Heating in the car

If you drive it takes a few minutes. If you just let it sit and idle it will take about 15 min. So drive it and it will warm up.

 

there isn't a 'normal time', but as david says above, around 5 minutes if you are driving. is that 1 degree f or c?

 

THIS can make a big difference.
Also whether it sits outside overnight or in a garage can make a noticeable difference.

But you have a TINY little engine and all small cars have that problem to some degree.

 

thanks. i think the 5 minute rule works if you're driving at that temp. i've never let it warm up by idling in the driveway, so i don't know about that time.

how are you going about it?

 

certainly worth checking and coolant. an infrared thermometer and air temp spec might be a good idea to measure the air temp coming out of the vent, or a scan tool to see coolant temp.

 

Oh, absolutely check the coolant pump. Open the hood. With the engine running you should see coolant flowing in the fill tank. If you don't, get that pump checked and replaced if bad. When it gets warm again you WILL need it! Remember there are two coolant systems. The small tank is for the inverter coolant. The large one is for the engine. I'm talking about the fill tanks, NOT the rad.

 

If you leave the climate control in Auto, the blower won't start (at low speed) until the engine coolant temperature is around 103F. As mentioned, the coolant will warm up quicker if you drive it soon after starting the engine, vice letting the car sit to warm up. The blower will run at high speed once the coolant temperature gets to around 125-130F.

 

Definitely explained in detail.....

 

It's been very cold in London this February, compared to last year. I start off to work very early in the morning when temperatures are anything between 0c to 2c.

If the windscreen isn't frozen up with frosted ice, I like to start the engine and drive off immediately. In frozen screen situations, I've started using de-icer spray to get rid of it, so I don't have to stand in the bitter cold scrapping the frost off while simultaneously running the engine.

I'm painfully aware of the mpg drop from icy morning starts like this, so I usually crank up the heating to 25c and set the fan blower to no more than 50% - 60% initially, with windscreen demist mode selected from the steering wheel.

The front demist program is selected on those horribly damp British mornings when the Windows fog internally at the slightest provocation.

Once underway, and the windscreen is clear enough, I'll drop fan speed to low position number 2 and reduce temperatures to 20c.

I'm usually dressed like an astronaut in a very effective puffer jacket space suit and gloves in this kind of weather, and yes, I have a faux fur hat too!

I keep temperatures low enough on board to be comfortable, but not blisteringly hot. On days with abnormally high humidity, I'll run the front demister program for as much as half the journey to work until I'm satisfied all the Windows have been completely defogged - then I'll switch to standard ventilation.

I used to run 18c during winter, but this year, I've decided to experiment with 20c instead, both day and night.

I find the vehicle runs far more economical that way, and during the warm up phase, I have now adopted the practice of shutting down life support at the traffic lights, and resuming it once I'm underway - as long as the windscreen is clear, I don't want the ICE running while I'm stationary, even though it will do this sometimes without using a drop of fuel - the battery spins the engine instead, to produce heat. Ingenious!

Fortunately, my journey to work entails travelling mostly downhill for the first 1.5 miles, so this reduces pressure on the warming up ICE.

I have an infra red thermometer which I've used in the past to gauge how effective the the Airconditioning was. I'm now going to use it to check the heating on freezing mornings.

I have however noticed that the hottest vent seems to initially be the one on the drivers side (UK). Was this by accident or design?

For my winter energy conservation efforts, I presently have 57.1mpg (UK) on the MFD.
I had it up to 57.5mpg on my last tank of fuel two weeks ago.


iPhone ?

 

Ain't it the truth. If there's anyway you can get the car into a garage overnight, makes a big difference: no frosted windshield.