This is killing me!
 

Ive been working at some new schools lately. The effect of the incredibly short distances and cold weather are doing a number on my mileage Im at 38mpg for this current tank right now and it's killing me!

Here is the schedule:
Morning: Cold engine - drive 5 miles in school traffic. Barely warm when I get to work
2 hours later - Engine cooled down again - drive 4 miles to next school ... almost warm again. Thankfully there is no traffic.
2 hours later - Engine cooled down again - drive 6 miles to next school ... damn trains!!!
2 hours later - Engine cold - drive home - oh hey, the engine is warm .... AAAAAND there is the driveway.


Could somebody please invent a block heater that runs off a battery? This is driving me nuts.

Do you have a front belly pan? It would help keep some of the heat in your engine bay. Also, if you're only driving 5 miles at a time go ahead and block the entire grille.

I took all the cheapo mods off while I try to pretty-fy them. We are running stock right now. Last week I was getting upper 40s and before that 50s. Weather sucks!

Ok, well I can take a look at them this weekend. The school store sells big sheets of plastic if you'd like to mess around with that. A plastic grille block would look good painted satin black :)

That makes me happy, because it proves that i've been getting horrible mileage because most of my drives are about 3 miles

Oh yes, it is crazy the difference in numbers I get on these short trips and when the engine has warmed even slightly.

When I was leaving my neighborhood today my instantaneous fuel gauge registered 34mpg. I headed the same way the other day, same gear and speed, and it was registering 57mpg.

Im debating starting EOC again to try to help. Im trying to take care of my car but my pride needs help too.

Also, Sven, go do your homework! Im not YOUR teacher but I am A teacher. Get on that crap, man!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-em-10529.html

With more effort i'm sure you could get something useful for the sides and bottom of the engine too.

+2 on blocking the entire grill, upper, lower, belly pan, block it all up!

I recently have been playing with a partial blocked lower and the engine does heat quicker, and the engine bay retains heat longer. Finally went to full block for my 5 mile trip to work, which is all low speed in town and the coolant shows 185 before the 2 mile mark, and 194 as I am parking.

Borrow Grandma's tricycle, add rain fenders, and get some coveralls.

You will beat the school traffic and stay warmer than you do in the cold car.
5 miles each trip should take less than 30 minutes and 2 hour between each trip should be plenty to recover for the next one.

Another idea is a mylar lined AC cover (for covering the home air conditioner in winter) trimmed to fit over the engine.

I have the same problem. Short trips in winter = cold operation = lousy gas mileage.

The most effective solution (that is also easiest and cheapest) is to do a full radiator block. On some cars you can simply slide a piece of cardboard in the space in front of the radiator. I'm lucky in that the cardboard will stay there unsupported, and it is easy to insert and remove, taking only seconds to do it.

Another option is to make a warm air plenum that will route engine heat to the airbox. I'm working on one for one of my cars and will post a thread about it soon.

Already have a hot air intake using a K&N Apollo set with Airraid tubing.
Need to insulate it as my AIT rises as the intake tubing temp rises.
I have the snorkel 1" above my exhaust manifold and you would think you would get hot air immediately, but no.

The AIT gets to 50+ over ambient in that 5 mile drive to work.

The stock intake took much longer to heat up, but it was a LOT more mass to heat before giving hot air. The lower block helped it heat up quicker, but it's no where near as good as the current set up in terms of heat/time ratio!

I will insulate it very shortly though.

With the exception of about 6" of snorkel hose, the entire intake track is directly behind the shroud opening for the radiator, so when the lower grill is open it gets cold air blowing over the intake track and cools itself down.

It gets the AIT cooler the more you press the gas. Coasting heats it back up.

Looks to have made a 1.25 mpg improvement though, will know more with more miles on it.

I tried routing warm air to the intake but it made no difference, but a straight radiator block did. Its off now as the car is due a service and I have some warranty issues I want sorting and don't want any excuses from the garage.

There have been a few threads on WAI and similar experiments - will look forward to any new ones out there.

My car is MAP equipped, which supposedly is good for HAI's.
I can tell you a couple of things about how much better it is when the AIT is at different temps.

First, there is a section of road I travel Mon-Fri coming home from work and it is less than 2 miles from startup, is on the highway where I am on CC at 58 mph.

With the UG showing the coolant is already at 185f, when cresting the hill it flattens out for a half mile and the AIT will be somewhere around +20 over ambient, the instant MPG shows 37-43.

When cresting the same hill after having driven for a while and the AIT is 40f over ambient, the instant MPG gauge will show 48-55.

At 60f over ambient on the HAI, it will show 65+ mpg.

Second, is when the coolant shows 185f but the AIT is at 60f, it only takes 50% load to get to 2 GPH burn rate on the UG.

When the AIT is at 120f, it takes 85% load to get the same GPH burn rate.

Unless the UG is lying, it looks like HAI works well on my car.

If this is really all you want, all it takes is an inverter. The problem is that it'll drain your battery all the way down. You could use a second battery and an inverter.

I've occasionally used a couple old blankets thrown over the engine compartment as well (basically Frank's idea).

Another, more complicated option would be a heat storage system. It's basically a thermos bottle that you can pump the coolant and/or oil into so it stays warm while the car is sitting.