I bought this used a few months ago and I live in upstate NY. The weather in the last few weeks has been quite cold. Down to 3°F. I have a 40 minute commute each way and find that the heater takes at least 20 minutes to warm up the car enough to take off my hat and gloves. Is this typical? Should I take it in and have the dealership look at it? No other concerns. Mileage took a dive but that's because of the snow tires and my having the heater on high, full blast. Thanks, Phil
Actually the heater blows. You will need to block the grills to get the engine to warm up faster. With unblocked grills it just won't warm up for a long time. Oh, and it's normal. Pearl's grills are blocked and she blows nice hot air into the cabin in a few blocks at 35 MPH. You DO need to be driving to get the engine to warm up. It's just very efficient, so doesn't produce a lot of waste heat. There are many grill blocking threads on this forum. Basically what you use is pipe insulation. Many get 3/4", split it, fold it in half again, and insert it between the horizontal grill "bars". I got larger sizes and install it using zip ties. Remove it when the ambient temp starts getting above 60F.
Phil, when we drive our hybrid(s) in Montana, not only do we use grill blocking, we have electric block heaters (ebh). In the winter, running it 2 or 3 hours prior to leaving in the morning, you'll be nice & toasty, within a couple minutes. You can find the ebh here at the PC store, and the install can be done at home in less than 2 hours. There are tons of threads on the topic, which include better instructions than you'll get with the part. btw, your mpg's didn't just drop due to your tires ... the traction pack is less efficient at real cold temps. . . . and welcome to pc! :welcome: .
Yeah, we got a 2005, and mama wasn't happy, and if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. I live in MN, and temps were sub zero F. I did the grill block, and now she is happy.
