Got me an Insight...

[NoD~]

Something needs to be done... this morning was 45*F out and, even pre-heated, I couldn't get it to full operating temps on my way to work! I ran into a store for about 15 minutes and went from 185 down to 135 in that short time... winter is going to be brutal!

I did see that somebody had made an engine blanket once. I think that would be the easiest way to go. I tried doing a lot of sealing up on my Neon, but it was quite the grizzly to get it done. Though, I did use 1" XPS expanding foamed in on the underside of the hood, that helped. Insight might need to get some of the same treatment very soon...

[Daox]

I also have a very short commute (7 miles), and even in summer sometimes it doesn't get up to operating temperature. I've really considered insulating the entire engine a few times, just haven't gotten around to it yet. My main go to mods are: full grill block, block heater. My current 1000W heater is amazing, 15 minute preheat gets me ~50-60F warm up.

[Ecky]

Is it from running cabin heat? I'm sparing with mine until the engine is up to temperature, which usually happens pretty quickly. I found the only time I couldn't maintain 190F water temps was when it was below zero (F) outside.

[NoD~]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Is it from running cabin heat? I'm sparing with mine until the engine is up to temperature, which usually happens pretty quickly. I found the only time I couldn't maintain 190F water temps was when it was below zero (F) outside.

Outside of making sure the heater worked when I first bought it, nope. I think it's just too short of a drive. This is the first time I've seen it happen and first morning it's been this cold since I got it.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by NoD~

Outside of making sure the heater worked when I first bought it, nope. I think it's just too short of a drive. This is the first time I've seen it happen and first morning it's been this cold since I got it.

I wonder if your thermostat isn't stuck open. On a warm day (let's say above 50F), my water temperature tends to hit 190 within 1-2 miles. On a cold day, it might be 3-4 miles, but it doesn't ever drop while driving if I don't have the heat running, and even then, it only drops on severely cold days when I don't use recirculate. The thermostat should be closed, preventing this.

[cowmeat]

Yeah, if you crack open the thermostat housing there probably isn't one in there, just the gasket

[NoD~]

When I got home, I noticed it was fully warmed up. I touched the radiator fins, cool to the touch. I'm guessing something was off this morning, but everything seems fine now. This morning was a weird fluke. I should call Mulder and Scully on it. lol

[cowmeat]

Electric fan sticking in the on position maybe?

[NoD~]

About the same temp this morning as it was yesterday morning and was fully warmed up when I got to work... I'm gonna call this one a fluke. Though, I definitely want to seal up and insulate the engine bay some before winter hits!

[NoD~]

Filled my first tank... wanted to throw out some thoughts on it.

After my first fill, I was still unsure what lean burn really was. I mean, I got the concept, but didn't know how to implement it. I didn't even know when the car was doing it! After putting in an x-gauge into the SGII, I was starting to really see it in action and got a much better feel of it. After that, it's been about learning to get it into lean burn... and keeping it there! Especially for highway.

The start of this tank was also a mess of maintenance and pre-aero upgrades. Having to bleed the cooling system definitely took a hit on my MPG this tank, but it was necessary and worth it... after all, the heater plug ended up going in at the same time! Plenty of panels under the front and rear that were missing parts, beat up, unglued, whatever. They got fixed and I feel better about it.

Another strike against my tank was training my wife on a manual trans. It took several days of go-stop in 1st. Definitely didn't help, but I want her to be able to drive this car. After all, it was our "we need a 3rd car" excuse to buy it! lol

The few aero upgrades I've done at this point (primarily about a ~60% lower grill block, passenger mirror removal, and wipers-b-gone) seems to have helped a little. Tire pressure on these Contental's or whatever they are (some 185/60r24 tire that isn't the RE92's) seems critical in the feel of rolling. 45-50 psi wasn't enough, these wanted 55-60psi! I also have 1 tire with a slow leak, so I have to check that one once a week at least.

I also installed a 12v charger and grid charge the 144v system when it gets low. I intentionally try to keep the system from being charged by the car. No sense in using petrol when I can use the far more efficient 110v system provided by Idaho Power (BTW, electricity is very low cost in this area). I've heard that it's bad to grid charge all the time, but I try to monitor closely and not do a full balancing charge when I do it, so there's that hope. Just gotta last until Linsight is go.

All that said, I started this tank with a struggling 57mpg average. Over the coarse of the tank, between mods and learning the car, I was seeing my daily trips get as high as 102mpg! My last few highway runs were 84mpg average (with a 50 or so MPH average). This tank turned out to be a 71.64mpg tank with about ~40% highway and ~60% city. I can't complain a single bit. I have plenty more in store for this car before the cool winds of fall hits and am excited to see the future for it.