[Miller88]

I had some lower grille blocks (military duct tape) on my Focus. I did this is in the winter to help it get up to (and stay up to) temperature in the Winter.

I figure I'd save a bit of gas and it's better for the engine to reach the proper operating temp.

Yesterday it was 90 degrees out ... I decided to put my car in "Engineering Mode" to see how much hotter the car ran with the grille blocks.

I ran the same test loop, once with grille blocks ... once without grille blocks. For what it's worth, it was 1 degree cooler outside the second time


WITH 2 outer grilles blocked, middle open:
Running down the highway with A/C - 85-87C
Idling in parkinglot with A/C - 90C
After 10 minute off - warm start: 92C

WITHOUT any grille blocking
Running down highway with A/C - 87-89C
Idling in parking lot with A/C - 91C
After 10 minutes off - warm start: 95C

This ... doesn't make any sense.

I can think of two things
- Going down the highway, the air that is able to go through the radiator is going much faster since it can only go through one opening on the grille ...
- The temperature is just enough that the fan kicks on more and keeps lowering the temperature.

Input?