Winter grille blocks

Ultrasonic

Retrogamer wrote: »

I'd be concerned about all that warm air in the engine bay being sucked up by the air feed though. Warm air is less dense in oxygen so you lose a bit of power and mpg

Are you sure it would cause a drop in mpg? Won't the MAF sensor detect any drop in air density and therefore reduce the fuel injected accordingly? I can see this would drop power (corrected by pushing my right foot down a tiny bit further) but I don't see how it would reduce mpg? (My car has a TDI engine if it makes a difference.)

I think you're right though that once the engine is warmed up that the intake air temp may be a little higher. That's possibly something else to keep an eye on with my Scangauge.

Lum

Just don't block whichever grille goes to the intercooler, if your car is a TDI, or bye bye fuel economy.

No expert on these. I've seen them used on shows like Ice Road Truckers, and even then they only block part of the grille, not the whole thing!

Retrogamer

I think the intercooler on these resides within the inner wing area as a side mount and gets the cold air feed from the lower grill opening

Dieselman

If you want it to heat up fast the easiest way is to fit a Webasto heater.

Cracking small boiler that heats up the coolant aides starting but also has the engine piping hot before you turn the key.:D

Iceweasel

These radiator 'Muffs' as they used to be known (no sniggering in the back row) are a waste of time.

They are a throw-back from the 1950s and earlier when they were routinely fitted to everything from big Daimler city buses to Minis and LandRovers.

Why don't we see them nowadays? - because they are rendered redundant by more accurate thermostats and ECU controlled injection systems which monitor most thing far better than any piece of cardboard or tailored piece of ABS plastic do.

Why are they still making them - because some folks will buy them - that's all.

Unless you're going North of the Artic Circle you'd be better off buying a bar a chocolate.

Ultrasonic

I think the intercooler is basically the full height of the radiator, so it is partly behind the top grille and partly behind the lower grille. But just to be sure I'm not being thick, here is a photo of my actual car. The intercooler is the bit at the front with the black frame, directly in front of the main radiator, right?

(The engine in question is a BKC VAG 1.9TDI in a 2005 Octavia.)

Ultrasonic

Iceweasel wrote: »

These radiator 'Muffs' as they used to be known (no sniggering in the back row) are a waste of time.

Have you tried one? Genuine question.

Why are they still making them - because some folks will buy them - that's all.

Unless you're going North of the Artic Circle you'd be better off buying a bar a chocolate.

A bar of chocolate won't save me any fuel . It's fuel economy / envionmental impact that I'm primarily interested in, not keeping myself warm. Plus I guess it would be better for my engine if it warmed up quicker.

Edit: I meant to say, I don't doubt for a second that grille blocks (radiator muffs ) had a much greater impact on engines without radiator thermostats.

Ultrasonic

Dieselman wrote: »

If you want it to heat up fast the easiest way is to fit a Webasto heater.

Cracking small boiler that heats up the coolant aides starting but also has the engine piping hot before you turn the key.:D

The trouble is these are expensive (if I'm thinking of the right thing), and use their own power to heat the oil so the envionmental saving is less clear (if there is one).

Ultrasonic

Lum wrote: »

No expert on these. I've seen them used on shows like Ice Road Truckers, and even then they only block part of the grille, not the whole thing!

Just to be clear, the grille block I'm getting just covers the top grille, above the number plate. There is another grille underneath the numberplate that I won't be covering.

[IMG]http://perc.slash!!!!!!!!/octavia/01_2013/stacheprotector2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://perc.slash!!!!!!!!/octavia/01_2013/stacheprotector2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://perc.slash!!!!!!!!/octavia/01_2013/stacheprotector2.jpg[/IMG]

Rolandtheroadie

Just an afterthought (seeing the webasto comment) my old audi 80 had a coolant heater.
Similar to this here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RENAULT-LAGUNA-MEGANE-SCENIC-TRAFFIC-01-05-1-9DCI-COOLANT-WATER-PRE-HEATER-/271308700169?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f2b423a09 in my head it helped, but I never really checked it out (probably never even worked).