[Bearleener]

Cold starts suck! One good solution is a block heater, but that doesn't work for the drive home (no outlet at work). A Prius-style Thermos for the coolant would be cool, but that's complicated and requires a mighty big Thermos (or several of them) if you want to heat the entire engine quickly, and the system would probably need to be under pressure.

How about only heating the intake manifold? I read that condensation of fuel on the cold manifold passages is one major reason for high gasoline consumption when cold. Indeed, my manifold has a small electric heater as standard equipment, but that's too ineffective. I'm thinking of something like a bag (hot water bottle) contacting (lying on top of) the aluminum manifold. This hot water (not under pressure) would be stored in a Thermos overnight and pumped into the bag right after a cold start.

Somewhere I read about a warm air intake. Is this for quicker warmup or for improved steady-state efficiency? What's the heat source?

Thanks!