The Weather is HOT and the MPGs are UP!

[thebarber]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Right. How hot will a 400 watt element located in the cylinder head (where it cant heat the coolant or the oil which could thus spread heat to all parts of the engine) make the engine?

Ideally you would like the engine to be at operating temperature just before starting it.

Is there a way of doing that?

park in a heated garage.

block heaters are for REALLY cold days. i remember when i had my matrix xrs, i was up north (iroquois falls, ontario) and the morning we were going to leave it was -35C. the car wouldnt even turn over the oil was so thick....it took several tries and then about 20min of idling just to warm the car up.

i had more than a few days like that when i lived in new brunswick, but this time i had a block heater. car started right away, but it still took a while to get the engine warm....