2010 Prius Grill Blocking strategy

That seems like a lot, my biggest worry is damaging my Prius. Is it safer to do just maybe 80% bottom and 0% top? Will I still see an advantage?

 

for the beginning of the trip you might remove the top but there are hyper milers in Japan that block 100 % of the bottom all year long. i am not that extreme, so i would perhaps take out maybe 50% of the bottom at least till you hit the temps in the 40's. after that, you will have no issues.

i have scan gauge and i have done it forever. its only been the last half of last year that i stopped doing 100% top and bottom. unfortunately i cannot monitor converter temps. if i could i would probably still be doing 100% top and bottom.

FYI; i only see temps above about 204º only when temps are in the upper 40's or so. for temps in the lower 40's it usually sits around the mid 180's to the mid 190's on the freeway. on city streets, i only sit around 175-180 at best

 

Does this look like lower=100% upper=50%?
I just started to wonder whether I understood the upper/lower right.

What do you think of the color? That was the only color available in the hw store, my neighbor already gave me a strange look .

My daughter (4 years) comments: look our car has a mouth and a nose.

 

Yeah, I'm with your neighbor. Black would be better and it should be available somewhere.

 

I think significant blocking for hwy driving in moderate climate is nuts. Even when coolant temp could be normal I bet engine oil temp will be too high and oil pressure too low. The only good reason to block is very cold winters and low speed city driving.

 

Just checking on something.

I was planning on doing a 75% 50% for whole winter since my morning commute is approx. 30 minutes, starting with highway and then city-driving, and temps in here are mostly -10 to 10C. That'd be my first mod on my car.

I have a (relatively related) question, happens sometimes in low temperatures. When I drive long highway runs at -10C or less, I need to put temperature to the roof, and even there, air that comes in on me is quite cold. Last year, I did a 700KM trip on highway at -5 to -30C temps, and I was freezing more and more as I went up north and evening lurked, having to keep my winter coat on. Would grill blocking alleviate that erratic heating behavior?

Cheers
Saka

 

Likely it will. But still, seems a little fishy:

Highway driving is the easiest time for a typical* engine to be on the cold side: due to low revs and high speed. Typically the coolant thermostat should shut in this situation though, so that coolant is not circulating to the radiator. You might mention it to the dealer, they could check out the thermostat.

The lack of a coolant temp. gauge on the Prius is frustrating, no way to check short of Scangage or similar, I think.

* I say typical because with the Prius running a greater percent in electric mode at low speeds, it's debatable when it would run hotter.

 

I usually don't have any problem, it does heat up fine, temperature is (relatively -- never checked with any external thermometer) fine in summertime, and it keeps adequate in wintertime... except when it's REALLY cold outside, and except when I drive relatively quickly.

As far as temp. gauge, my hunch is it would go very erratic. I used to have a car where the water pump died on me (incredibly rare occurrence according to all), since temperature sensor is not inside the motor, but outside, there must be water movement to sense the temperature... hence my motor temperature would stay fine, and then jump to the roof in a second. Obviously, motor went awry, with my gauge well within correct temperature. -- That quick story makes me believe that gauge's temperature would actually be valid only when the water pump would work, meaning it would randomly fluctuate with gas motor activation.

My driving is as follows:
- ECO mode all the time
- "No" mode when in a situation where I need to drive more aggressively
- PWR mode when in mountainous places, or when I know I will need power in the next seconds
- EV mode when arriving to destination (or when starting up) summer-time, and when going slowly but wanting to climb steeper hill than the gray zone would allow me to.

I can safely say I was in ECO. I tend to drive at L/100Km adequate speeds.

My set temperature probably started at 20 (I tend to keep it 18-20 during wintertime, and LO when doing short commutes). However, usually at these temps, I am not cold, but I was consistently getting a cold air draft. It wasn't coming really from windows (not more than the usual) but air coming out from the ducts was quite chilly. So I did put the temp higher than usual (25 or 26 from what I remember), in slow increments. But I remained chilly.

Normally I don't have any problem with temperature, and car eventually heats up fine. But not that time.

 

Wasn't particularly looking for repair, but more curiosity on grill blocking effect on air temperature. Or else, I would've started a new chat. But thank you to try to help me And obviously if someone has explanations on that, it'd be quite interesting to know wth.

I will eventually know, after I figure out how to do blocking (explanations are nice on first page, but they aren't exactly child proof nor video ). Then, one trip up north... and probably a follow-up on that in the following months. :smow:

Thanks
Saka

 

I live in Montréal too and haven't had any issue keeping the car warm at any outside temp, before or after grill blocking.

But I have found that the AUTO climate control doesn't seem to adapt well to cold temp at highway speed. I'm not sure where the inside thermometer is located but it doesn't seem to notice that the inside surface of the car is cooled a lot faster at highway speed and that it should respond in raising the heater, especially when the car is already brought to the requested temperature. I compensate by requesting a higher inside temp (ie 24°C instead of my usual 20°C).

 

I did a 50% lower block last night, it was about -2 outside. My average has been 65mpg, but my last two tanks haven't broken 58mpg. I'll see if the block has any effect for me.

 

Huh, we have only minus 21 Celsius in here.. Why you live in so north?

btw, Funny to see lot of diesel cars beside of roads when temperature goes under -20...

 

I do not have a scan gauge and I am a little worried about how warm my car is... I have 100% lower block and no upper block. I have increased my MPG and cabin warmth. However, it actually gets quite warm. The temps here yesterday were in the teens farenheit. I had been parked outside for the day and then drove about 10 hwy miles, let sit outside for 1.5 hrs, then drove 5 hwy miles, then sat outside for about 0.5hr. On my drive home, about 2 miles into it, the cabin air got very warm. I turned my heat down to lowest setting - too cold (like turning the heat off) but then set it and kept it on the lowest possible setting that was a number (65f which should be too cold in my opinion for MN winter). There was really warm air coming into the cabin. Do I have too much of the grill blocked? Should my car warm up so much so fast? If so, it's better than I expected. Is it signalling a problem if the cabin air is getting so warm? Is this normal for grill blocked Prius 2010?

[Edit] From reading a newer thread on grill blocking, it seems that I should be ok with the lower vents blocked due to the temps here. I just didn't expect the heat to be so intense. This is my first winter with the car so maybe the temps run hotter than my last car.

 

I have also been doing that for about three years now, when driving in the city after a cold start. For my personal preferences, this initial setting is the optimum compromise between comfort and fuel economy and safety. Then, after the initial warm-up, after the engine is warm enough to shut itself off, as the engine gradually warms up further, I gradually increase the temperature setting just so much that it doesnt cause the engine to run more than necessary.

Yes this is normal.

Actually, from my experience, grill blocking doesnt make much difference during the initial warm-up, but afterwards, the engine warms up to a slightly higher temperature, and cools off slower when the engine is not running.

 

Hi Redhot,

I think I agree with you. 65 F is too warm for the heater, when one is bundled up to be in weather below 15F. I wish they would allow the heater setting to go down to 55 F, without tripping on the cooling equipment.