Ok the other day as I was listening to a podcast called "What drives us". If you don't already know this is a podcast made up of members of Priuschat. Anyway there was a mention of grill blocking. Being that I live in the central New York and my TCH never seems to get up to operating temp in the winter, this sounded interesting to me. I checked around on Priuschat but obviuosly most posts over there are related to the Prius. Has anyone with a TCH tried this? If so what did you use? How well did you like the results? Thanks, Rick

 

Interesting that you feel your TCH never gets to operating temp.

I live in Calgary, Canada mine seems to warm up just fine in temps down to minus 35°C, and much faster than my old V6 Camry.

 

My car seems to go over to electric operation more when operating temp is around 190 f. Problem is my scanguage tells me more often than not in winter it runs between 145 and 170. I thought if I could get it to run closer to summer operating temps my gas mileage would increase. Amazing how much using the defroster or heater will bring down the ice temp.

 

There's an obvious solution to this: Move to Florida.

 

This is a long post/response but I think it will help you:

I have used grill blocking for last 3 years on my '07 TCH.

Item used: 3/4 to one inch rubber/poly pipe insulation covering. amount: little more than a 6 ft long section (maybe 8 -> 10 feet) Purchased from Lowes or Home Depot. Cost: ~ $5.00.

Time to install: 20 -> 45 minutes (exterior time - depending on temp.) + time inside to warm back-up and defrost fingers. Tool: Kitchen shears

What to do: For the top, right horizontal slot: Cut pipe insulation to fit in horizontal slot in grill (about 8 inches long), then cut wedges that will allow insulation to fit over the one vertical vane in the slot. (My wedges are cut about 1/2 inch wide and 3/4 of the way through the tubing.) Repeat for all other slots.

For temps below 50 F, you can leave all slots covered. After that, until ~ 60 F, I would remove the bottom slots (below front license plate area.) Around this time, if you travel in rush-hour parking-lot traffic, I would watch FIA and water temp on the scan gauge. If water temp gets around 200 F, think about removing all blocking. My normal temp is 190 -> 193 F. At 60, remove everything.

I live just south of DC and this has worked for me. Even making runs to Orlando (during winter), I have left the blocking on the upper grill (until arrival in ORL). No overheating. Once I did get concerned when I was caught in a back-up and temp hit and stayed at 200. Once the engine ran again and circulated the coolant, it dropped back down to normal.

Present environmental conditions: 15 -> 40 F, 18 inches snow on ground, roads mainly clear. In early morning, 18 F, I turn ECO off, a/c to 70, after about 3 miles, ECO on (engine has warmed up and is pumping out heat). I don't get to 190 for about 7 miles (most of it under 45 mph). Without blocking, it would take about 10 miles. Without blocking, when the engine shuts down, I can see the temp nose-dive. With blocking, the temp cools down slowly.

This has been long, but I wanted to give you all the info you might want/need.

 

I made a cardboard template and then cut my top grill block out of polycarbonate using a razor. Drilled some holes and attached via some wire. It's ugly to say the least since I'm a bit impatient and do things hastily. Unfortunately, my operating temperature used to never go above 185 and now it regularly hits 195 so I panicked and removed it. It still hits 195 so I suppose there's nothing to worry about but I've been lazy and never put it back. Also, not a perfect fit.

Prior to that, I used foam pipe insulation; about a dollar per 6 feet at Home Depot and I bought several. Since then, the price has raised about 20 cents. I cut them into wedges and stuffed them into both the upper and lower grill. In cold weather, full grill block. In warmer weather, I can often still run a full block but I usually remove some of the lower. I drive 90% highway so the operating temperature usually is pretty constant but any city driving makes it shoot right up past 200 and I can hear the radiator fans turn on so remove some, if not all of the lower.

Sadly, I've had several pieces fly out while driving...and I've found a few pieces wedged into the bumper when I took it off to clean the radiator. From an aesthetic point of view, the foam looked much nicer than the polycarbonate and was significantly easier to add/remove but I've yet to find a way to make it more sturdy.

I cannot really say how the grill block helps me. The coldest it gets around here is 30 degrees and after about 3-4 miles, I'm warmed up (with no grill block). In these slightly warmer temperatures, it's down to 2-3.

Why not also get the engine block heater? Speaking of...I haven't been using mine since I've been too lazy to buy one of those timers.

 

For a while there I was beginning to think I was the only one thinking of doing this. Thank you for the replies. I do have a engine block heater that woeks great but as it doesn't do much for you as your going down the road. Anyway I have gone with the foam from Loews that was suggested and it really workes great. The temp. hasn't been over 30 degrees here in weeks and when it is in the lower teens, my car never really warmed up. Was exactly like you described. When the engine shut down and was running in electric only mode, the water temp would drop like a rock. So much so that it would cause the engine to start back up again even though there was plenty of battery left. I have blocked both upper and lower grills and now run 185 to 190. If it goes above that all I have to do is turn the heat on in car and you can actually watch the temp go down. A great trick for winter but personally I don't think I'd try doing this without a scanguage. Thank again for the suggestions, Rick

 

Thanks for this post! Do you have any pics though? I'm having trouble figuring out how to make this thing look decent but stay secured.

 

Sorry I'm not able to post any pictures. I will say this, to me there really isn't any way to make this look good. But I figure for winter around these parts most cars ar covered with salt so it really doesn't matter. If you get the soft rubber type of pipe insulation you can force it between the grill sections. I've only had it installed for about a week but I haven't lost any of it yet, works great.