Blanking off radiator?

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steverally

Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
13
Location
Pontefract. UK
With my previous hybrid cars, Toyota Prius, Lexus CT and Lexus IS300h during the winter months I partially blocked off some of the radiator grill, usually the bottom section below the number plate, never dared block too much. The effect was the cars warmed up quicker with the reduced airflow, mpg went up a couple of MPG, and there never seemed any overheating problems.

Question is - can I do this with the outlander? Thinking about fitting some pipe insulation foam on the lower grill below number plate. Airflow will be reduced to nil, will leave upper grill open. Any thoughts from anyone, has anyone already done anything similar?
 
No I do not have any experience on the PHEV with this. I have used this method before on pure ICE cars, both diesel and gasoline, when it is really cold, say below -20 C, with good effect. Above -20 it can get dangerous if you block too much of the radiator and it is also heavily depending on the aircirculation in the engine bay.

Now on a hybrid I can see this being useful in slighly "warmer" temperatures. When you run on electricity the engine cools down quickly and then consumes more fuel when starting again. On old trucks we had in Scandinavia something called a radiator curtain which could be lowered or raised from the drivers seat. Ideally on a hybrid you would like the radiator blocked 100% when ICE is not running and then non-blocked when running.

As I normally run on electricity only at low speed and on ICE only in parallell hybrid mode at long high speed drives (I live so that this is usually possible) I minimize ICE short start stop so I will not need this. But is surely worth a try. Btw do you ever get below 0 C in UK??
 
Probably a good idea to blank off some of radiator, but be aware that you need cooling not only for the ICE. The electric motors and battery need quite a bit of cooling also.
Although the car will most likely stop in an error mode if you overheat these, it may be expensive.

Cooling system starts page 41 of this link.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106981165/PHEV/PHEV%20Outlander%20Technical%20Highlights%20for%20MMAL.pdf
 
ian4x4 said:
Probably a good idea to blank off some of radiator, but be aware that you need cooling not only for the ICE. The electric motors and battery need quite a bit of cooling also.
Although the car will most likely stop in an error mode if you overheat these, it may be expensive.

Cooling system starts page 41 of this link.
file:///C:/Users/ianda/OneDrive/Documents/CARS/PHEV%20Outlander%20Technical%20Highlights%20for%20MMAL.pdf

sorry don't seem to be able to open this link
 
Sorry, this is the public link to Technical Highlights (cooling starts page 41)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106981165/PHEV/PHEV%20Outlander%20Technical%20Highlights%20for%20MMAL.pdf

This is the link to the original set of manuals, most of your answers are here.
http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1756&hilit=pdf+owners+manual

This book is also very interesting for other more general EV/PHEV theory information.
https://issuu.com/brycheinsltd/docs/evs_and_i3
 
ian4x4 said:
Probably a good idea to blank off some of radiator, but be aware that you need cooling not only for the ICE. The electric motors and battery need quite a bit of cooling also.
Although the car will most likely stop in an error mode if you overheat these, it may be expensive.

Cooling system starts page 41 of this link.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106981165/PHEV/PHEV%20Outlander%20Technical%20Highlights%20for%20MMAL.pdf
It might invalidate guaranty on the battery, as impaired cooling may damage it.
 
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