I'm not sure of the melting point of those plastic sign boards.
If you find out, let us know. I think you would be ok. FYI the radiator area would rarely, pass 200 degrees. Under the hottest, most strenuous conditions, maybe 210. If it ever gets past 220, you probably have larger issues to worry about.
-John

 

There has been at least two post on this in the past three months. Cardboard is cheapest and works well if one uses zip ties. I have FIA Winter Guards--look in the photo section here for a view--but I don't know if they make one for the 2008 version. You need to cover the lower grille portion too. How much of the grille opening you cover is up to you but please use a scangauge II unit so you can monitor the radiator and electronic temperature readings.

 

Billy K.-Correct, FIA does NOT make grille covers for the 08 FEH. I have communicated with them, and they are suppossed to notify me via email if/when they become available. Meanwhile, I've improvised with everything but the kitchen sink to block the upper and lower, and cautiously monitoring with SGII, the CHT/fWT never get too high. In fact, 182F is the highest I've read anytime this winter.

As a matter of safety and common sense, and because my wife drives the car most of the time, I remove my makeshift covers when ambient is expected to be above 60F. But the nature of the FEH is it warms up to ~125 real quick, so you get creature comfort heat as quickly as any vehicle. But fears of overheating the ICE because of radiator block(s) are not real, at least in our location.

But I wish FIA made the RAD covers for the 08' model year. There's another vendor that I've seen here on GH that does, but they are advertised more like a bug screen than a winter cover, and cost abt 3X what the FIA costs. Spring/Summer is almost here, so my makeshift methods will work for next month.

 

This may sound silly... but think about... I have been thinking about this a lot since this was my first Minnesota Winter. ( I've had 2 decades of Colorado Winter )

How in the world are you going to keep yourself warm in an EV?
It takes a lot of battery juice to run an electric heater.
If you think running the heat now decreases mileages... just wait till your range goes way down in an all EV.
The FEH is so dang light on gas... I really never ever have "waste heat" to send to the cabin in the city drives... not if I ever want to see EV, .

 

You are right. Heat and AC really suck down that battery in an EV. That is why the EV demo fleets were in warm climates like California.

 

With everything but the kitchen sink blocking my 08 FEH upper/lower radiator grills, and using SGII to monitor fWT, I can easily and quickly lower fWT with controlled use of the cabin heater when OAT is > 50F if necessary. The cabin heater is a tremendous radiator that the driver has total control over.

The car just turned 5300 miles, and all the great FE gains from break-in that I've been reading about for months are just now showing up. I saw only slight improvement up to 3K miles, and slightly better improvement up to 5K, but lately, this FEH is getting real stingy on the fuel. Gentle throttle, hypermiling techniques, and smooth 5W20 Mobil 1 all work together.

Since owning, my wife has driven mostly, and she does fairly well, especially considering winter, but I have driven it the past two days, and intentionally used side streets as much as possible, which was 50% interstate @ 55-60mph, and 50% side streets at ~30mph or less, with normal stop lights/signs.

EV mode is Soooo much better now, and even with AWD, I can sneak up to 35mph in EV on flat ground, and get good range. I'm now a firm believer in the break-in period improvements. And getting that Tav reading up to 80F REALLY helps too. That big ol 330V battery pack, when warm, acts like a sponge. When Tav is < 60, the sponge doesn't hold as much. The more EV you do, the quicker it warms, the more current it can absorb, the longer you can stay in EV, etc.

So yesterday I averaged 38.x for the entire day's driving, and so far today 35.x. Many of you very seasoned hypermilers in milder climates will do better than this, but I'm very pleased. FEH ownership just gets better and better

I'm going to keep radiator blocked until 60F if I'm driving, and can closely monitor engine coolant and Motor Electronics Temperatures.

 

I agree with you Ken. It was -10'F this A.M. in Minnesota and I had pretty much normal EV range... with the cabin heat off. I had a 60'F battery from using the plug-in heater and was getting good regen and battery boost at this cold temp. Had to scrape frost off the inside windows though! Remember this chart?



CarlD says the scale I used for the amps is a little off, but the shape of the graph is the same no matter the numbers on the left Y axis. -John

 

Yep, I do remember that chart, and even if the numbers are skewed a bit in either direction, the relative slope indicates the pertinent data, that the battery, much like US, prefers milder temperatures, but not too hot. Since I haven't had the FEH in summer yet, I've not experienced the roll off on the high temp side. But the winter Blahs! are making me anxious

 

Your battery will be hottest from sitting in the sun.
During normal use, with the fans and occasional A/C the battery should not get past 95'F on it's own.

Now... if you start out with a hot parked car it can be over 120'F before you turn the key...

 

My vote is for the Cloud-Rider "Classic - Winter Shield" as a bonus the "Mirror Stainless" adds more chrome to your front end :

https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/sh...php?i=2976&c=8

A little pricey but it fits great. I posted some other pictures in the Share zone showing the snow & temperatures in my area.

Hugo