Do the 2010 Golfs have engine block heater?

scaffer

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Location
Ottawa, Canada
TDI
2010 Golf Wagon TDI
T_D_I_POWER said:
Why would it be wasteful?
I am not 100% certain but I do believe the coolant heater draws at least 1000W of power. When the temperatire is relatively warm, say +5C, the glow plugs barely come on. Running the coolant heater for 8 hours is overkill, and consequently a waste of electricity. IMHO.
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
This being my first car with a heater, what I thought would happen happened a few weeks ago...
I left in a hurry late at night and forgot the car was plugged in. :eek:
So I pretty much destroyed the trim in the bumper... :eek:

At first, I thought this would cost me a leg and an arm, but this plastic trim only costs 55$, and my dealer installed it for free!
You can be sure this won't ever happen again :D
 

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
Mat said:
You can be sure this won't ever happen again :D
Famous last words.... :D

I did it twice. :) But mine is the aftermarket Frostheater that just has a regular 3-prong plug coming out the little grille. No damage was done to the car, though the first time it destroyed my heavy-duty timer. :rolleyes:
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
Looking at your location, I guess you know how hard it is to keep a black car clean in winter around here :D
 

frizB

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Location
MTL
TDI
na
Mat said:
Looking at your location, I guess you know how hard it is to keep a black car clean in winter around here :D
tee hee :D :D

It's awful! With all the salt and now the dust.... Wash the car and it's back to looking like something rolled out of scrapyard within an hour!

BOT, when you inadvertently ripped out the heater plug from your car, it didn't do extra damage to the wiring inside?
 

k3ys3r_soz3

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Location
Vancouver, BC
TDI
2010 Golf Wagon
Mat said:
This being my first car with a heater, what I thought would happen happened a few weeks ago...
I left in a hurry late at night and forgot the car was plugged in. :eek:
So I pretty much destroyed the trim in the bumper... :eek:

At first, I thought this would cost me a leg and an arm, but this plastic trim only costs 55$, and my dealer installed it for free!
You can be sure this won't ever happen again :D
Haven't used the heater yet but I was afraid I could do the same thing one day. I was thinking to aviod this I would use an approved extension cord plugged into my ceiling in the garage and run the cord across the windshield so I would never forget it was plugged in. Glad it was a cheap fix.
 

sfierz

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2001
Location
Rockford, Illinois
TDI
1996 Tornado Red Passat
I don't know that it is wasteful. The heaters have a built-in thermostatic function, so if ambient temp is warmer, they won't run as often. They don't pull 1000W continuous for 8 hours period, unless it is like -45F or something. These heaters turn on and off, so 40F might be a little warm to run it that long, but not crazy. It takes at least 2-4 hours at that temp to warm the engine up to near operating temp, so why not leave it plugged in?

StoBro2 said:
Where I work (in the suburban sprawl between Chicago and Milwaukee), there's a Ford diesel pickup driven by one of the guys in the plant. He keeps his engine heater plugged in all day, all of the time, even when it's +5C (+41F). Seems wasteful to me.
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
frizB said:
tee hee :D :D

It's awful! With all the salt and now the dust.... Wash the car and it's back to looking like something rolled out of scrapyard within an hour!

BOT, when you inadvertently ripped out the heater plug from your car, it didn't do extra damage to the wiring inside?
No extra damage, I'm lucky!
 

mxs

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Location
Ontario
TDI
2010 Golf TDI
fastalan said:
I was at Calgary few weeks ago, it was -7 C in the morning and the car absolutely had no problem starting up w/o using the coolant heater. I assume the fuel was already winterized as I have filled it up at Shell in Revelstoke BC. I did tried a few time plugging the cord on overnight in an attempt to pre-heat the coolant to improve FE during initial cold engine driving the next morning, however, the coolant temperature needle remained dead cold upon start up. My dealer just told me not to use it since we don't really get cold enough over here anyway.

Stay away from that dealer, looks like he's clueless. BTW, the coolant temp needle doesn't need to move up sharply right away to see a benefit. Typically, you get two scenarios. Someone who keeps it plugged in overnight, upon start the needle will go to let say 70, but shortly after will go back down to only come up soon again. Or like me, I plug it in only from 3am till 8:00am, so when I start the needle doesn't move, but it starts rising much much sooner when not plugged in at all. So as you can see there's a benefit as you can see either way, regardless whether the needle moves right away or not ....
 

Jack Frost

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Location
Rural Manitoba
TDI
2009 Clean Diesel
mxs said:
BTW, the coolant temp needle doesn't need to move up sharply right away to see a benefit.
I agree. Even if the needle just barely gets off the pin, the temperature of the coolant is 50 C which is far hotter than the water in your bath tub.

Any amount of heater time that brings the engine up to room temperature is sufficient. There is no need to make the summer start-ups your seasonal cold starts of the year. http://forums.tdiclub.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
frizB said:
Doesn't look very clean, your car.... :D
Cleaned it up and took a pic just for you today :p
We can see my brand new bumper trim with the heater plug!
 

frizB

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Location
MTL
TDI
na
That's a sweet looking ride you have there!!! ;):eek: - particularly when it's clean. :cool:

I bet you can't wait for the snow to be gone and go driving this thing around in the hilly, winding roads around Québec.
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
Yes, I know a couple of great roads in my area!
Particularly the ones that go up to my country home in Notre-Dame-de-Montauban! Really dangerous in winter, but awesome driving roads in the summer! :D
In fact, I'm shopping right now for a good set of sticky summer tires to put on my 16" wheels. I didn't get the crappy all-seasons that came with the car and took delivery on winters. I had a set of Falken Azenis RT-615's on my jetta and they were awesome in dry conditions, but in the wet they were a bit unpredictable. I'm still looking for the best compromise...
Sorry for the off-topic there :eek:
 

frizB

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Location
MTL
TDI
na
Try Yokohama S-Drive or Toyo Proxes 4's - both offer excellent wet/dry road traction, your car will feel like it's on train tracks. Both are reasonably priced.

Just a question about the heater thingy... What was the coldest weather when you had the car plugged in, for how long was it plugged in and did you notice a change in how quickly the car's internals warmed up after driving away?
 

Mat

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Location
Québec, QC
TDI
MK6 Golf TDI Highline (ordered)
The coldest was about -23°C and the car was plugged in all night.
I noticed a big change in terms of warm up time. The temp needle started moving after about 1 km and it was at 90 after aprox. 6 kms.
For comparison, I did take my car when it was -22°C and it wasn't plugged in and the needle would only start moving after about 5 or 6 kms and it would reach full temp after about 15 kms.
At those temps, you get warm air after only a minute or two if the car is plugged in. I'm really glad VW Canada offered this standard!
And thanks for the tip on tire choice, I'll definetely take a look at those! ;)
 

IceRaider360

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Location
Saskatchewan, Canada
TDI
2011 Golf DSG
One thing I have noticed on my 2011 Golf and most of the VW cars from my dealer is that they don't use the OEM VW plug just a standard 6ft extension cord hanging out 2-3 inches of your car, that just plugs into another extension cord into your wall outlet. I like the clean look that the OEM VW plug gives but the dealer responded it's because we also provide all of the new cars with battery warmers as well with an extension cord to plug the coolant heater and battery warmer so you only have 1 thing to plug in. After looking at what they were talking about it makes sense. The original extension cord installed on the car shorted out and started to smoke :eek: but they replaced it and sealed it up better with electrical tape.

They had the car fixed within 30 min, no appointment or cost :D.

Here a link to a video of my 2011 using the Coolant/Battery heater in -34C. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ7kVg_xO8g
and -27C without using the Coolant/Battery heater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP_fMnVBroU
 
Last edited:

Manu

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Location
Simcoe County, ON, Canada
TDI
2010 VW Golf Wagon 6MT Highline TDI
One thing I noticed when I plugged the car in, is the temperature needle was about half way to 90C before starting the car, then once I start the engine, within 30 seconds, the temp. needle drops to 0C.
Car warms up quicker tho...
 

Hydesmith

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2003
Location
Winnipeg, MB
TDI
2011 Sportwagen (Highline)
One thing I have noticed on my 2011 Golf and most of the VW cars from my dealer is that they don't use the OEM VW plug just a standard 6ft extension cord hanging out 2-3 inches of your car, that just plugs into another extension cord into your wall outlet. I like the clean look that the OEM VW plug gives but the dealer responded it's because we also provide all of the new cars with battery warmers as well with an extension cord to plug the coolant heater and battery warmer so you only have 1 thing to plug in. After looking at what they were talking about it makes sense. The original extension cord installed on the car shorted out and started to smoke :eek: but they replaced it and sealed it up better with electrical tape.
Canadian owners are used to using block heaters in most vehicles, especially diesels. Our cars are unhappy starting when the thermometer is below about -20ºC. In my area, most office and paid parking lots provide places to plug in, but you sometimes have to test the plugs to ensure they are working.

I have typically used a single sturdy extension cord with the male end hanging out the front of the car, (either through the grille or between the hood and grille, as you please) and the extra length plus three outlets under the hood connect to the block heater, a heated battery blanket and an intelligent battery trickle charger. The extra length coiled under the hood can be uncoiled to form a back-up extension if you need it. Some people also have an interior car warmer, which sounds nice. Watch the total wattage, and beware of the associated risks, and ensure installation is neat and tidy.

The nice flush-mounted and flap-covered connectors on the TDI sportwagens are nice, but the cords are non-standard, so hard or costly to come by. My 2011 has this, and I have just one cord, which is risky. If you go somewhere when you might have to park for more than 5 hours or so, you have to take the cord with you. I like to always keep a spare in the back of the car, and one hanging ready to connect in my garage.

Yes, in Winnipeg, you even have to plug in when you are parked in an unheated garage, despite the safety warnings. Block heater fires do occur, but rarely (I think) to cars with proper installation and good quality cords. if you have a garage *attached* to your house, it is a risk to consider.

The manufacturer of the nice (non-standard) flush-mounted connector is Swedish, Calix (https://www.calix.se/en/start) and they make a bunch of clever stuff related to vehicle heating. Notable is that they have various connectors to integrate other things, but I'll bet the costs start climbing.

Cold weather people know that not all cords are created equally. Cheap ones go rigid in the cold and can snap. Buy nice thick ones with black rubber. Not vinyl. The Calix people seem to have top quality cords, so that is a plus.

I'm hunting for a second Calix block heater cord, but I'm not paying the prices I've seen so far. I'm thinking that some people who sent their TDIs back to VW on the buyback kept every 'extra' they could. Can't blame them, really. With prices like this, though, I'm worried someone with swipe my costly cord at a public parking lot.

My dealer says that people just bypass this cool Calix connector when it fails or they lose the cord, and put a regular plug end on, and do it like the rest of us Canadians.

BTW, most people have winter stuff in their cars here, including a shovel, methyl hydrate (to de-ice locks), maybe a down sleeping bag, warm mittens, fluorescent toque (that's a 'warm hat' for our warm climate friends) and a good set of quality jumper cables. We're talking the long thick ones the tow truck drivers have. The parka I wear in the winter can be turned inside out to be flouro orange. We don't mess around in the winter. When you know life in our cold, you know that you don't want to be fiddling with stuff outside. It just has to work. Period.
 
Last edited:
Top