Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - What water temp should I be at before the highway?

endurance · 11-23-2010, 10:31 AM

I've become more and more comfortable EOC'ing on my descent down the mountain that it's created a new concern for me. I have yet to complete my lower radiator hose heater and my garage keeps my car at about 53-54F in the morning. I coast .3 miles, accelerate under power to 30mph, then shut the engine off and coast about 7-7.5 miles before I need to start the engine to merge up to highway speeds.

My question is that I'd suspect it's not a good idea to get a stone-cold 55F engine and get it up to 65mph for my merge without some degree of warm up, so when do I start my engine to start to idle up to temperature? Today I started it about 3/4 mile before the merge and just idled, which brought the operating temperature up to about 125F before the merge. That seems warm enough, but is that more than necessary, adequate, or asking for trouble with lubrication? I'm accelerating slower than normal, as I have about a mile long continuous merge lane and keeping the RPMs under 3000 (remember, this is a car with a 7800rpm redline and it actually lugs below 1700rpm).

On the plus side, I just set a new inbound economy record, consuming .42 gallons for my 26.2 mile commute or 61.9mpg according to the scangauge (before EOCing, my best was 55mpg).

This is probably a short window to do this, as the winter solstice approaches before I'm stuck idling again because of the need for headlights, but I'll likely be able to resume again in January or February if I can keep the windows from icing up.

11-23-2010, 10:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
endurance Master EcoModder Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Foothills near Denver Posts: 279 RSX2fast4mpg - '02 Acura RSX Type S 90 day: 38.22 mpg (US) bubbatrucker - '98 Chevrolet K1500 90 day: 18.1 mpg (US) Thanks: 15 Thanked 25 Times in 17 Posts	What water temp should I be at before the highway? I've become more and more comfortable EOC'ing on my descent down the mountain that it's created a new concern for me. I have yet to complete my lower radiator hose heater and my garage keeps my car at about 53-54F in the morning. I coast .3 miles, accelerate under power to 30mph, then shut the engine off and coast about 7-7.5 miles before I need to start the engine to merge up to highway speeds. My question is that I'd suspect it's not a good idea to get a stone-cold 55F engine and get it up to 65mph for my merge without some degree of warm up, so when do I start my engine to start to idle up to temperature? Today I started it about 3/4 mile before the merge and just idled, which brought the operating temperature up to about 125F before the merge. That seems warm enough, but is that more than necessary, adequate, or asking for trouble with lubrication? I'm accelerating slower than normal, as I have about a mile long continuous merge lane and keeping the RPMs under 3000 (remember, this is a car with a 7800rpm redline and it actually lugs below 1700rpm). On the plus side, I just set a new inbound economy record, consuming .42 gallons for my 26.2 mile commute or 61.9mpg according to the scangauge (before EOCing, my best was 55mpg). This is probably a short window to do this, as the winter solstice approaches before I'm stuck idling again because of the need for headlights, but I'll likely be able to resume again in January or February if I can keep the windows from icing up.