Short trippers unite!

[MTXA]

Originally Posted by pete c

At a mile and a half, i suggest you get a comfy pair of walking shoes if you find riding the bike dangerous. If the most direct route is that dangerous for a bike, perhaps there is a longer safer way. Hell anything short of 5 miles is classified as a wussy bike commute anyhoo. Mine is 12+ with hills. Of course, I wimp out and take my truck way too often, esecially this time of year.

As for riding a bike after dark, I feel safer then than during the day. Very good LED lighting these days will light you up like a xmas tree and make you way more visible than during the day.

I'm going to put start riding my bike after winter moves along. I have a real bright LED flasher on the back. It seems that some of the local drunkards go home about the same time I do. The route I take is a popular shortcut that keeps them off the main roads where the police might nab them. Drunks are pretty well known for fixation driving and my LED flasher could be a target for them. I also get the youngun's that are hopped up on energy drinks and making noise with their phart can mufflers. I could actually cut my commute in half by riding a mountain bike and cutting through an overgrown field. In all honesty, most nights after working on thoroughly flogged fleet trucks, I just want to get home ASAP and air my stinking feet out.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by MTXA

Wow, that seems abnormal. I have three Focii in the fleet I maintain. Last night I picked up a 2001 SOHC in a remote lot two miles from my shop and I was getting some heat about 2/3s of the way back. It was single digit temps last night. You might want to see if you have a warranty issue or if there are any technical service bulletins for your model year.

It's a manual trans and I think I just drive too lightly. If I leave my parents house and head home, I have to go up a pretty significant hill about 2 miles from their house. Once I'm up the hill, I have full heat and engine is up to temperature.

The thermostat was tested good so I can't do anything warranty wise.

[busypaws]

Has anyone played with coolant temp when the thermostate starts to open vs. where you turn on your cabin cooling fan. I try to wait till 140F before I start "extracting" heat into the cabin. It takes quite a long time for the engine temp to go from 160 to 170F probably because the thermostate is starting to open. So I run the cabin fan on high after it gets above 140 when it is really cold. If it is not too uncomfortable I wait till 170 since it is "free" at that point since the engine is already sending coolant through the radiator.

[Miller88]

I just had to run a coworker home. He lives 1 mile away , but there are a lot of stoplights. The car had pretty good heat by the time I got back from the 2 mile drive.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by Miller88

...
The thermostat was tested good so I can't do anything warranty wise.

We don't know how they tested the thermostat. "Hey Larry, take this out and see if you get any heat!". Possible.

Use a ScanGauge or UltraGauge to show engine coolant temp digitally. You will see exactly what is going on. If driving with pretty steady load on engine (highway, 50-55 mph or more), you will see temp drop several degrees when tstat opens. And of course you'll see what temp it later stabilizes at.

Of course it will behave differently any time it idles, moving or still, and if you EOC.

Leave the cabin heat off for your tests. It bleeds heat off the system even if tstat is still closed.

If you didn't already, you might be able to hide some grill block where it won't easily be seen. But I'd never use grill block without a digital temp gauge always on display. Avoid nasty surprises that way.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by MTXA

Thanks for the info brucepick. Which brand of pad heater did you purchase?

This is the heater I got, from Amazon. Proheat brand.
Proheat Products Fluid Heaters 154 FLUID HEATER 125 WATT
Of course you need a heater of the right dimensions to fit whatever clean smooth area you can find on your oil pan.

Comes complete with all the stuff you need, including a tube of appropriate silicone sealant and even a piece of sandpaper or emery cloth to clean the pan surface.

Kat's brand has far lower prices (in general) but whenever I looked at reviews of Kat's products, the percentage of very bad reviews was scary high.

[MTXA]

I'm still waiting for my block heater to arrive. Being a cartridge style, it should take less than an hour to install. This week with the arctic air, my short range trip mpg readings have been averaging 26.7. I'll be ordering the oil pan heater this weekend.

[brucepick]

Best of luck with the cartridge heater.

I installed one. Determining the hose routing is pretty critical. The heated output water needs a continual upward travel to the head because it moves by convection/siphon, not by pump action. Any upside-down "U" shape in the hose disqualifies that hose as a path for your heated water, because an air bubble will likely exist at the top of the U. Just FYI.

[MTXA]

Originally Posted by brucepick

Best of luck with the cartridge heater.

I installed one. Determining the hose routing is pretty critical. The heated output water needs a continual upward travel to the head because it moves by convection/siphon, not by pump action. Any upside-down "U" shape in the hose disqualifies that hose as a path for your heated water, because an air bubble will likely exist at the top of the U. Just FYI.

I have it way too easy. Toyota has a machined port in the rear of the engine block for the heater. All I have to do is remove the airbox, move the clutch bracket, coat the heater with thermal grease, shove the heater into the port until it clicks, reinstall the removed parts and route the AC cord. I'm estimating under an hour or less and the cooling system never needs to be opened.

[sustainable sam]

Originally Posted by MTXA

I have it way too easy. Toyota has a machined port in the rear of the engine block for the heater. All I have to do is remove the airbox, move the clutch bracket, coat the heater with thermal grease, shove the heater into the port until it clicks, reinstall the removed parts and route the AC cord. I'm estimating under an hour or less and the cooling system never needs to be opened.

I am a fellow xa driver. Did you get the block heater from the dealer? What did it cost?

I also have a short commute at 2.5 miles each way. I have an 80% grill block mobil1 synthetic oil and try to time lights. It has been in the 20s here so the commute has been brutal currently 23 mpg or so in the xa.