Wrapping stock intake with tinfoil bubble and then heat resistant wrap?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by h1ph0panonymous, Jul 11, 2025 at 3:11 AM.

  1. h1ph0panonymous

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    Just looking to avoid heat soaking and get colder intake before the engine itself recirculates it through the EGR as hotter air. Could also use a dynamic air scoop and boxed off heat shield but can’t find anything online. Not tryin to install an injen style cold air intake, just looking to modify the current stock one with add ons and wrap ons.

    Any objections?
     
  2. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Why would anybody object??

    Well....maybe the Federal government since you're doinking around with an 'emissions' component - but hey!
    The car is over 10 years old - so WHO should REALLY care WHAT you do?
    I'm not going to dime you out!!!


    Besides.....
    2014 Prius?
    You're going to be replacing the head gasket pretty soon, so.....enjoy the car, the dynamic air scoop, and your tin-foil bubbles!!! ;)
     
  3. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Why???

     
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  4. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

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    Wrapping the stock intake manifold may reduce the incoming air temperature by about 0.0 to 0.1F. This is a big waste of time. The location of the intake for the air box determines the temperature of the air.

    Save the tin foil and make yourself a hat out of it.
     
  5. h1ph0panonymous

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    To reduce heat soaking and bring down engine temps faster after a redline.
     
  6. h1ph0panonymous

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    Yes that’s the idea, small benefit, no harm. Mostly for reducing heat soak especially after redlining. I don’t want my engine coolant sitting at 190 degrees in idle after I redline from the last stop light on non-highway driving.
     
  7. h1ph0panonymous

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    How soon is soon when we are sitting at 75k miles total right now?

    I’m pretty positive anti-heat soaking measures will prolong that inevitability.
     
  8. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    It's your car so do what you want. That said...what you are asking us to comment about will have little to no benefit on a GEN III Prius. Follow up questions...What do you mean by redlining a Prius? Are you are modding/tuning for race purposes?
     
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  9. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    :confused::confused::eek::eek:o_Oo_O
    Heat doesn't soak, liquids do.

    Perhaps you need to replace the thermostat if it's overheating.
    And/or clean the condenser, perhaps they are blocked?

    The engine is going to sit at whatever temp it's at until the fans cool the coolant.

    Perhaps you should be driving something besides a Prius?
    Maybe a sports car?

     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    'Heat soak' and 'cold soak' are established terms people use, though.
     
  11. h1ph0panonymous

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    Redlining as in going into higher RPMs (the red part of the RPM spectrum for each gear)


    If my water coolant reads 190 degrees at a stop light because I redlined from the last stop light then the engine temperature and coolant is going to exceed 190 degrees once I redline again when the light turns green. I would rather have it sit at 188-184 degrees on average after each redline to the next traffic light especially during summer temperatures and conditions.
     
  12. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    My opinion as a career Wrench and Sparky...you're wasting your time. However, it's still your car and your time. Have fun.
     
  13. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I'm not even sure Toyota has published a redline RPM for these engines. They don't supply a tach in the car with any particular region colored red, so if you're using some aftermarket tach or OBD tach display and it has some region colored red, that was chosen by somebody's graphic artist, not by Toyota.

    Whatever physical redline the engine has, I'm sure it's well above the 5300 RPM point where its rated power is produced with best efficiency. The car's power management control ECU knows that point and never revs the engine above it. Because the transmission is continuously variable, the ECU just uses that to match its selected engine RPM to whatever RPM the wheels are doing; there's no "for each gear" complexity to deal with.
     
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  14. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    Tuners gotta tune...
     
  15. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    My understanding of the Prius cooling system is that the electric cooling fans don't kick ON til 205F or if the AC compressor motor is turning. So w/o AC compressor activation and sitting at a stop; there's no air flow across the radiator - therefor no cooling of the coolant other than the mass of the system throwing off heat.
    Now if you rig your system to keep the fans on while your below say 30 mph - you'd probably be able to reach your goal of 184-188 F.:censored:

    YMMV...
     
  16. h1ph0panonymous

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    Anything higher than 2200 RPM in city driving gears is redline, any acceleration that reaches the “PWR” band is redlining. Anything over 3500 RPM is absolutely redlining on highway speeds.

    The main purpose of this wrapping material is to prevent heat soaking during idle, like if the coolant reads 190 at the stop light with the engine off, not running, then accelerating again into +2200 RPM once the light turns green you will start seeing coolant temps into 195 degrees just from that situation during hot summer days because it sat at 190 at the stop light without any way or where to exhaust that engine bay heat. I’d rather the car be at 184-188 degrees before arriving at a stop light from anti-heat soaking measures. I’m not just wrapping the intake tube, I can apply the thermal radiation retardant material anywhere on the intake housing that’s near the engine bay to prevent radiating engine heat transferring to the intake too quickly.
     
    #16 h1ph0panonymous, Jul 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2025 at 12:54 PM
  17. h1ph0panonymous

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    I’m not looking for performance boost, the stock intake has its own air restrictions minus the bell mouth on the intake tube. I’m looking to retard thermal radiation transfer to the intake housing from the engine heat.
     
  18. h1ph0panonymous

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    I already use the cabin air to exhaust engine bay heat by leaving the settings to “HI”, no AC on, no recirculating mode on and have them set to feet and windshield before pressing the off button. The engine bay reaches temps around 200 during redline if you have all those setting to on or “LO” (coldest settings) especially if you have recirculate ON, the engine bay heat has no where to exhaust through. In combination with this I plan to wrap the intake housing with material that reduces thermal energy radiation to the intake parts.
     
  19. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    "CVT" There are no gears..... The computer won't let engine go over a certain rpm.
    Wrapping will only keep heat in...


     
  20. h1ph0panonymous

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    it’s literally 50 bucks, some cutting with scissors and some tape to make nice long sleeves for the intake housing where long sleeves can be applied to the intake housing especially the tube, I heard literally wrapping it like it’s grip tape is the worse way to do it. You want an air gap between the wrap material and the intake housing to create an insulating effect.