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Got you! My bad! All I know is the car turns off the fan when set to AUTO and engine temps are less than 100 °F unless also set to defog, which is always on full blast. I do hear a flap moving when it starts blowing air at that 100 °F, so that might be the blender door. But whether the blender door is closed (set to cold) or not probably doesn't matter too much as the fan is of until it reaches that minimum temp.

In this bitter cold the Avalon starts at very slow fan speeds around 100 °F and ramps up to full at around or past 140 °F. That can cause the temp gauge to drop a little, but the engine won't shut off at all in this cold, even if I turn the heater off. I do usually idle up to around 170 °F before starting the heater.

Interesting. I've seen cans of ice remover, but have never heard of anyone making their own out here.

Perhaps, but I've experimented with partial grill blocks on this and about every other car I've ever owned and never noticed any difference. I'm sure there's some difference, but it seems so little that it just doesn't make sense to bother with it. And yes, there are times I'm climbing hills in the hot desert in the summer at temperatures over 104 °F (40 °C), meaning I'd have to take the thing out at some point, which is usually what happens.

Typically, in the past, I'd put in a sheet of cardboard with a big hole cut in the middle of the thing, not notice any helpful improvement, the engine still takes forever to warm up, you go to the store and come out and coolant temps are back down to 40 °F when you come out, and then summer comes and climbing up some mountain pass the temperature gauge keeps climbing with the car, so I pull over and rip the trim off over the radiator and pull out the piece of cardboard that didn't seem to help all winter and fold it up and put it in the trunk.

I've even tried putting in wires that help me pull up a piece of cardboard over the hole in the bigger piece of cardboard, which still doesn't seem to help in the bitter winter, but come any warm day and I'm sliding that thing up and down only to keep things from overheating.

While I'm not convinced it would make a huge difference, an automated closing grill of some sort would make the most sense. That way it could help the most when it's freezing cold and then not be a problem at all in the summer.

That would be a dream come true! Then I could warm up anywhere.

 

Fords have had those features long before Tesla, the man’s last name, was used as a car name. Maybe it’s possible to leave the dome lights on, or make a mistake another way.

 

Picked up a couple when they were on deep clearance. It was just a rubbing alcohol mix in an aerosol can.

My grill blocks covered the top half to two thirds of the grill, and they blocked the exterior grill, not just the radiator. That deflects most of the air over the hood instead of into the engine bay, while leaving an opening at the bottom for cooling and the air conditioner. I left that in place year round. The engine did warm faster with it while driving, but it won't help once parked.

The radiator fan likely ran more on hot days, but no problems during heat waves. A removable one might be called for with higher extremes. I only had issues when I tried a complete block of the grill, and that was the AC not cooling.

I threw some fiberglass batting over the engine during the winter with the Prius and HHR. I'd do it again with the temps you see.

Many cars now have them. Mainly for the aero benefit, but they'll close for warm up.

 

Ah, yes, the diesel heater, very popular in the RV's over here for keeping warm on the cold winter nights (well, cold for us anyway) They are cheap enough out of China via E Bay, over here they are around the $100 mark so probably around the $50 mark over there .... well, unless the TARRIFFS push the price up :lol:
Being in such a cold climate, I'm guessing winter diesel would be around 50% kero/diesel and they work fine on that. They come with a 10 ltr tank, around 3 US gal and you leave it ticking away all night. They even make water heater ones so you could pipe that through the engine on a closed loop and have it warmed up ready to go and keep it warm when you go shopping etc, but the air heater would be easier to install and just leave ticking away .... making everyone envious at the shopping mall :lol:

T1 Terry