Make your Prius last approximately forever : Part 1

[szabi]

This advice applies to any auto, not just Priuses.

When your engine runs hard for a while (1/2 hr or more), it accumulates a heat load. As long as you keep it running, this load is continuously removed by the cooling system (coolant plus radiator (heat exchanger)) and dumped into the surrounding air. When you stop, the heat removal stops.

Some earlier auto models had an electric radiator fan that ran whether or not the ignition was on, but this runs down the 12V battery and is a safety hazard for anyone working under the hood.

Now the car is sitting there with a large lump of hot metal under the hood. The hood is insulated and there are no vents or louvers in the hood of a modern car. What happens? Everything under the hood comes to a temperature much higher that ambient, much higher than it ever reaches when the car is running.

There is a mess of plastic and rubber components under the hood. Although I'm sure Toyota uses the very best they can afford, these components do chemically decay; the rate of decay is an exponential function of the temperature and a linear function of time. Those of us who drive our cars for 15 years have experienced a rubber valve cover gasket which turns into hard, brittle plastic. Similar things happen to all rubber and plastic components.

Thus: the less the non-metal underhood components are exposed to high temperature, the longer they will last. When you get off the road on a hot day after hard running, open the hood for an hour. If you get a new car every 2 years, you will never know the difference. But if you run your Prius for the 10+ years that they are (over) engineered to run, you will.

[lenjack]

Possible, but questionable.

[patsparks]

I call BS
My last Toyota was 16 years old when I sold it.
I currently own a Toyota Crown, built in 1968, with all original hoses etc.

[galaxee]

you're going to have to replace gaskets and seals after time and use anyway.

[dogfriend]

I'm more concerned about keeping those IGBTs in the inverter cool than the hoses and gaskets, but that's just me.

[a_gray_prius]

So you're telling me I need a turbo timer for my prius too?

[ken1784]

Originally Posted by szabi

This advice applies to any auto, not just Priuses.

Prius engine room is easy to be cooled down because of the engine-off coasting and the idling stop.
Therefore, the grill blocking is more important than the opening hood after run.

Ken@Japan

[sambojoho]

Originally Posted by ken1784

Prius engine room is easy to be cooled down because of the engine-off coasting and the idling stop.
Therefore, the grill blocking is more important than the opening hood after run.

Ken@Japan

Grill blocking? Do you mean purposely obstructing the air flow to your radiator?

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by sambojoho

Grill blocking? Do you mean purposely obstructing the air flow to your radiator?

Correct. The engine shuts off, remember so during the winter time, we block the grill to help keep the heat in. (Don't forget that in the winter, you're extracting heat from the engine to heat up the cabin anyway so I don't think the issue with heat pooling is as great). So don't worry, we don't block it in the summer.

[ken1784]

Originally Posted by Tideland Prius

So don't worry, we don't block it in the summer.

A lot of Japanese Prius drivers block more than 50% of grill even in the 85F summer.

Ken@Japan