2010 Prius Grill Blocking strategy

[GreenGuy33]

Are there any New England "grill blockers" out there? I'm wondering if you block just the lower section?
I am thinking that when I get my Prius, I invest in a Scanguage.

[DaveinOlyWA]

with scangauge, u have little to worry about. general rule of thumb, if 45º or cooler, u are ok. i set mine at 60º but do little major freeway travel so i can go a little "hot" without issues. even with temps in 60º have never seen temps over 208º that was with 2006.

on 2010, never above 201º but very little experience on this since blocking has only been on a month. i do 100% bottom, 75% top

**edit** FYI, for driving around town in 2010, speeds 30-40 mph... i think top temp i have seen in past few weeks has been maybe 190 or so.... on work commutes, 7 miles, temp usually only gets to the low 180's sometimes. on colder days, the 170's and that is with the grill blocked. probably would be lower with no blocking

[barbaram]

I just blocked the lower grill. temps vary here now from 30's to 60's. It helps

[GreenGuy33]

Has anyone calculated to fuel economy using the grill blockers? How much better if fuel economy?

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by GreenGuy33

Has anyone calculated to fuel economy using the grill blockers? How much better if fuel economy?

no real numbers to post. it all depends. on short trips of say 10 miles or less, 5 mpg or more. reason is, grill blocking greatly affects the warmup time.

if that 10 miles in done during sub freezing weather at 35 mph or less, it could be 10 mpg. if that 10 miles is 2 miles city streets, 8 miles highway, might only be. 3-4 mpg.

same scenario except its 30 miles on the freeway, the difference might only be 1-2 mpg. so it all depends.

when temps hit the teens and 20's, grill blocking may mean the difference between a warm driver or cold hands the entire trip if short enough. in mild weather, like 40's and 50's, its not going to matter as much.

but bear in mind... it does make a difference. the more extreme the weather, the more it matters.

the shorter the trip, the more it matters.

[HTMLSpinnr]

** Moved to Modifications Forum and made Sticky **

Great topic, but moved to appropriate forum and made sticky (since everyone looks for it).

[Earman]

I just blocked a portion of the lower grill. As the temperature here in Vancouver is not very low I did not want to block the whole grill. However, I do 99% of city driving and short trips so I wanted the engine to warm-up as soon as possible...

I purchased only 1 length of 1/2" foam at Home Depot and blocked 2 vents completely and 1 vent partially. I may have to increase the cuts for the fins a little bit more at is still bumping a bit over the fins. Overall an easy mod and I am happy with it so far.



During install, I noticed that the grill tended to move backwards when I pushed on the left side. Not a lot, but still noticeable. Is this normal or is there something lose?

[DetPrius]

When I did mine, the grill had some give to it when I pushed the foam in there but I wouldn't say it moved.

[Wavey]

So I just did my grill. About 80-85% lower and maybe the same on the upper. I couldn't get a perfect seal on the lower or it would have been 100%. I thought about doing 100% upper - anyone know of a problem with that? Up here in Alaska we generally don't see above freezing temps from Oct. until March save for a couple of days here and there. Heck, I'll bet dual 100% blockage wouldn't hurt anything around here during that span. Thoughts?

[spiderman]

Originally Posted by Wavey

So I just did my grill. About 80-85% lower and maybe the same on the upper. I couldn't get a perfect seal on the lower or it would have been 100%. I thought about doing 100% upper - anyone know of a problem with that? Up here in Alaska we generally don't see above freezing temps from Oct. until March save for a couple of days here and there. Heck, I'll bet dual 100% blockage wouldn't hurt anything around here during that span. Thoughts?

I doubt it would hurt either but until I get a Scanguage II (monitors coolant temp among many other things), I won't block the upper. Behind the upper is the inverter radiator. That is the big unknown for me.
Does anyone know if the inverter coolant has a sensor (and that can be read from the Scanguage)?