Mornings getting colder

block heater?

 

That's what we use here in Finland all winter. We also have this kind of heaters inside the vehicle:

When I stop driving, I just connect my car to the power, set the timer on the wall and start a warm vehicle next morning.

This may not be obvious all over the world?

 

never heard of them over here. how do you get power into the cabin?

 

Make sure your next car is a plug-in. The ability to automatically pre-condition the interior with cheap electricity is awesome. Also, try a 12v seat heater.

 

put on a coat

 

reply to your thread.

 

There's a wiring kit, just made for this purpose.
Defa Haaroitussarja | Karkkainen.com verkkokauppa

It's installed inside the cabin, this way:

 

excellent! does it come through the firewall?

 

What's frustrating to me is I park in an indoor, heated lot. It's 70 degrees inside, year round. I pull out of the parking area in the morning and it's 50 degrees outside. My commute is 1.2 miles away. No matter what charge the battery is at the ICE always fires up. Seems to me that the Prius is set to detect outside temps and feels like it must start the ICE, no matter how slow I drive to work.

 

i've heard they're pretty simple, but i haven't done one. i wouldn't be surprised if there was a thread here with pics and instructions, or youtube video.

 

prius is set to warm up the engine at any temp for pollution reasons. i t doesn't know you're only going 1.2 miles. is that with the ev button depressed?

 

It didn't seem to do it when it was warmer out. Definitely different now that it's colder outside. EV is always depressed.

I thought I read that there is an element of "learning" that the Prius does based on driving patterns. Seems like this would be one opportunity for the car to "learn" that everyday I drive the same distance, no speed over 25MPH etc.

 

Pull the ignition coils during the week, keep them in the glove box. If you need to go farther just put them back in.


"start up now you son-of-a-bitch"

 

No disrespect, MrMischief, but you have a history of candid responses....so please, enlighten me.

 

Significant pain?

That's said having not done it myself, and assuming it's somewhat similar to 3rd gen. I suspect it'd be a lot easier if you pull the engine cowl, which is a bit of an undertaking. You can maybe do it from underside, removing the engine underpanel. Likely involves some unbolting of adjacent components/cables/hoses to gain access. And still you're mostly going by feel.

The one plus is it doesn't involve spilling coolant, the blockheater is just in a thin-walled recess. The flip-side of that is it needs a heat-conducting gel applied. And that can get tricky: you want to coat it generously, but leave a thin longitudinal channel ungreased, so air can vent as you push the thing in. And this is likely going to be blind: you can reach it with your hands but see as well, that would be too easy, lol. Best to trial fit a few times without the gel.

If a dealership will install for around $200 I'd go for it. Better for warranty too. Maybe let them do the grunt work, and leave it up to you to do final cable route. And watch you don't compromise the active shutters. See this thread:

block heater worthwhile for Ontario, Canada climate? | PriusChat

A caution though: don't except toasty warm cabin from the get go. It raises coolant temp by 25~30C, and that'll take close to 2 hours. It basically gives the car a "leg up" on warm up. You will get cabin heat sooner, and it's excellent for the engine, avoiding stone cold start ups.

See Toyota Canada is offering installed for $245, not seeing anything in a quick look at US site. Considering your brutal prairie winters, that's a bit of an omission.

 

Oh hang on: for some reason I thought you were in a 2016. So anyway: all of my last post applies, lol.

Second and third gen'rs have been DIY'ing this, even having "block heater clinics" at Prius meets, doing installs for cost in a parking lot. It's doable, just a bit of a pain. In my case we bought around this time of year, strange/new car, and I just didn't want the hassle. And paid a horrific $400, it seemed insignificant at the time, tacked on the new car price.

We use ours year round, btw.

Hey, look what I found:

https://priuschat.com/files/2010PriusBlockHeaterInstallationInstructions.pdf

(See @NutzAboutBolts video (pinned in the 3rd gen maintenance section) on spark plug change, for cowl removal.)