The Dodge is used for very short trips in the long cold winters of Anchorage. As most cold country drivers note, mileage suffers in
winter despite similar or even slower driving habits. Some of this is due to the engine spending so much more time warming up and running an enriched fuel mixture.

Another annoying thing is that after warming up, a stop in a cafe or an
errand is just long enough for the engine to return to being cold, so little to no cabin heat and another engine warm up cycle. These, fairly efficient, small engines don’t put out a lot of heat especially at in-town speeds so why not try to save some of it?

Noticing that the hood warms and melts the snow I thought I’d see what happened if I lined the underside with foil “bubble wrap” making something of heat conserving roof for the engine compartment. While sitting at a traffic light or left parked, the engine and manifold heat would collect for faster warm-ups and slower cool downs. While driving it would make little difference as so much cool air blows through the compartment.

I went a couple steps further…….. using black duct tape to block the small upper grille vents; a bit less wind while driving and a bit more shelter while parked.

(I don’t want to block too much off, especially the lower air vents, out of concern for not cooling the auto trans which don’t enjoy the greatest reputation on these vans.)

Next, these cars, (as many) have a cold air duct for the intake air……… a good idea for hot climates as the air comes in from outside w/o passing through the radiator and the engine is more efficient with the cooler air.

There’s a flex hose from the fender vent to the airbox (on many cars) and it was a simple matter to take it loose and bend it back (so no splashed water could enter) so it picks up its air back near the firewall and where, at idle, the air would heated from the exhaust manifold below. I blocked off the cold air vent in the fender well too.

Again, when driving at speed in cooler temps it would make only a little difference as the radiator is cool most of the time and the air would be heated only slightly by passing over the engine.

This all works. The engine warms up much faster so it’s then warmer when I make my first stop and it’s still warm when I come out up to an hour later, so little to no warm-up time. All this should “fool” the temperature sensors into thinking they’re in a balmier climate so mileage should improve; but that’s tough to measure.

Another mileage and CO – CO2 kindly tip for those living in cool zones with their cars left outside or in a carport, is installing an electric coolant heater. Here in Anchorage they’ve found a tremendous drop in pollutants (CO) if our cars are “plugged in” when the temps drop below 30 degrees.

The savings are twofold, one you’re far less tempted to idle the car to warm the cabin as the engine temp is warmed to 70 degrees and the heater will soon produce heat on drive away. The other is that since the engine is warm it’s not running an enriched (on the choke) mixture while the engine warms. (That was another reason for the hood insulation, so the block heater wouldn’t have to work as hard on cold nights) These block heaters can be hooked to a timer or plugged into an inexpensive temperature sensing receptacle.

Savings? Not sure, but “doing nothing” I think my winter, short trip, city mileage is 3-4 mpg worse than the summer of 17-18. Perhaps doing all of the above might get back 2.5?? 3?? or 15% Perhaps more with not idling for warm up. Not all that exciting but at $50/ fill up getting another $7-$10 or so worth is OK and the real reason is that were we all to save but 10% of our routine energy consumption we’d have far fewer energy and pollution problems to solve! And it’s fun to try things!