Too Early to 100% Grill Block?

You can run fully blocked at up to 20C or 70F ambient. It's actually safe above that (I've run on the highway fully blocked at ambient temps of +30C (80F). The highway is where the engine gets the warmest. I saw max. coolant of 95C in those conditions. Perfectly safe. The car was able to drop the temp quickly when it tried to climb.

Inverter temp isn't available yet from the Scangauge. It runs a lot cooler than the coolant anyway, so I don't worry about it.

 

I run fully blocked this time of year, except I went ahead and cut my lowest two blocks about an inch shorter on the inverter side. I will probably stay fully blocked until about mid to late March.

 

What took you so long!

Wayne

 

maybe i will do it to soon

 

I have everything except the lowest slot blocked and it was working great - until the warm spell this weekend. 68F ambient temp and as I was coming out of the tunnel and going up onto the Zakim bridge I glanced at the SG - 202F . So I threw on the heat and fan and it took it down to 188. Shut it off, and it went right back up again, so I opened the windows with the heat on. But alas - it's back down in the 30's again, so I will need to block the last slat soon. It wouldn't have been a problem if I wasn't pushing the engine to keep up with Boston traffic.

 

202F is not that bad. The boiling point is much higher and I'm guessing the fans were coming on anyway. I wouldn't recommend letting it get much higher but mine was fully blocked last week also and I was in some of that same traffic, no problem. It's an amzing car. Makes you wonder why the grille opening is so large.

 

i did a full block on sunday
but i think i need a EBH and something to keep the ICE warm because when i get off the highway the ice temp starts to rop fast.

 

The EBH will only help before you start. Once the ICE has warmed up the more the ICE is off the more the temp drops. I saw this a lot with my Hymotion kit. I found that if I didn't seal the upper grill well that air coming in around the insulation made it cool off much quicker. I now see temps of 140f after a 2 mi EV and WS mode in the last part of my commute. My max is usually 150-157f during the commute. Before the full grill block the temp difference would be more. I also saw the larger temp drops at warmer ambient temps. Today if was in the 20sf when I started my commute.
Chris

 

qoute "I found that if I didn't seal the upper grill well that air coming in around the insulation made it cool off much quicker"

so you did isolate your upper grill but only the little air still going around the isolation did cool the ice? so you did a better isolation or am i wrong about this?

 

Today I went to Home Depot, bought the pipe insulation, and put it on the top and bottom slats. Now I understand why everyone says that; it meets, so no room to do the middle.

Oops, now I see there is somewhere lower down? I'll need to check on that.

Thanks everyone for all the info, I am a real newbie learning all this stuff!

 

I don't have a scangauge and will be blocking my grill for the winter for the first time, per the advice found on this thread and a few others I found searching over the past few weeks.

I don't remember the answer to the following questions if someone could refresh my memory: If I block without a scangauge, will the car display any sort of idiot light to warn me of potential damage due to engine or inverter overheat?

What size insulation do I need for my '08? Was it 1/2" or 3/4"

Thanks!

 

you are correct. The little air going around the insulation was still cooling off the ICE enough for me to notice. I cut strips of insulation to stuff around the large piece.
Today it was warmer 44f and My hymotion didn't engage(Ran like a stock Prius). My temp was 190f at the end of my 10Mile commute, This is the higher that I have seen since using the SGII.

ualdriver. I started with 1/2 and then changed to 3/4. I still had gaps around it.
Chris

 

I'm curious why folks aren't blocking the radiator itself. In my youth I had vehicles with poor heat and a piece of cardboard against the radiator did the trick. It seems like this would be more effective than blocking the grill. Or would it be "too" effective?

 

I wonder if anyone has brought this BKM (best know method) on grill blocking to Toyotas attention? Maybe they would see a benefit from it and support it in future generations of hybrids? Does anyone have feedback on this thought here?
Just curious.

 

Why not block the rad? Simple. By blocking the grills you still have some air the fans can use to cool the car -if- you do manage to generate a lot of heat. This is good because we can't monitor the inverter coolant unless we have the CanView. Because the grills are blocked there is very little air flowing through the rad. But because there is a fairly large space between the grills and rad there is air the fans can use if necessary. There are warnings if the inverter coolant gets too hot, as well as the engine coolant.

I get cooling of the coolant when sitting, ambient currently around freezing (yeah global warming, it should be -10C or so). There is -some- air leaking in at each end of the insulation. In fact I have to drive the car for 20 min before it completely warms up, and I have both grills blocked.

I used 3/4" on the top grill and 1 1/2" on the bottom. Two zip ties each to hold it in. Each single piece blocks the entire grill. You can also buy the "rubbery" type used in A/C installations, cut it in half lengthways, fold in half again, and insert between the grill slats. It can work out on its' own though, but it looks nice.