem is if the weather suddenly warms up and the engine overheats due to the blocked grill.

You really need a scangauge to keep an eye on engine and coolant temps.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

You might be ok with one in Canada at -20c all day and colder at night but you certainly don't need one in Yorkshire!

It might get cold here, but not that cold.

[johalareewi]

At -20 you are into engine block heater territory

Grill blocking would seem to be most beneficial from temps below 5C.

Problem we have at the moment is early morning temps are around 0C (block grill) then by the end of the day are up to 12C (unblock grill).

[Jan&tone]

I was under the impression that with electric fans and modern thermostatic controls for the engine temperature the idea of blocking radiators had gone the way of bad winters... Assuming last year was a blip on the global warming horizon!!

As for Canada, all vehicles sold there have sump heaters - most owners don't bother to hide the plugs either! We've seen hundreds of them

[timberwolf]

I was out in Kingston and Toronto for a few weeks last winter, and I didn't see any signs of EBH (Electric Block Heater). My understanding is that they are not fitted as standard in Canada. The EBH is widely available as an optional part, and is fitted depending on where you live in Canada. When my dad lived in Alberta about an hours drive outside Edmonton, he had an EBH, I vaguely recall him saying you could even plug-in at the mall. But when he moved to Ontario (Ottawa then Kingston) not many people bother there, as it isn't essential in the milder climate compared to the middle or further North (most Canadians live fairly close to the border of their profligate and war mongering neighbours to the South).

[Jan&tone]

I was out in Kingston and Toronto for a few weeks last winter, and I didn't see any signs of EBH (Electric Block Heater). My understanding is that they are not fitted as standard in Canada. The EBH is widely available as an optional part, and is fitted depending on where you live in Canada. When my dad lived in Alberta about an hours drive outside Edmonton, he had an EBH, I vaguely recall him saying you could even plug-in at the mall. But when he moved to Ontario (Ottawa then Kingston) not many people bother there, as it isn't essential in the milder climate compared to the middle or further North (most Canadians live fairly close to the border of their profligate and war mongering neighbours to the South).

I was in Jasper and Banff... Every car had both a cracked windshield and a plug hanging out of the bonnet or grill !!!

[timberwolf]

You will probably have seen a few bent or cracked plastic grilles too because a driver has forgotten to unplug before reversing out.

[acetip]

I was out in Kingston and Toronto for a few weeks last winter, and I didn't see any signs of EBH (Electric Block Heater). My understanding is that they are not fitted as standard in Canada. The EBH is widely available as an optional part, and is fitted depending on where you live in Canada. When my dad lived in Alberta about an hours drive outside Edmonton, he had an EBH, I vaguely recall him saying you could even plug-in at the mall. But when he moved to Ontario (Ottawa then Kingston) not many people bother there, as it isn't essential in the milder climate compared to the middle or further North (most Canadians live fairly close to the border of their profligate and war mongering neighbours to the South).

I was in Jasper and Banff... Every car had both a cracked windshield and a plug hanging out of the bonnet or grill !!!

wifes sister lives in winnippeg all have block heaters they fiited in where the core plug goes, the side roads in the sticks are granite chippings, broken screens and big chips in paint work come as standard.in winter there the flat at the bottom of a standing tyre stays there untill the tyre gets some temp in it,must be very noisey.

the problem about ambient temp increase causing engine to overheat when blanked off, would not happen with adjustable blind as mentioned in earlier post.winnippeg temp goes down minus 50 at times so they tell me,brother thats cold,but a dry cold, snow brushes of like icing sugar.

[kevin h]

At -20 you are into engine block heater territory

Grill blocking would seem to be most beneficial from temps below 5C.

Problem we have at the moment is early morning temps are around 0C (block grill) then by the end of the day are up to 12C (unblock grill).

I will use lagging used for small pipes cut to size on the bottom grill only.

They can be easily removed and replaced.

MPG 3 days ago was 62, yesterday, same run with the grill blocked was 69 and I'm sure it was bolder.