Blocking off the radiator?

In the PNW the climate is mild, though we had a recent cold snap into the high 20s. I have tried the reflector but took it out because I felt uncomfortable using it at freeway speeds with out a way to monitor inverter temps. To remove or adjust it you must remove or remove and replace the black plastic cover over the top of the radiator and that is a pain. I switched to pipe foam insulation cut in half and pushed into the grill spaces. Looks real bad but is quickly adjustable when I have to go to the airport or Seattle or Portland on the freeway. I did not see any difference in the two around town monitored with the ScanGage to look at engine coolant temperatures. I got a front end mask (Bra) for Christmas and installed yesterday. To do so I pulled out the foam insulation material. I am going to leave it out for now. My long term plan is make a vinyl covers for the grills to attach to the front end mask or the grill now that I see how the front end mask it made and attached. I am going to install zippers so that I can leave them on and adjust air flow.
I would say in our climate the block heater is doing far more for me than the radiator blocker added on. I have not used radiator blocker with out the block heater. I would guess that in colder climates with more days below freezing and lower that the radiator blocker will give you more improvement than around here. I am going to leave the foam out for now and just observe and see what happens.

 

well I looked at the insulation pix that was posted in the block heater thread and I sure wouldn't do that to my car. I have used pipe insulation to block off the grill opening in my car and I do see a difference in the commute temps that show on the MiniScanner. First the ICE reaches thermostat opening temp sooner by about 1/4-1/3 mile. And it stays warmer longer on shut down or stealth mode. So there is some mileage benifit to that. I've also driven 40 miles out to a friend of mine and it never gets to a higher temp than I see around town or on my commute to work. So if you have a means of monitoring your temp IE: MiniScanner on a Classic, CAN-view on a G2 or scangauge I wouldn't even be concerened about it in cold climates. My OAT's are the same as Henry's are down in the lower sound in WA state so our results should almost match. One thing to remember is that the ICE gets most of it's intake air from in front of the rad and the engine compartement so you have to be careful that your efforts to keep the ICE warm don't inadvertently choke it off.
Edit.
last winter just used the block heater this winter using both block heater and grill blocker.

 

Evan does the US Prius not have the hood blanket like the Canadian models?

 

My car has that black thing...

 

ok thanks.

 

I am trying to convince my self! I am still going to work on the front end mask blocker.

 

well i think every bit helps. the blanket would be a lot more effective when cruising around town especially if the Prius is struggling to maintain warm temps. on the freeway, i easily make 190º but on surface streets (~35 mph) when we had that cold snap,(temps in the upper 20's) i was lucky to keep it over 165º.

 

my temps results are simular to Daves the highest I got was 97C and the fan's don't start to run till 100 so no where near too hot, and you ought to feel the heat come out of the heater.

 

wow 97ºC... that s like 206ºF... that must be a Prius Classic thing... highest i have seen has been 193ºF or ummm....what was that..Fº minus 32 times 5 divided by 9... i think. umm 89ºC?

 

what version of CAN-view software are you using as you can toggle between F and C on the latest version. Does your's have two user screens?

 

I find blocking radiator essential to keep engine up to even 150 degrees in cold weather.

I insulate the engine as much as I can blocking all air flow over the top and down behind. This works good down to about 20 to 25 degrees, depending on how fast I am going. The radiator remains fully unblocked.

When it gets below 20 deg F I have to also block about half the top section of the radiator as well.

This lets the car warm up reasonably down to 0 deg. F Not as warm as I'd like but over 150 deg F for most driving. And it stays below 192 F when I drive faster on the highway.

My can view shows the engine temp and I monitor it closely.

One big advantage of insulating engine first is the car can go to some normal temp that is less effected by speed than the radiator block alone.

I use the can view code with 2 user screens. Latest code set. The second temp readout is useful to see when the thermos helps and when it doesn't! And when I must plug in my block heater!

 

on a normal restart the next day what does your thermous temp say on screen? The wifes only goes to about 16-20C. This would be after a normal drive where the ICE is at about 85C on shut down.

 

Um... what is "can view"? IS there a way to view engine temp, oil, etc. with this?

 

CAN View is a big topic; Try here:

http://priuschat.com/CAN-VIEW-Recovered-t11644.html

Here :
http://priuschat.com/CAN-view-sales-t12236.html

and here:

http://www.hybridinterfaces.ca/

 

How hot is too hot?

 

I think my thermos does a bit better, but then it is not as cold here. Very hard to put a number on it though.

I often see thermos temps at like 135 deg F (57C) but it is a moving target, and takes a bit for the can vue to get started up. (I may have only seen this much with engine peak readouts on scan gauge that starts quicker.) Seems great till it hits the cold engine! When this flows the temp of the two temp readouts rapidly appproach each other and if the engine generally starts out at 50 F (10C) deg or better I feel pretty good.

With the block heater I can usually start out with closer to 90 deg F (32C) or better on the engine, and get over 130 F (54) by the time I go a mile. Thermos water generally cools the engine a bit!

Without the block heater I might get up to like 90 deg F (32 C) engine after a mile at best.

Quite a bit of variation due to my slow speeds near home, so engine is often below 185 F (85 C) when I finally stop and the thermos can fill. I think wind has a big effect on the cooling rate too overnight.

So I generally plug in each night and start out warm. But at work I don't have an outlet so have to rely on the thermos.

 

Richard I normally see high 90's (195F) in the summer with the A/C going and doing hills or freeway driving. As our OAT very seldom reaches the 40C (104F) range I don't really see high engine temps.
The cooling fan's come on starting around 100C (212F) and progressivly speed up if the temp still is climbing and the boiling point of 50/50 antifreeze at 10PSI of pressure is around 240F I'm still in the very low side of "hot" at 97C

 

how to get to see it is to power the car up with your foot off the brake set the CAN-view to the screen with the temps on it and then put your foot on the brake and hit power agian the car will start up and your data will be visible all the time.