Too much of a good thing --15 minute gravity drop

[user removed]

Remember, DFCO still gives you a charging system as well as engine vacuum. You get both of those as long as the engine is spinning, whether it is using fuel or not using fuel.

Thanks for the complimentary PM, it's always a pleasure to help any fellow hypermiler to beat OPEC out of some money, especially the kind you can keep in your pocket.

You might try driving with no boost to the brakes or power steering, just to get a feel for what it is like. While the inputs will be significantly heavier than when you have the engine running they should not be that bad.

regards
Mech

[SentraSE-R]

Endurance,

Absolutely heat your oil pan, too. When I lived in CO, we got a weekend of -35ºF temperatures. Monday morning I cranked the engine, and it felt like my crankshaft was embedded in concrete. I had to put a lit Coleman lantern under the crankcase for 45 minutes to thin the oil enough to start the engine. 90W transmission lube can use some help in cold weather.

[endurance]

@ busy: That's definitely the place to start. Once I've identified what bulbs I need, I'll place an order. I'm not sure what my eventual headlight design will be, but I like projects like that. I've already created LED lights that use 10-12w but put out the equivelent of 35w of halogen light. It wouldn't take much more to produce enough to get me down the road safely. The biggest challenge is finding/creating the right reflector. All the light in the world is worthless if you can't focus it where you want it and still maintain enough spill to prevent blindspots.

@ Mech: Sound advice. I've played with the brakes and while the steering at speed is fine without power, the brakes really do take more energy to apply than I'm comfortable with.

@ Sentra: I'll plan on finding something that'll work to heat the pan. The synthetic 5w20 engine oil is pretty easy to start, plus the car is in a garage, but at $30, how can I go wrong with an oil pan heater?

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by endurance

Well,
I discovered there isn't a block heater available for the car (the only one manufactured only fit the 02 RSX and was discontinued in 04 or 05), so I'm going with a lower radiator hose heater. It'll be an easier install anyway. What about a magnetic oil pan heater, too? Redundant?

a radiator hose is a good idea for a couple reasons 1 it gives you heat immediately for clearer windows. 2 good circulation of heat in the engine. (Get one with a pump as your thermostat will be closed and prevent the warmed coolant from circulating well)

Magnetic ones are annoying, buy some high temp silicone and a heat pad. clean the bottom of your oil pan and apply silicone to the pad apply pad to oil pan and go to bed.

[endurance]

Originally Posted by bestclimb

a radiator hose is a good idea for a couple reasons 1 it gives you heat immediately for clearer windows. 2 good circulation of heat in the engine. (Get one with a pump as your thermostat will be closed and prevent the warmed coolant from circulating well)

Magnetic ones are annoying, buy some high temp silicone and a heat pad. clean the bottom of your oil pan and apply silicone to the pad apply pad to oil pan and go to bed.

I have too many projects at the moment, especially with a new 1920s house that I'm trying to get ready for winter (talk about ecomods, how many 90 year old homes have a 91% efficient combination natural gas boiler/tankless hot water heater?). As a result, I'm really down to evenings after work as my tinkering time, which means doing the lower radiator hose is several weeks away (next weekend is deer season for me, the following weekend we're putting in a new fence, there's new windows to install...). That's a weekend project since it demands a cold radiator to work with.

That bumped up my priority on the kill switch and oil pan heater. Why is it you say the magnetic heaters are annoying? Did you have to take yours off every time? Did it fall off? I like your suggestion of the heating pad, but what are the advantages? Why not glue or silicone on a block heater?

I haven't had my car off the ground yet, but in my grill block project I discovered the entire front of the engine is pretty sealed on the under side. I need to pull body clips just to access the radiator hose. I'm not sure what kind of access I have yet, but want to keep options open until I see what I have (in otherwords, it's going to be a two step process: access and assess, and then buy what I need. For all I know, one option or the other may be out and I'd like to have as much information going in as possible going in.

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by endurance

That bumped up my priority on the kill switch and oil pan heater. Why is it you say the magnetic heaters are annoying? Did you have to take yours off every time? Did it fall off? I like your suggestion of the heating pad, but what are the advantages? Why not glue or silicone on a block heater?

I haven't had my car off the ground yet, but in my grill block project I discovered the entire front of the engine is pretty sealed on the under side. I need to pull body clips just to access the radiator hose. I'm not sure what kind of access I have yet, but want to keep options open until I see what I have (in otherwords, it's going to be a two step process: access and assess, and then buy what I need. For all I know, one option or the other may be out and I'd like to have as much information going in as possible going in.

Depending on engine block material magnetic ones don't stick. If the road is rough they can and do fall off. It may or may not be a problem in your case. The silicone heating pad
work well because they can conform to contours on your oil pan or other places.