tdi - coolant heater?

[zero10]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

The lack of spark is not what causes the lack of heat in a diesel engine....
There are a couple of things that team up to cause this problem.

1) No throttle plate, so there is no vacuum in the intake manifold. Turbo diesel engines are always under boost. This means that there is a LOT more freezing cold air in the cylinders when compared to a gas engine
2) The thermal efficiency of diesel. It does not produce a large amount of heat when it burns. It produces a very large amount of gas (hence the large amount of torque), but not a lot of heat.
3) Usually diesels have thick walled iron blocks. These absorb a lot of heat and can make the engine act like it has an extra few litres of coolant to heat up as well.

Even with a coolant heater, if you sit in traffic on a -40*C day, the engine temp falls off to 20-30*C. This barely makes enough heat to keep you warm inside. If you are driving on the highway, or at least not in stop-and-go traffic you are fine.

Lots of people will block the front grill with cardboard to help keep the heat in the engine, but the amount of cold air the engine ingests does cool it off significantly. Blocking the grill is marginally effective.

[forkdork]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

Yeah I run my AC on when it gets really cold. it puts more load on the engine keeping it nice and warm.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

You should try driving a 0.8L CDI in the winter that bad boy puts out next to no heat

[Vulcan]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

I was also looking into installing a coolant heater on my car. I did some searching and found this article that lists the part number you will need. (The I in the following quote is not me but rather the original guy who wrote this post on the TDI Forum)

Quote

Temro (Zerostart) (And TDIHeater) 3305000 series rectangular tank circulation heaters PN 3305001(750W), 3305002(1000W), 3305003(1500W) DO NOT HAVE any type of check valve whatsover.

41 series heavy duty circulation heaters DO NOT HAVE a check valve.

8000 series cylindrical circulation heaters DO HAVE a check valve. PN 3308001(750W),3308002(1000W),3308003(1500W)

The only thing that TDIHeater does is use a custom hose (meaning trimmed up a bit) on top of the heater to eliminate the 2 hoses being coupled together, and I happen to have the heater and hose in my hands at this moment that I sourced locally at Acklands-Grainger. There is a bracket included in the heater kit along with hose clamps etc. I found out that the upper 1 pc. hose is used OEM on 10 different Ford and KIA vehicles. It can be found under NAPA + Carquest PN 10785, AC Delco 18044L, Gates 18785, Dayco 71678 etc. You can ask for a heater hose for a 1983 Ford Mustang 4 cyl Turbo and it will be the same hose, just needs to be trimmed on the ends a bit.

this is the origional link http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...ight=zerostart


End Quote

[djstorm]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

Can anyone recommend where I can get this installed? I now have all the pieces (well heater anyways, I can get the hose tonite) but am not able to fo the work myself. I line in airdrie, but work in the Northeast. Thoughts?? Thanks in advance...

[Aleks]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

I have the temro 1500W heater in my 1.8t. Pretty much the same install procedure as the TDI, just a few different looking items (can't use the TDI install for landmarking hoses, you have to have some knowledge). As for being uncommon on gas engines? sure, but its a fantastic thing to have. I leave my car plugged in at work all the time, and its warm to operating temperature, even starts on low idle! Here's my old thread on this:

http://www.eurodrivers.ca/forums/sho...ighlight=temro

[stefan]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

I wouldn't risk the oilpan heaters, they have been known to fall off and set your car on fire.

i've heard this too. i have access to a pit-bay where i do my oil changes, so I at least have a chance to give it a close look once in a while to check for damage. I can see how it could come off. I think mine is magnetic, and then a
bead of silicone was added for extra security, but the silicone is near the end of its life after 2 years on the bottom of the car.

[Stonewall]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

Access to a pit bay! Bastage! I have been waiting too long to do my oil change and it looks like with this weather I maybe waiting a bit longer. I believe the stock oilpan heaters are still a stick on with the added silicon on the sides. The TDI club had a link to the manufactures website a while back. It is a good idea to check it out every year before you plug it in. I saw pictures of a bug from a guy that lived up north, it was torched after plugging it in for a day or so as it had fallen off and caught the oil on the plastic skid plate on fire. I think it is also one of the reasons why VW doesn't install them anymore, although they do install coolant heaters now.

[stefan]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

Access to a pit bay! Bastage!

.. my services are coupled with my trips to Invermere to visit family, and thats where the pit is. So it probably doesn't do anyone here any good.

[Stonewall]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

LOL good planning. I thought I would also mention to people that there is a Noma (or knockoff) timer that are awesome for block heaters. It is the little black box unit that has 6 programmable timers so you can set up your whole week and save a lot on your power bill. Plus the fact that you only need a couple hours to heat it up save on any overheating/fire issues that could happen.

[djstorm]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

So, should I just call the dealership and see if they can put it in? Local garage? Any actual suggestions? Again, live in airdrie, work in Northeast (memorial & 36th area)...

[gotturbo]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

the vw dealers install oil pan heaters and most of the newer 1.8t sold have them installed. if you get the right size heater and install its right you wont have a problem im installing one on my car tomorrow ill let you know

[Aleks]

Re: tdi - coolant heater?

I run both