Heater not very hot

jeffNB said:

Do the 1.5's have a supplementary electric HVAC heater? I can safely say that the 2.0's do not. Our commute is a 15 minute stop-and-go urban commute. When the outside temperature is -20 C or less, the engine temperature gauge never comes off the virtual pin. There is barely enough heat to safely keep the windows clear of frost. It does produce decent heat at highway speeds if you drive it like you stole it.

The engineers have worked hard to reduce the internal friction of the engine, but the downside is no heat. I also blame the stupid 170 F engine coolant thermostat that Honda uses. There is currently no aftermarket 205 F thermostat available.

The dealer replaced my thermostat after doing a warm-up tests with my Civic and one they had in inventory. The new 'stat made no appreciable difference.

I would welcome a supplementary electric heater or a coolant loop in the exhaust stream like the Prius uses.

It's plain to see that Honda did little cold weather testing as the car is not really engineered for Canadian winters.

Jeff

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turbo lover said:

I'm not sure if you have a place where you can plug your car in or not, but I recommend it if possible. With a block heater and my grille blocked off with pipe insulation, I usually get the first red bar on the coolant temperature gauge after 2-3 minutes in -20 weather. It usually gets to between 1/4 and 1/2 on the gauge by the time my 20 minute commute is done.

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M.R.C.I.V.I.C said:

Can you post picture of your grille is blocked off?

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