Observations with an Echo grill block
 

I am not sure whether I should put it here or elsewhere? I'm thinking Modding? I'll figure it out at any rate.


Over a coffee (actually a diet coke with no ice) down at White Castle and apart from my endless *****ing that I had somehow succeeded in hitting every single red light between here and there, pulsing into a good majority of them (I was cut down to 58.3 because of that and went on for minutes about how I would never take that trip again), Hadi and I got the idea somewhere that we'd go grill block the car. I figured, what the heck, cold weather is just around the corner, there's already cold nights and it's only a matter of time before cold days, too.

Meet the world's cheapest grill block. At least it - sort of - matches the car's color scheme:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/...2708_00521.jpg

I'm going to do some testing over the next few days although I'm hamstrung by having only one Sg and needing to constantly flip back and forth between gauges. After one trip the jury's still out on the FE improvement but I'm deeply concerned about the water temperature.

See, my commute on I-275 is DWL, Fas, DWL, Fas. When I say "DWL" that means a high engine load on the steep grades around here, typically 55% engine load. Climbing the hills around here both times and I watched as the fWT gauge rose to 211 and 215 degrees Fahrenheit (first and second hills respectively). I know the boiling point of water is 212, with modern coolant somewhat higher. The car never threw a Cel or an overheat warning.

As it hit 215 on the second hill it then dropped to 207 and then 200 and 192. I guess the fan kicked in? This has me concerned because there's still some 85 degree days ahead and today was a cool night, 60 degrees or so. I just don't want the car to overheat as I climb the hills around here, is all, but having an open grill will be a killer when it gets cold. :(

It's okay that your the car got to 215, I've had my Corolla to 245 going up Hogback mountain. As long as you have a good mix of coolant in the radiator, I am pretty sure you're good to about 265 before the thing boils over. Gotta love Ethylene-Glycol :thumbup:.

You should send some of that heat over here, my engine temp only reads about 140 max. But I don't have a grill block yet.

The main reason you can run a coolant temperature above 212 degrees is the coolant system is pressurized. As air pressure increases the boiling point of water rises. That's why it is so dangerous to open a hot pressurized system - the pressure goes down and the coolant instantly boils.

Hi lamebums, if I were you, I'd recommend this simple experiment: at the end of a trip with a hot engine, idle while monitoring the coolant temp via the ScanGauge until you hear the cooling fan start up.

Yes I know it's sacrilege for a hypermiler to idle, but consider the overall goal...

You'll then have a known point to use to decide how much grille blocking you can reasonably use given your driving conditions (hills).

The alternative - and the best of both worlds, really - is a block that's adjustable from the cabin. Imagine the benefit if you could run fully closed until up to temp, and then open as needed...

215 is a normal temp for the radiator fan to cut on. My Civic keeps the coolant temp between 190 and 213 F (no grill block yet). Like MetroMPG suggested, monitor it while idling to figure out where exactly your fan cuts in. You shouldn't have to worry about overheating unless you see the temp continue to climb above that number even with the fan going.

55% load is high? I need to maintain about 50% load (as reported by LOD on the SG) just to maintain speed at about 55 mph on level ground.

I think it varies from car to car because on level road I only need to maintain 25-30% load.

I need to get another scangauge it seems. I'm getting tired of flipping back and forth between LOD, TPS, trip mileage, and fWT. ;)