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How to Improve Winter MPG's


ptjones
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The snow didn't last long  :cry: so I finally got around to making a real grill cover from clear flexible vinyl sheet with 4 clips at top and 4 at bottom.  It covers essentially everything except the top slot above the FORD emblem. After 250 miles I can say it definitely works.  Some weeks back I did some "baseline" runs to see how hot the transmission would get and it went to about 100F to 110F above ambient with engine coolant around 180F (I think).  On this trip the ambient was 35F to 40F, the transmission went to about 140F above ambient (175 to 180F) and the engine stayed in the 220F to 230F range!  Its a bit early to judge the increase in mileage but it could be 2 or 3 mpg.  :)  It will take several tanks of fuel to get a good feel for mileage since there is so much variation in conditions between trips (rain, wind, temps).

 

I guess if the transmission gets too hot I'll cut a hole in front of the cooler.  Does anyone know a good long term maximum temperature for the transmission coolant?  Not the absolute maximum but what you could run at for 100k miles without any harm.

 

(P.S. I switched to Trip 2 today to measure something and couldn't help noticing that since last reset (almost 5000 miles) the indicated mileage was 47.0 MPG!  And that's during winter!  Who said the C-Max isn't a 47 MPG car?!)

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Next 250 miles was warmer ambient, 55F for several hours.  TFT went to 185F, 130F above ambient.  Even with some cabin heat (not recirc) the engine cooling fan was coming on periodically with WT at 230F.  So, too much cover for 55F conditions.  Looks like about 45F might be the break point where ICE stays warm without cooling fan needed.

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