What Nordic pre heater thing?

[Nj]

I know, my grasp of the technical terminology is amazing eh?

I've been told I need to pay €400 for one of those heaters that stops the engine freezing if the car's left outside. Can anyone educate me on exactly what it does, where to buy one and if it's a reasonable job to install myself? I don't really want to pay €400 and look under the bonnet to find I could have installed it myself.

cheers
nj

[fish]

It heats the coolant up to prevent engine damage when cold. there ar 3 different types, 1 is a block heater with basicly is a thing that is mounted (glued i think) On the outside of the oilsump and it warms the oil up, 2, is a "hose heater" And is spliced in on one of the coolant hoses, 3, is heater witch is mounted IN the engine block, you take out one of the "frost plugs" and put the heater element in instead, it warms the coolant and engine block up. Nr 3 is the most difficult to mount, but i would think it´s the most efficient. As for mounting it all hangs on how good a mechanic you are i suppose. mounting instructions should be able to sourco on the internet. You need to get a pwer outlet mounted inside the car aswell so you can have a coupé warmer inthere too. thats a kind of heater fan so the car is warm inside aswell.

[quattro20v]

http://www.defa.com/uig_h.php3?lang=3&ndid=

[Henkjan]

the #3 option that fish describes is what is in >90% of the cars in Finland... I also have it in my 80q, installation is not too hard, getting one of the plugs out may be the hardest part. but is is an absolute must once winter truely sets in. and as you'll have noticed: most residential parking areas have these poles with a power outlet. The heater itself is not that expensive, the cable set probably costs more (but since 230V go through it, you don't want to be cheap in that department). just go to the local car parts shop, they'll have it on display. In Oulu I'd go to Tarviketori, but there wil be others in kajaani I'm sure.

[Henkjan]

http://www.02.fi/tuotteet-ja-palvelut/autotarvikeliike/kajaani

[TDi90]

Ebberspacher.

[Nj]

Thanks lads. That all makes sense so far I think. Not sure I fancy the Eberspacher system in a car though if power outlets are available everywhere i'm likely to park, although that said you never know where you'll end up with a cold car. hmm.

I think I'd be wise to go with the system most people use in this part of the world. I'm just trying to work ot what a frost plug is and where it will be on my engine to investigtate. I'm not an engine expert at all but i've removed a few engines and installed one so I should be OK with good instructions. The rest of the install should be OK as i've experience installing car audio so I know not to run a power cable through a jagged hole in the engine bay bulkhead (I've seen that a disturbing number of times though) so should hopefully be OK with the electrical work.

Fish - Thanks for the explanation. I think option 3 is definitely the version to go for.
quattro20v - thanks for that Defa guide. It's great. It's only details on the engine heater installation that I can't see there.
Henkjan - I'll try to get into one of the auto stores in Kajaani tomorrow for some advice.

It's due to be -19 C here on wednesday and although my car is kept in my father in law's garage just now it has no doors so the car will still be frozen and I don't want to damage it.

cheers for all your input lads. It's really appreciated

[quattro20v]

Frostplug of a 7A engine with the heater in it:

[Nj]

ah, brilliant, thanks. Do you know how the "blank" plug is removed to fit the heating element? is it as simple as a big nut to take out with a socket?

cheers

[fish]

No, they ar normaly pressed in. You could puncture it ant just pull it out with a hook of some kind. when you mount the frost plugs, they are concave and you put them in with the bulge outwards, them simply tap the middle in so it expands and is squeezed in.

[Nj]

ah, cool, thanks mate. I found a few sites that show how to knock a frost plug in and out but still having trouble finding the location on my 3.0 V6 Q. I'm on vagcat but not found it just yet. Do you have the full kit with engine heater, cabin heater, battery charger and display?

[fish]

No, i have a defa kit with just the cabin heater and engine heater. i don´t knpw anybody who has the batterycharger and so. If you go to a VAG workshop in finland im sure they can tell you were the frostplugs are?

[Henkjan]

I only have the heater....

[Nj]

I wasn't convinced I need the battery charger so it's good to hear you don't have it. first thing tomorrow i'm going in to a couple of places to see ehat kits they have and what they charge for installation. I'll also find out from a vag dealer where the frost plug is on this silly big engine
thanks again

[Nj]

I only have the heater....

The engineheater is really the important bit. do you have a timer for it?