Electric WAI

[RedDevil]

It was just to see if it had any effect at all. It was very strategically placed.

And it did have an effect; it did indeed raise the intake temperature by a few degrees.
Also, seemingly surprisingly, it made the engine heat up slower. The cold engine light only went out when I passed my kids school, at nearly a mile.

Today saw almost the same circumstances as yesterday, same temperature but just a little less wind.
Without the hot water bottle the cold light went out way before I passed the school, in about a kilometer (0.6 miles).
I'll test tomorrow again with the hot water bottle and see if I can replicate the effect.

I can imagine that the slightly hotter air helps the combustion, burning the fuel slightly earlier, making it more effective therefore needing less of it.
But I cannot explain why the difference would be so big.

Up till now it was a one-off, more testing is needed, now with an added research goal: Does a raised air intake temp slow down engine warm up? Or was this a freak incident?

I'm enjoying this

[RedDevil]

This morning I had another run with the hot water bottle in the intake. On top of that I wound a hot wet towel around the intake and over the airbox.

Weather was about the same again, I had a good run with only one short stop, and this time I had parked facing the street making a clean exit.
The intake temp shot up to 22°C (from 13°C) almost instantly.

The IMA system decided it was time to do a forced recharge of the battery, I had difficulty keeping the revs low. The engine temp shot up.
Just before it reached the point where the blue light would go out the IMA system decided it had done enough; those last few degrees took quite some time and distance.
I could have easily made it past school with the blue light on if the IMA system had not spoiled it.

I got an economy bonus on the highway, as the usual recharge there was not needed today.
All in all I had good economy going to work; 3.6 l/100 km, which is on par with my current tank average. Not bad for a morning commute against a head wind.
Better than yesterday (without the bottle) when there was less wind.

I'll keep doing this on and off the coming days, see if the trend persists.

[RedDevil]

Another A run this morning (no water bottle).
Slight drizzle, no wind, same temperature as before.
I had parked nose out and had only one stop, didn't even come to a standstill.
The blue Cold Engine indicator stayed on to well beyond school...

Crappadeedoodah. There goes my theory.
Heating the intake can prolong the warmup time quite some.
Not heating it can do the same.
I had a clean run to work, nice draft and all. Economy was the same as yesterday, both after a few miles and at the end of my commute.

There was less wind. Yet, not much in there.
The benefit of a WAI on startup (under these conditions) is minimal, if it exists at all.

All I can say is that the warmup time seems more time related than distance related; the more stops the earlier (distance wise) the light goes out.
I'll time it next time round, see if that is indeed more constant.

[Focus-Ak]

I suggest getting an UltraGauge, and selecting coolant temperature as one of the gauges shown. That will give a true reading, whereas your blue indicator light could be as inaccurate as most dashboard temperature gauges (several threads about those here).

[RedDevil]

My UltraGauge tells me the blue light goes off at 52°C. Never less, never more.
I guess both are pretty accurate

Your suggestion is a good one though. I am happy with my UltraGauge.
I monitor intake air temp, coolant temp, instant FE, engine load, 12V battery voltage and something I forgot, gotta look

[RedDevil]

This morning was moist with a southwestern wind (semi head-on), 13°C.
Took off with the water bottle, no towel. Intake went to 17°C.
One short stop and one big rush to meet a stale green light.
The cold engine light went out at the third junction past school...

I forgot to set a timer, but this run was pretty fast so I guess running time does matter most. And maybe moisture; Friday was wet, like today.

Had near record MPG going to work, despite a rolling jam. Lots of forced P&G, which seems good for FE, but also the occasional brake test and creep speed. Once freed again my trip FE was where it was when I hit the jam, so I lost a bit there as normally it would have improved over that stretch.

[oil pan 4]

You want one of these:

[oil pan 4]

Shibby engineering intake heater.
Grid Heater delete for cold weather areas - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

I would buy one but my intake heaters were free and are already tremendous over kill.

EDIT: Scratch that idea. They are $350 new.
There is a used one on ebay for $250.

[RedDevil]

Thanks for the links.
I'm still looking into using my TEC on top of the airbox; I have an old PC which I hope has some nice heat sinks. The TEC can double as a mini intercooler if I ever feel the need to boost the power - by 2% or so

Weather is fairer now, 16°C. Perfect launch; facing the street, no stops, no bottle, cold light went out right after passing school. Mild head wind, arriving at work with good trip FE (3.5 l/100 km)

[RedDevil]

I gutted my old PC and got a nice fan driven Pentium CPU heat sink and a small on board graphics chip heat sink (on the right, in front of my beer; it was an old company PC, they weren't bent on gaming performance)


Now to glue the TEC in between with heat sink compound, go test it all and mount it on top of my airbox. The tiny GPU sink will be the hot part inside the airbox; the springs tightened to maintain contact with the TEC and the top cooler.

Yeah, the Pentium cooler is a bit overkill. The copper contact patch feels uncanningly cold even at room temperature as it is so efficient at drawing heat away.
The GPU heat sink feels cold too - but heats up between my fingers in seconds.
I hope it is big enough - it just fits the TEC.