Blocking radiator - Help?

[Dogarm]

Dear all,

Lacking the ability to use a block heater due to living in a condo, I am looking for the poor-man's method to keep the car a bit warmer in the winter. Others have mentioned blocking the front grill intake with cardboard. My question is, can someone please give me a bit of a walkthrough, as I don't want to mess the process up?

Any feedback would be appreciated, and pictures would be even better.

Cheers!

[msantos]

How about this:



This is my wife's car... and mine is setup pretty much in the same way. Using foam pipe insulators (bought at Home depot for roughly 1 buck each) works very well and does not seem to change the overall look of the vehicle that much.

I used this approach in prior winters with good results.

Cheers;

MSantos

[Bucko]

That's a nice, simple and long lasting way to do it. Cardboard tends to turn into mush eventually.

[Dogarm]

OK, I will find som of those insulator tubes. It looks like there is no need to even go under the hood for this mod - am I right? ANd then you just cut the ties in the spring and store the tubes until next fall! Thanks, msantos!

[msantos]

Yep. No need to go under the hood.

Once you cut and notch the tubes to fit they'll just go on easily, and you'll keep them for many years. I like this solution a lot since I can take out a tube or two to gradually match the actual temps... and like Bucko said, car washing in the winter is trouble free.

MSantos

[Harold]

It apears that the lower grill is not completely blocked. Are you leaving about 20% open? H

[Mendel Leisk]

Harold, the grill appearance is deceptive. The openings appear to go full width, but a closer look with pitlamp or flashlight shows a fair amount of the "openings" is actually blocked. It would be interesting to compare against a regular Civic: maybe they are blocked the same, or less?

Yesterday I tried a "West Coast" version of MSanto's suggestion. I put a single full length (maybe 4'?) of 3/4" dia foam pipe insulation, centered, in on our lowest grill section, with a zip tie at each end.

It's actually covering some of the pre-blocked grill, but the stuff is really cheap, I didn't want to bother cutting it shorter, it looked more symmetrical, is likely a bit more aerodynamic, etc., etc.

I don't have a ScanGuage, but a few days previous I made a point of monitoring coolant temp via Honda's display, noting where the bars peaked. It's fairly crude display, but I determined the bars consistantly peaked at the left edge of the "wave" icon on the display. I would think the coolant thermostat is responsible keeping this temp so constant, once the engine is warmed.

I put the single row grill block in last thing Friday night. My wife is the primary weekday driver, and I didn't want to do something iffy when she's using the car, potentially leaving her with a problem. Anyway, Saturday am with the grill block installed we had a protracted drive over to North Van, on freeway and local streets. I saw no change in the peak temps. And when getting to our destination. I made a point of letting the car idle in park for a bit, with all the ventilation and radio off. The cooling fan did not cycle, so I think we're good.

This is likely as much as I'll block, for now, considering our coastal climate, my lack of ScanGuage, etc. I think the car is a bit more comfy, the interior warming up a bit faster, and I believe this will help with the mileage, particularly short trip, around town. I'll post any further observations and/or revisions to amount blocked.

[laurieaw]

good timing, i am about to go out and do mine today. i may just beat the snow.

[groar]

My car is light grey so using white coroplast and transparent tape is OK for me.

I blocked everything (lower and upper) except the 6th toward the turbo (my cars are turbo diesel) and the place under the hood. I constated :

• the same temperature when the engine is hot.
• the engine is hot quicker, but the temperature begins to increase a bit latter, may be because there is less air moving under the hood.
• after a couple of hours engine off, it is hot only after a few kilometers when I restart it

Denis.

[bdog]

I've blocked mine using foam tubes and it seems to help, although the coldest we've got so far is about -5C. When it hits -20C I suspect it will help out quite a bit.

Getting the block heater put in tomorrow.. hopefully the dealer won`t gripe about the rad blocking

B