Engine overheating or lack thereof
Has anyone ever had their Insight overheat under any circumstances?
I was thinking about his yesterday. I had started cold (only about 45-50 degrees temp outside) and drove in city driving about 8 miles to a friend's house. I got about 77 mpg for the trip. I got lean burn basically all the time, a lot in 4th gear.
I was showing my friend under the hood (I am brainwashing him to get his own Insight) the air blocks I had put in to keep it warm, and we were commenting on how cool it was and then had an epiphany. :idea:
The amount of gas I used to get there was only about 1/10th of a gallon. How much heat does burning that much gas create anyway? Not much. I stuck my hand on the engine block, and it was warm but not hot. It all made sense! it is like a self fulfilling proficy, once the car is warm enough to do lean burn and get 75-85 mpg, it is burning so little gas that it's never going to make enough heat to cause trouble anyway.
Unless you are climbing a long long hill in really hot weather and getting the worst possible mpg, I don't see how it would ever overheat because so little gas is being burned in the first place.
I haven't done the calculation, but it would be interesting.
Has anyone ever had their Insight overheat under any circumstances?
I was thinking about his yesterday. I had started cold (only about 45-50 degrees temp outside) and drove in city driving about 8 miles to a friend's house. I got about 77 mpg for the trip. I got lean burn basically all the time, a lot in 4th gear.
I was showing my friend under the hood (I am brainwashing him to get his own Insight) the air blocks I had put in to keep it warm, and we were commenting on how cool it was and then had an epiphany. :idea:
The amount of gas I used to get there was only about 1/10th of a gallon. How much heat does burning that much gas create anyway? Not much. I stuck my hand on the engine block, and it was warm but not hot. It all made sense! it is like a self fulfilling proficy, once the car is warm enough to do lean burn and get 75-85 mpg, it is burning so little gas that it's never going to make enough heat to cause trouble anyway.
Unless you are climbing a long long hill in really hot weather and getting the worst possible mpg, I don't see how it would ever overheat because so little gas is being burned in the first place.
I haven't done the calculation, but it would be interesting.
