The trouble with that idea is that it totally disables the A/C. Sometimes I do need the A/C to run with the defroster, and in the summer I want A/C without having to go under the hood.

Jay's similar idea with a switch is simple and should work great.

Plug the pigtail back in when it warms up. Tie it up when it's not used with a zip tie, cut it when you want to plug it back in. It's also free assuming you've got something to keep it away from moving parts or heat. Once you plug it in it's factory, once you unplug it it's disabled.

I haven't used the A/C when my defrost is running in my 97 SL2 or pop's 96 SL2 during the winter. Ma's 02 SL2 is a different tale, it automatically comes on. Simple is good for me.

I think the $ of electricity that a space heater would use is more than the $ of gas that the fan uses.

The space heater is as a replacement for starting early and idling in the driveway to provide a warm driving environment, not instead of running the fan once the engine is warmed up. With hypermiling techniques it takes forever for the engine to warm up...

My two daily drivers have suffered from the arctic weather here on usually-balmy Vancouver Island - consumption is up about 10-15% due to compact snow and cold. It rarely snows here, but this December it's going to be at least a couple of weeks well below freezing, with much snow too. I love the weather though, don't get me wrong.

Ya know, I love winter. At a 1/4 tank of fuel and only 210 miles on the clock, about 90 shy of where I normally am. -20 and no block heater make for loong warm up times, snow and ice make for throttle fun and e-brake excitement. Both of those equate to--not poor--but Terrible! mileage. I don't think I'm going to break 15mpg on this one.

I use my little "fill me up light" to gauge my performance as well as my quarters and half tank numbers. This last tank was down 187kms to 655 when the light came on versus 842 as the years best. I was well below 3/8ths of a tank when I have been at half before.

I suppose the one "up" side is that with the price of gas down to 70c/L from $1.37/L I'm getting about 3/4 of the distance for about half the price. Not a bad bargain though I'm still PO'd that I won't keep it above 50mpg imp for the winter (now down to 48 imp). :(

I had a winter worst mpg trip either last year or the year before... about 12mpg or less ... in a Tempo. Now that car was a POS that was hard to get decent mpg out of most of the time, you had to fight for 28, most of the time it was 25-ish especially winter, summer, you could sometimes get all 95 horses galloping in the same direction and get 30 or even 31... but I digress...

What happened was, it was a bit of a blizzard, snow just dumping, building up fast, took my wife on the 15 mile trip to work, and we were crawling at 30mph and slower most of the way, to top that, the snow was deep enough in the center of the lane that we were plowing it with the air dam all the way, and dragging the underside on it most of the time. The tank went from a hair over half to just under a quarter in that one trip, there and back 30 miles, now I know that gas gauges are uselessly inaccurate, but it easily used 2.5 gallons.

Worst I remember seeing out of Marvin, city driving in similar conditions, is 16mpg, but his winter city average is usually 19-20. This is the first winter I've driven Wile-E so not quite sure what to expect, though he's not got too much ground clearance so if we're belly dragging on the snow it won't be too good.

Now that's dedication. :eek:

Heh, I think it was a day she had to get a load of stuff in for the end of the month. I guess we probably didn't quiiiite realize how bad it was. It was kind of odd though, because the salters and sanders had been out all night so the wheel tracks cut through to the highway surface, it's just it snowed to fast to do much good. But there's an attitude I guess up here, winter happens, you throw a shovel and a blanket in the car and drive in it.

Burrr! It was 55 degrees today and sunny here in socal. I almost had to put on a sweater. Tomorrow its going to be 62 or so. Winter is great, just have to cut the grass every other week and turn the sprinklers off. I just put 6 gallons at a time in my car, traffic is light most of the time. Maybe have time to play a round of golf in the next week or so. The seat was a little cold today, might have to warm it up with a small towel from the microwave (just a few seconds) should do the trick. No ice yet on the windshield, but i am ready for it. Winter, ugh, may have a little rain next week so i have to keep the coco coming.

Ha! I remember SoCal. 360 days of hazy sunshine and 5 days of rain. I remember that the sun wouldn't break through the haze until 10 or 11AM. Is it still like that?

Lately the clouds have disappeared quickly because they are not from the ocean. when we have a marine layer then it takes awhile to burn off. Its been quite sunny the past few days. Mostly in the spring(June gloom). :)

As I was pounding Wile-E through a snowstorm yesterday, pretending he was a Subaru Forester, it occurred to me that half of snowy winter driving is similar to hypermiling, it's all about momentum conservation, trying to keep moving, rolling up to lights so they turn green when you get there..... the other half is pretending you're Colin McCrae in slo-mo

Don't suppose I got very good mileage in that crap though. Was near beaching him a lot, gave up when the thrown up ridges were getting about knee high. Supposedly it was a "drive only if necessary" day, but all my rellys were getting sent home early from jobs/school etc, meaning I had to mount a few "rescue" missions, because they couldn't get their regular rides... don't ask me how that makes sense.

Knock it off or we will fire up the earthquake machine and dump your *** in the ocean! :D

Taken this morning, just before snow resumed:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/_oNsRR_T1Qx0/SU...6/IMG_2349.JPG

I can't wait till it snows. I haven't been able to really play with my 4wd for a while.

-Jay

Whether I'm driving my civic or driving my wife's jeep I don't think I'm gonna be too concerned about FE for the brief half hour that I spend doing donuts in an empty snow filled parking lot:p :p :p :p :p

It's -19 degrees C (three below zero F) here on Vancouver Island now, which is in contrast with the seasonal normal of 5 degrees C (41 F).

Mmmm, donuts...

lol we got a 1/4 inch of ice over everything. sposta get more snow tonight!

Speaking of ice storms...I posted a bunch of pictures of destruction
wrought by and aftermath of the ice storm that hit last weekend.
https://picasaweb.google.com/bovinity...081212IceStorm

Here's some particularly striking images, downsized for bandwidth.

A whole bunch of trees snapped in half:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2166.JPG
https://lh6.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2185.JPG

Cleaning up the roadside a week later:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2196.JPG

A big pile of collected branches. This pile is probably at least 20 trailerloads,
and there's another pile just like it outside of the photo:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2257.JPG

What used to be a dense forest, now almost totally cleared by the storm:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2275.JPG

More machines being used on the road:
https://lh6.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2308.JPG

A broken tree and a leaning utility pole:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...6/IMG_2347.JPG

A big broken tree and the guardrail that suffered underneath it until they unblocked the road:
https://lh3.ggpht.com/_SX8ccPdZj5c/SU...IMG_2300-1.JPG

I'm thinking of going back to the Cressida unless the trucks mpg improves. between weight for traction (yea only the minimum, I like to have fun... a lot), still trying to iron out grill/radiator block and fan options thus not warming up much, and storming through inches-deep snow for the fun of it the truck isn't any better right now and the cressida warms up and has far more amenities.

i hate winter(so far) as well! it's been in the 80s and i'm still sweating at work. bah, humbug!

where are you christmas, i mean winter?

Talking of winter and driving...

I've stopped kicking the snow/ice packed up behind my wheels, for 2 reasons.

i) It forms semi aerodynamic fairings.
ii) I figure that the ice next to the surfaces can only do so much in the way of corrosion before it's chemically exhausted. What's the point of kicking it off 4 or 5 times a day so you get fresh and more reactive stuff on there, and keep exposing it to air??? Also figure it stays colder at the interface there when you leave it on, which suppresses chemical reaction. If the temperature kicks above zero C for a bit in the middle of the day, it's better that it stays ice coated and sealed in ice than exposed to liquid brine.

I think the weight is insignificant. I'll gouge out some immediately behind the tire though if it looks like rubbing. Only bad thing I can think of really is if it drops off while you're parked and refreezes making ice chocks, but you can usually kick those out, and if you park so you can set off forwards it's no biggie.

Would also rather have briny spray on semi-liquid slushy roads deflecting off those or freezing on them than splashing all up the side of my car.

They don't call Socal "Shake n' Bake" for nothing. Already had this years fires and now waiting for the "Big one" to strike. While i am waiting will fire up the BBQ, grill some tri-tip, chicken, put on sun screen and have a cold one and wave at the golfers as they go by my back yard. ;)

I IDLED my car for quite a while yesterday. Had to take the little woman, and my child home. It was like -2f outside, and -26 wind chill. I cant drive the car when its that cold, the windshield fogs up too much. Needless to say this will probably be my worst tank so far. :(

lol i had to idle for a few minutes because all fluids were very cold(clutch felt like i was pushign thru a stick of butter) powersteering was non existant, got partially stuck in 1st cuz of tranny oil...

That reminds me, I think I need to change to a different weight of oil in the transmission of the Tercel. As soon as I let the clutch out from a 1500 rpm idle in neutral, it bogs and dies from all the drag. Clearly, it is not synthetic. :P

Does a Chevette really need power steering?

hehe no it doesnt have any i was talkin about my 95 s-10 up there.

chevette it starts but like snax, let out clutch in neutral bogs it down. sometimes if its really cold it will get stuck in 1st...

Woa, :eek: it kills the motor? Must be like peanut butter, only thicker!

try easing into it as if you were taking off from a dead stop

I am clearly spoiled after driving Subarus for a few years. I managed to get my xB quite stuck *twice* this weekend, once on the unplowed road near my g/f's house, and again in the apron of her driveway (misjudged the snowbank and high-centered myself on it).

On the flipside I was able to plow through a 2' high snowbank with it and keep going. And I was having, possibly a bit too much, fun using the handbrake to help me take corners on snow-covered streets.

All that means this tank is going to be hopeless though, I'm on track to get under 30mpg from it.

Careful with that, many cars (don't know about yours) have pretty flimsy air dams hanging down, it would be a shame to break one.

-Bob C.

I filled a couple dozen 1 gallon containers with water and put them in the rear of my truck bed along with a couple large car batteries, and then shoveled all my snow into it. I'm getting great traction in 2wd and have a hard time getting sideways as much as I want to.

Yarrr, I don't need an airdam so much as a plow blade at the moment.

Got an old bed rail somewhere (Just light L shaped angle iron type stuff), might vee notch the middle of that and bend it into a deflector, stop my covers getting ripped off.

I love winter, but I don't think parking lot donuts are going to help my mileage.

RWD can be fun in the snow!:D

I used to always shovel my snow into the back of the truck when I had 2wd trucks. Usually that was pleanty. When the snow got to about 5 inches I'd throw chains on the rear wheels. With a weighted rear and chains I could go through snow up to about 15" The best part about using snow as ballast is that it melts when its no longer needed. No need to unload the truck. worse case scenerio is that you drop the tailgate, floor it in reverse, then slam the brakes and it slides right out.

-Jay