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Old 08-17-2010, 04:28 AM   #12 (permalink)
saand
Wiki Writer
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 236

bugler - '91 Mazda 626
90 day: 35.89 mpg (US)
Thanks: 15
Thanked 25 Times in 22 Posts
Thank you all for your reply’s and suggestions.
For those interested. I already have a grill block which I put in for aero improvement rather than keeping in heat. I didn't notice much change in idle reduction. As brucepick suggests it looks like the high idle was designed into the car for some reason probably for the very worst case situation it might need the high idle. The thermo device that reduces the idle at temperature runs off a coolant line so the coolant has to get warm before the idle reduces which means the whole engine block has to get warm. This takes more than a few minutes even with a grill block unfortunately. I also toyed with the idea of a block heater but I don’t think I could ever be bothered turning it on in the morning and at a guess the money used on electricity to heat up the engine would be comparable to the fuel saved.

Yes I could kill the engine at lights which would also get around my high idle problem but I don’t want to risk having my car not start at the lights. It has been temperamental at times and I would hate to hold up traffic. But I did still think about this and I guess for those prepared to take the risk it would be worthwhile and if your worried about wear on your starter, brushes are cheap to get. From reports on various threads it seems not much else wears out (I could be wrong though).

I had also thought about backing into my drive which would help somewhat however im on a main road so very difficult to do and would waist more petrol waiting for cars to pass so I could back it in.
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