Orange4boy's Rescue and Revival of a 2003 Prius

[Christ]

I'll take Bob's idea on this one.

I think you'd be beneficial to wrap a pipe-tape heater around the cross over pipe or one of the heater lines, being mindful of flow direction (not that it makes too much of a difference which direction it really flows, but for posterity.)

Leave the plug hang somewhere with easy access, and plug 'er in!

[orange4boy]

Update: Installed a lower rad hose heater today. Usually placed on the lowest part of the return rad hose. I installed mine on the return hose between the inverter and engine.

Warm coolant will rise up into the head while the cooler coolant will "fall" down past the heater to circulate up again. Not the most efficient type but every bit helps. Since I have a heat retaining blanket installed, the leftover heat will stay in the engine compartment and help warm it from the outside as well. I installed a bit of blanket on the top of the return hose because I can't help myself.

I also had the idea of installing one of these heaters on the transaxle loop of the HV inverter coolant lines Although, I'm not sure the coiled design would allow for that kind of circulation. Pan heater is probably a better idea for the transaxle.

I am still planning to do the coolant pump hack. I couldn't find a 3/4 inch inline heater. the closest is a 1" so I would have to fabricate something to make that work or find 1" to 3/4" adaptors

Now I have it in my head to install a thermos as well. We'll see if my ambition is greater than my perseverance in due time..

The reasons for my heater mania, besides the fact that I live in Canada are twofold: Instant cabin heat and FE. My first 5 minutes of driving usually net about 7.5 L/100Km but when warm I can eek out a 1.5 L/100Km Since most of my trips are short, Getting into stage 4 sooner should make a big difference on my average kilometreage.

[orange4boy]

I think you'd be beneficial to wrap a pipe-tape heater around the cross over pipe or one of the heater lines, being mindful of flow direction

Do they make these for automotive use? The ones I know of for water pipes are under 10 watts.

First try: Coolant temp. 17˚ to 37˚ in 1 hour.

[MetroMPG]

Enjoying the progress, Marcus.

In your quest of temperature related modding, I believe there's also a Prius coolant temp sensor mod around. Sounds like a sensor spoof, though, so not sure what the implications are on emissions/driveability.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

Do they make these for automotive use? The ones I know of for water pipes are under 10 watts.

Not specifically for auto use, you'd only be able to use them while you're at home parked, but it might help a bit. Of course, unless you can find one stronger than 10 watts, you might as well not bother with it. I thought they had them up to 100 watts or something like that.

[orange4boy]

I now have a funny transaxle heater installed too.

OK. this is going to sound odd but it's just an application change. It's a bee keepers hive opening hot knife I got at a garage sale years ago. I knew it would come in handy at some point. It's 650 watts. I have attached it to my transaxle sump with rare earth magnets. I was going to use it on the Previa as a transmission heater but there were clearance issues.

Most of the heat will just end up rising past the transaxle but since I have the engine blankets in, some of the heat will stay around a bit to heat up the block a bit. Electricity is cheap here and all clean hydro.

P.S. First tank 54.8 mpg! (Nice gift from the bladder which cut me off before it was full. One nib down on the display.) Next tank will average that out probably.

[Christ]

Is that hot knife too thick to slip into the dipstick tube? Maybe you could transfer the markings and just use it for a dipstick?

[orange4boy]

It's about 1+1/2" wide.

I also have an idea to attach the shoe from an old stripped iron to the pan but that would take a bit of fabrication to achieve and the thermostat on it would have to be protected. It's got a max output of 1500 watts. A bit much for an oil pan.

[Christ]

Ever seen oil boiling? I haven't. I'd like to keep it that way.

Did you get anything close to the dual oil pan idea? Just wondered if you'd tried it out yet, or if you were going to at all.

If you can get ahold of another oil pan, it might be interesting to first add heat sinks under the windage tray from the bottom of the pan (so that the oil surrounds them), then affix a heater pad or something to the bottom of that pan. The heat sinks might make for a better dispersal of heat through the fluid, helping to warm the engine with as little heat loss from the element as possible.

[orange4boy]

If you can get ahold of another oil pan, it might be interesting to first add heat sinks under the windage tray from the bottom of the pan (so that the oil surrounds them)

Great minds think alike. I was just toying with that idea today and now I think I have the design. It's a pan heater sandwich: heat sink, gasket, hole in pan, gasket, 1/8 aluminium, heat sink grease, element, steel cover. (optional: appliance insulation, stainless cover) Two bolts through the whole assembly except the heat sink which would be blind tapped.

It sounds complicated but I think I could easily throw this together in a couple of hours, minus the stainless cover.

I can steal the pan off the old tranny. Engine oil heater could be done later.

I sure wish I had a little milling machine.

Ever seen oil boiling? I haven't. I'd like to keep it that way

Yeah, scary. Having the heat sink would eliminate spot overheating of the oil as long as the wattage is low enough.

I wonder if my local plastic shop sells high temperature plastic. That stuff would come in handy for these kinds of applications.