Has anyone tried to block off part or all of the grill on the prius? With such a small engine it has a very large opening in the front of the car. Without a temp gauge I would not know how to tell when it was getting too hot. Any ideas?

Did dan do this? I'm fairly sure this idea was originally stolen from insight people blocking the radiator...I would go for it, if it starts to overheat, you'll notice,

You can block the upper grill with no problems any time of year. Ok, except in Death Valley mid day with the AC on.

The lower grill is safe to totally block up under 50F unless your running an extended highway trip (more than 3 hours) with outside temps 35F and above where you want at least one slot open.

Having said that, I run my grill totally blocked in temps as high as 90F but I monitor the engine temp with a ScanGauge II and my driving is a lot of city driving with a lot of gliding and a very steady 6 bars on the hybrid battery-meaning I do not put large currents through the inverter.

The real problem with blocking the lower grill is the lack of cooling for the inverter which is the lower 1/3 of the radiator. If your going to block over 50F consider leaving 1 or 2 slots on the lower grill open.

Wayne

One does NOT want to be replacing an inverter. It won't be cheap and when it goes out, it will likely quit entirely without warning.

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You don't think the inverter has a thermal shutdown and/or an idiot-light? I know I know, who wants to risk it?

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A car with no temp gauge -- LOL!

I suppose someone could say the same about my car with no oil pressure gauge.

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but oil PSi isnt all too important... as long as you check the oil every week or so.

but yea temp guages are nice... my chevette doesnt have one, all it has is a spedo and a fuel guage. and 3 idiot lights: temp bat and oil/choke it had an optional temp guage and even a tachometer but being the car that it is noone musta bought that extra option.(that and back then noone cared )