Ice Grille Shutter

Just noticed it. Solid ice. Been cold here. Drove through some snow, but perhaps the car washes were also a factor. Might try spraying windshield washer fluid on it to loosen it up.
edit: Didn't seem to make a dent. Perhaps some judicious application of heat...what could go wrong, lol.

 

I know. I wonder if the auto shutters could be affected if enough ice builds up.

 

At this point in life, all I have is a heat gun, lol.
On low, 675 watts, a foot distance is pretty warm, so dangerous to plastic if too close, plus tedious to hold.
I have a small personal heater, maybe 375 watts, strong fan. Can put hand right up to grill without burn. Tried that for a half hour. Made a tiny dent.
Takes a fair amount of energy to change water's state from solid to liquid, I guess.
I might see if the front under cover is easy to take off-maybe there's a short piece, or the like, that I could easily remove and grab the chunks. The cover traps it.
I don't want to break anything.
A heated garage would be ideal.

 

Perhaps a grille block of some sort is in order, if only to block the snow, if that's what the root cause it.
Maybe black fiberglass window screen would stop the snow from entering. If that gets blocked it could easily cleaned if desired. Still allows air to flow. Maybe a little protection from rocks.

 

Thanks very much. I was considering that. I’ll give it a whirl, probably. Probably even cheaper than burning the kw-hrs. More kinetic though.

They used to have people with hoses aim at stuff like that and the wheel wells. Now they depend on the equipment mostly.

Thing is the ice chunks, when broken up, have nowhere to go because of the cover below.

 

Called dealer service. He offered to let me keep the car in the heated shop over the weekend, which was very nice. Alas, it's my only car, I'm single, and friendless. .

He said I wasn't doing any damage by letting it melt when it does naturally. I hope.

He also indicated that spray from a do it yourself car wash wouldn't hurt things.

The only thing, as I said, the underside of the car is pretty much covered in plastic covers-I don't think the chunks have anywhere to go.

A peek at an online manual seems to point to a Radiator Support Opening Cover, with six bolts holding it in place.
Also, based on the same peek, it's possible the shutters are up higher, although I'm not sure.
I'll take a look in awhile.
It's still -5°F outside, in 22°F in the garage. Brrrr.

 

That was helpful.
What, are you sticking it to me? (Seinfeld reference)

 

You would think so.

Even if they've designed out excessive error reporting, the overwork it could possibly be seeing might shorten its life.
I can see a dealer replacement costing $2000. That's a wild guess-bumper removal, sensor calibration, whatever.

Nowadays, it'd probably throw a big a$$ message that you can't get rid of on the gauge cluster.

All for something that could be of marginal benefit, in my opinion.

I'd prefer something easily removable, and possibly more effective, that could potentially block snow/water ingress and the subsequent huge ice buildup, homemade or not. Not something less effective, complex, and costly to replace.

 

I just went out and took a look.
The shutters work on the lower, most exposed grille.
The huge ice chunk is indeed impinging on the shutter.
It looks like the shutter is half open.
The ice is resting on a top of the bumper-that piece I referenced above is probably past the shutters.
What a mess.