Hello All.

I am new to the board (10 posts). Had my Escape 4wd Ltd Hy for about 3 weeks now. It is great. I also got a Toyota HiHY that my wife drives.

I would appreciate if some of you experts could tell me what to do to boost (our) mpg in winter.

Car(s) are outside, I am in Northern N.J.

My commute is only 4 mi each way. Wife drives more miles during the week.

Block Heater?
Battery Warmer?

Thanks,

Bill

 

Hi Bill, unfortunately the block heater is probably your best bet. Mine's on an electronic timer for 2 or 3 hours before I have to leave in the morning. Blocking the grill or radiator is a plus too, just watch the engine temp to make sure you don't go too far.

Vehicles prior to '08 have been able to use a battery warmer that would require fabricating a special harness for us.

O/w the usual mileage suggestions apply, like pumping the tires to 40+ lbs and making your first trip the long one to warm it up.

Post a pic so we can see your ride.

 

1.) Is there a radiator block that you can order. I guess I could make one. ** what temp is too far?**

2.) I saw a thread that sort of rambled on about block heaters, is there one you can order for the 09 FEH 4wd. Can my dealer install it?

3.) I always warmed up my cars in the winter for two reasons:
a. Comfort
b. I always thought it was bad to load a stone cold engine without
at least a few minutes at idle.
(to get lubricant to all the lines, nooks, and crannies.)

4.) As for the "Harness" for the battery warmer - is this a structural harness or a full new harness (bunch of wiring) that you would have to run?

Do you just start it and go? It seems to work fine when I do it. It is cold here recently. 0 - 20 in the AM.

 

Idling the car is just throwing out money and is counterproductive of driving a hybrid (or any car if you car for low fuel consumption). Start the car and take of right away, just don't rev the engine up too high. My Honda idles at about 1200rpm when cold, if I drive off right away, I barely touch 2000rpm, I don't think that makes a difference for the engine.

 

Letting the FEH idle before starting out is of little benefit due to the warm-up strategy Ford uses. When you start off from a cold start, you are moving on electric from the traction motor while the engine idles. The generator also supplies torque to ensure that the engine is unloaded during the warm-up. On the 1st gen FEHs the warm-up mode ends when the catalytic converter reaches about 1250F. The block heater is your best bet for countering the cold weather MPG hit. 3 hours will consume less than 1.5 kWh.

 

Thanks Carl, you saved me some typing.

Bill, there are many gas saving techniques that are standard on any vehicle but your '09 FEH operates different than the '05 - '08 FEH/MMH models. Wayne Gerdes has ask me to write a review on his site: http://www.cleanmpg.com/ of the '09 FEH/MMH where I will explain gas saving techniques for your vehicle. Give me about a week.

GaryG

 

Nice - I will look forward to the read.

Back to square one (and 2)

1.) Where and how do I get a block heater installed?

2.) Where do I get a radiator block, and what is the high temp range to look out for? I could make one I guess. Also, not to be dumber than I look, but I can't seem to get any water temp display on the dash. Is this something that the standard car dash can display?

One more thing - when I start the car you get the Date and Time display top dead center on the dash ( in the smaller display ) - how can I make that stay on?

Thanks

 

What would you estimate that the mpg improvement is, when using a block heater? Is this supported by real data? The reason I ask is, that today many people use synthetic oils, which are excellent lubricants even down to below zero F. I would think that oil viscosity would play a big role in mpg. Or is there another factor at play there?

 

Keep the radio off or play a CD. Otherwise the date/time will not remain. Sorry.

 

You can have your dealership install a block heater. I want to say we spent about 170 on the parts and maybe another 100 on labor, but I don't recall exactly.

That being said, for your commute, I don't think it would be worth it to have a heater installed. If I run mine for 4 hours, it means my coolant temp is approximately 90 degrees when I start the car in my garage. It takes me about a mile and a half to get to the 150 degree range where EV mode is possible (but not guaranteed). I don't have the ability to plug in at work, so the heater is only a benefit for my drive in.

If you are parking outside, it's going to take longer to get to the EV mode, and if your commute is only 4 miles, you wouldn't be getting much benefit. It might be more worth it if you can plug in during the day while you're at work.

This is just my $.02--if you're more worried about your mileage than your money (and there is NOTHING wrong with that), by all means get a block heater. If you do, make sure that your dealership installs the battery warmer too. I did not know to have them do that, and I am missing out on some of the EV potential in the cold because the voltage of the battery is diminished.

Edit: by the way, welcome to the site!!!