The reeking ventilation system in my Prius has been rectified.  At least it has been for three weeks now.  I was bringing in my Prius for its 20,000 mile service and asked that the stinky sock smell be checked.  I was worried that a moth had fallen in the vent system or mold and mildew were growing in the vents or A/C.  Apparently the cabin air filter was rather dirty.  I wasn’t going to check that until closer to 30,000mi because that’s when the manual says to change it.  Now I know.  I’ll be checking the filter every 10,000mi now.  I would’ve changed the filter myself this time, but I had the dealer do it since I thought the odor problem would be more sinister in origin.

While checking out some very cool classic cars and alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles in Downtown Elgin, I signed up to be on the Chicago Prius Group’s e-mail list.  They sent out a message saying Menard’s was going to have a sale on foam insulation for pipes last week.  There was a link to this topic about grille blocking to improve winter fuel economy and heater performance.  I stopped at Menard’s and picked up some of the insulation for $1.86.  There appears to be enough to block the grille slats 2-3 times.  Plenty of material.  This is the tubular foam stuff you wrap around a pipe.  What you would do is cut the foam so it makes a C shape, then pinch it to make a V shape, then insert it between the top and bottom halves of the upper grille opening.  The foam will expand again and should stay in place because of this expansion force.  I’m going to block 3/4 of my upper grille.  I’m paranoid about overheating the motor-generators and inverter, so I’ll leave a quarter open for ventilation and will only do this below 40 degrees F.  I’ll leave the lower (bumper) grille opening unobstructed.  It sounds like those slats are more work than I want to deal with.  If the grille blocking doesn’t do much to keep my engine temperature up, I can just yank the foam.