2011tdiproject
Veteran Member
This is something I thought about a while ago, just wondering if you guys had thought of this or had any experiences or knowledge related to it.
As noted in my other thread about the winter fuel economy, my MPG in nice weather is about 42, but falls off like a rock when it's below 20 or so outside. 30mpg or less, making the difference in fuel cost negligible. I'd rather drive my gas powered car in the extreme cold, faster warm up time, etc.
So the first thing I thought of was to block the intercooler like all the semis do, but then I thought that probably wouldn't even be enough. Then I thought of temporarily replacing the intercooler piping with a direct pipe between the turbo and intake manifold, but that would be kind of a pain, switching it every winter.
So then I thought of using an air to liquid intercooler, like I did years ago on my turbo honda. The air to liquid unti would solve all these issues quite elegantly. I'd set it up to not turn on the coolant pump until the intercooler had reached a set temp, say 100 degrees. (So in the winter, the pump would basically never run, unless you're boositng 30lbs up a long hill) I don't know what the charge air temps would be at 0 degrees out, but I'd bet money they'd be warm enough to get the MPG back up, since the turbo would be adding a little heat to the air, and the intercooler in the engine compartment with the pump off wouldn't be taking any heat back out.
The air to liquid intercoolers also have better performance in certain ways, like pressure drop, durability, and volume of air in the intake tract.
What do you guys think? p.s. it's really not that hard to set up an air to liquid unit, and the racecar look is undeniable under the hood.
As noted in my other thread about the winter fuel economy, my MPG in nice weather is about 42, but falls off like a rock when it's below 20 or so outside. 30mpg or less, making the difference in fuel cost negligible. I'd rather drive my gas powered car in the extreme cold, faster warm up time, etc.
So the first thing I thought of was to block the intercooler like all the semis do, but then I thought that probably wouldn't even be enough. Then I thought of temporarily replacing the intercooler piping with a direct pipe between the turbo and intake manifold, but that would be kind of a pain, switching it every winter.
So then I thought of using an air to liquid intercooler, like I did years ago on my turbo honda. The air to liquid unti would solve all these issues quite elegantly. I'd set it up to not turn on the coolant pump until the intercooler had reached a set temp, say 100 degrees. (So in the winter, the pump would basically never run, unless you're boositng 30lbs up a long hill) I don't know what the charge air temps would be at 0 degrees out, but I'd bet money they'd be warm enough to get the MPG back up, since the turbo would be adding a little heat to the air, and the intercooler in the engine compartment with the pump off wouldn't be taking any heat back out.
The air to liquid intercoolers also have better performance in certain ways, like pressure drop, durability, and volume of air in the intake tract.
What do you guys think? p.s. it's really not that hard to set up an air to liquid unit, and the racecar look is undeniable under the hood.