I have a 2012 Prius C. It has no temperature gauge First car/truck I had without one. I am not worried about it over heating but I like to know in the cold Midwest climate when I can turn the heat on! How much money is Toyota saving? I know Japan has winters! In the winter I start my car up. Most articles talk how it is a waste of gas and cars don't need it. Most people do it to warm the car so they don't freeze. If I start my Prius C the engine turns off because it thinks it is at a stop light. I have to turn the fan/heater on low for it to heat up. Any suggestions?
If you want to warm-up the system for heat, turn on the heater. If you want it to warm-up faster, turn on the defrost (since it increases engine RPM, on the plug-in model anyway, not sure about the C model). Low blower and low temperature (like 65) will keep you from feeling much for cold air in the meantime. You need that to keep the window clear anyway. If there's no concern about humidity, you can change the vent to recirculate. Having an aftermarket gauge will allow you to know exactly when the air goes from warmish to hot, by monitoring the coolant temp. Blocking the grille to increase heat-retention and reduce cold air-flow is helpful too.
if you have an android phone or an iphone, you can get the Torque app and the appropriate obd 2 scanner from amazon and read your temperature, and all kind of other stuff.
block heater? i usually turn the heat up to 75, and hit the fan after a few minutes. if it's too cool, i check it every minute until it's warm enough to crank the fan speed.
5 minutes and you can turn on the heat. Or, go here: ScanGauge - Trip Computer + Digitial Gauges + ScanTools
Warning lights are actually better than gauges in my opinion. Best to have both, but we can't have everything we want.
A person should be able to operate all controls in their vehicles, and know what they do. This includes the heater, even in hotter climes. For instance, I was able to forego catastrophe in the middle of a hot midwest summer day when my car of the time was overheating in traffic. I turned on the heater and rolled down the windows. The heater took heat out of the engine and I was able to operate the car and hobble home to figure out what the problem was.
I just turn the heat on right when I start the car and let the computer decide when to turn the fan on. - Galaxy S5
If you hit "Auto" then turn the heat to " " the engine will not turn off because it is heating up for the use of the heater. The fan will start blowing once the engine is warm.
if you have the ECO button pressed & thus the ECO light is on, then the electric heater (PTC 1,2,3 when equipped) will not turn on to assist in heating. i hope that helps.
Don't have a C, but if my climate control is in Auto, the blower won't start until coolant temperature reaches 103F.
