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Pre-heater or block heating problems
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josok   
Wed Dec 04 2013, 03:13am
Joined: Mar 07 2013
Member No: #1222
Location: Ukonjärventie 141 99800 Ivalo
 Because there a more cold climate owners on this forum, i thought i would share this although it might not be of interest to the majority.

Since a few weeks i have an electric preheater system. My German import did have a webasto, but that needs to be switched on in advance and sometimes i have no time to wait.

While quite costly, this electric pre-heater works great. Apart from the coolant heater it has it's own small circulation pump and a battery charger to compensate for the energy used by that little pump.

That combined with an electric heater inside, makes it not ony nice for the engine but also for the driver and passengers.

But now the problem. This clever car decides obviously on the water temperature if it should use the glow plugs or not. This leads to the problem that if the water is nicely warm, the engine will start very difficult. No pre- and after glow.

It will start eventually, after many attempts and then only on a few cylinders in the beginning.

The first time this happened i was convinced that there were at least 5 broken glow plugs. I was close to empty the battery fully, and then broke the clutch of the alternator cause of the consequent heavy charging, see another thread.

Then later it was parked overnight at a spot without electrical connection, temperature -8 C so i feared to have to call a tow-truck. And it started like in summer

The advice of the garage is to not to preheat too long, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Any better idea on this folks?
Tjensen   
Wed Dec 04 2013, 02:02pm
Joined: Jul 17 2012
Member No: #954
Location: Bergen
 1. I Northern Europe , the (diesel) C6's have installed an additional heater to help and shorten the "from cold"-period (????? I am not quite sure yet)

2. Starting problems after using (some) pre-heaters are not unusual, I think it is when there is a bad match between measuring points serving engine electronics and where the heater is located. The sensors feel heat, but the engine block is almost cold or vice versa.

Someone probably has information to comment on this guesswork ?
gmerry   
Wed Dec 04 2013, 04:34pm
Joined: Dec 11 2009
Member No: #21
Location: Scotland
 Use an electric sump (pad type) heater instead???

Regards

G
C6Dave   
Wed Dec 04 2013, 04:39pm

Joined: Oct 01 2009
Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland
 Interesting. A Swedish Member over at c-rosser.org has fitted a 'Defa' cabin and engine pre heater so I have PM'd hime to ask if he has any starting issues when the engine heater has been used.

Just awaiting a reply.
Website
C6Dave   
Thu Dec 05 2013, 08:26am

Joined: Oct 01 2009
Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland
 OK an update on a 'Defa' heater:

RedKing wrote ...

No, starts perfect and engine warms up nice and fast. The Webasto I suspect is a diesel/petrol burner unit and probably with a circulation pump. These can drain the battery quite fast.

They are supposed to be programmed to not run if the battery runs below 50% but I know from first hand experience that in -10 or below anything less than full charge will cause starting issues due to the high ampage required.

Tell him to swap out the battery to one with a higher amperage rating eg 90Amh or higher.

I would bet this will solve his starting issues.


Interesting comparison josok?
Website
josok   
Sat Dec 07 2013, 08:38am
Joined: Mar 07 2013
Member No: #1222
Location: Ukonjärventie 141 99800 Ivalo
 Sorry, no, it does not help very much Dave. The car also has a webasto diesel heater, with circulation pump, although not factory built-in. I do not recall similar problems with the webasto, probably since i run that on the timer at max. 20 minutes. The electric heater is a Defa as well.

The block heater is "always on" to be able to make a quick get-away if needed. And that's where the problem start. Sigh.

It's as TJensen says, it seems to be a problem with engine heat sensor mismatch. The mechanic at Suze Auto in Raahe thought btw that the latest engine software update might help with this problem.

But since i am on my way to Derbyshire right now, i did not have any chance of testing.
 

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