19bonestock88's 2004 Saturn "Ion Green Line" build...

[19bonestock88]

So, I’ve got control arms for the car, and I upgraded at the same time, going from stamped steel to cast aluminum (FE5 control arm from Cobalt SS/SC)... the car should be alignable later, with no more clunking noises over bumps...

But I also moved, and my commute to work is like 2.5mi... it doesn’t even get fully warm on my trip in... I struggle to average 40mpg indicated...�� any suggestions? Do I overinflate the tires I just got(running at 50#)?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

But I also moved, and my commute to work is like 2.5mi... it doesn’t even get fully warm on my trip in... I struggle to average 40mpg indicated...�� any suggestions?

P&G has really helped me offset the MPG losses from shorter trips. I generally reach 40 MPG within the first mile instead of after 2 miles (on a completely cold engine).

[19bonestock88]

I’m using P&G as best as I can manage... there is one small-ish Hill to climb and since I recently got new tires (upsized from 195/65 to 205/65) I can no longer climb in 5th gear... if I had a battery charger I’d disconnect the alternator and see how much I get... also contemplating full grille block and tires at 60#

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Wouldn't a full grille block be too warm in this weather?

I found a different route to school that's ~0.25 miles longer, but uses less fuel because it's rarely traveled, and I can do maximum P&G on it (20mph-30mph-20mph) compared to when previously I could only P&G maybe a third of the time at 30mph-40mph-30mph. Is there a different, less travelled route you could take?

[19bonestock88]

Yeah, a full block would be entirely too much for any significant distance... right now it’s about perfect, even for 85-90* ambient temps... but my commute is like 2.5mi and with using P&G, my coolant temps barely break 140*... in theory as long as I didn’t get over 210* I could block the whole thing and be fine, knowing that if I tried to do any longer trip I’d have to remove some blocking...

There are no other routes to take to work that don’t add massive distance/time... there is one hill and a traffic light that work against me... there are two left turns and one right, which sometimes has me idling at an intersection for a while...

While on the rural roads, my 2.2L engine displacement isn’t much of a hindrance, in town it really sucks the fuel...

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

Yeah, a full block would be entirely too much for any significant distance... right now it’s about perfect, even for 85-90* ambient temps... but my commute is like 2.5mi and with using P&G, my coolant temps barely break 140*... in theory as long as I didn’t get over 210* I could block the whole thing and be fine, knowing that if I tried to do any longer trip I’d have to remove some blocking...

There are no other routes to take to work that don’t add massive distance/time... there is one hill and a traffic light that work against me... there are two left turns and one right, which sometimes has me idling at an intersection for a while...

While on the rural roads, my 2.2L engine displacement isn’t much of a hindrance, in town it really sucks the fuel...

If 2.5 miles has you only at 140F then you probably are safe to block more grille off. My car is usually at 140F at the end of the 1st mile. I find that P&G-ing at slower speeds helps warmup faster. I live on a gravel road, and it's 0.6 miles to the nearest paved road that takes me anywhere, so I generally P&G around 19-27-19 and am usually mid to upper 20s MPG by the end of that and between 125F and 135F by the end of it due to going slower and giving the engine more warm up time. If I drove faster, say, 30 mph I'd barely be over 110F by the end and I'd be lucky if my MPGs by the end of the gravel road were above 20.

Do you do any EOC with your manual?

[19bonestock88]

All of my P&G is EOC, that’s why my coolant temps are so low... on my old commute it took almost 10mi for coolant temps to top out and level off

[mpg_numbers_guy]

AH that makes so much more sense now. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how your temperatures were so low after that much travelling unless you were driving in sub freezing temps with no grille blocking lol.

I'd say go for that full grille block and see how she rolls.

[19bonestock88]

So I’ve made more progress on the car... I now have a lawn edging air dam screwed to the bumper cover, and have reduced total grille area to a 1.5x29” strip at the top of the lower grille area... on two lone roads coolant temps stay around 190F, but on the freeway(where P&G isn’t plausible) and in hot weather(85F and up) coolant temps stay near 210F and on big hills climb to the cooling fan switch point(221F)...

Thankfully, I rarely ever use the freeway lol...

I need to load test the car and see how much load it takes to hold 55mph with these new tires and other mods...

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

So I’ve made more progress on the car... I now have a lawn edging air dam screwed to the bumper cover, and have reduced total grille area to a 1.5x29” strip at the top of the lower grille area... on two lone roads coolant temps stay around 190F, but on the freeway(where P&G isn’t plausible) and in hot weather(85F and up) coolant temps stay near 210F and on big hills climb to the cooling fan switch point(221F)...

Thankfully, I rarely ever use the freeway lol...

I need to load test the car and see how much load it takes to hold 55mph with these new tires and other mods...

I like the look of the car lot and congratulations on the air dam

I think those coolant temperatures might be considerably too high. I used to have an alarm set on mine to trigger any time the temperature went over 206 degrees. Now I have it set to go off whenever the coolant temperature goes over 200 degrees. I think the kinds of temperatures you're seeing could lead to premature head gasket failure.