TDI in the winter

Z85rado

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2017
Location
Highlands NJ
TDI
2015 Sportwaged TDI
My wife and I will be relocating back into the northeast shortly.. A guy at work had a 2014 Jetta TDI he traded in and speaks of an intercooler heater? are these things something people in the north do with these cars?
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Don't give it a thought. Your car will perform fine with no modifications. Diesels have come a long way. You don't even have to worry about pre-glowing the engine, as the push button start will take care of that for you.

Only thing you might want to do is use some anti-gel fuel additive. Not a bad idea regardless, but it could help if you get a really cold snap. Diesel in the North is winterized, so even if you skip it you should be fine.
 
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turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Some people had issues with condensation freezing in the air to air intercooler of the mk6 tdi's, causing hard starting issues. The mk7's have an air to water intercooler, and intercooler icing is not an issue with them.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
From our 2012 with the Air 2 Water never had an issue, expect our 2015 to be the same.

In the 2010 I had the issues and even with the IC modification kit I was still leary of it but never had any issues after the kit.
 

jerrymander

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Location
ur mum
TDI
f
My A6 TDI was finein the Minnesotan Iron Range throughout the whole winter, stored outside, no intercooler, coolant, oil, or block heater.
 

Nutty 5.0

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
Location
SE PA
TDI
15 GSW SEL TDI 6MT
I'm near you assuming you're coming to PA (Live in Reading eastern suburbs) and no issues even in the coldest days. I've owned it since new in 2015 so it's seen a few winters now.
 

Owain@malonetuning

Associate Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Location
Vancouver
TDI
PD jetta wagon
I've (almost) never had a problem with IDIs and VEs down to -10F or so and with additive never needed to plug in PDs down to those temperatures. Regularly saw windchills below -40 as well.

Wouldn't think twice about running a commonrail in cold climates. Using a block heater would be best, since cold oil does not lubricate properly and your fuel economy severely suffers during warm up. Garage storing with a block heater would be best but you won't have any issues parking overnight outside.

It took Mark seven years to bother developing a dynamic idle tune for this platform, so that should give you an idea of how few complaints we've had about cold weather use.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Also of note, there are no such things as "block heaters" for these diesels, there are coolant heaters and they work wonders.

Does "frost heater" make one for the 150HP CRD?

Buy that one, the Canadians get one stock on theirs but the frost heaters were twice the wattage.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Frostheater does make one for the '15 Jetta. Haven't seen one yet for the '15 Golf/GSW, but I'm sure he's got one or will soon.

And there were block heaters for early TDIs. the 1Z and AHU had removable freeze plugs and you could replace them with a heater. Pretty feeble, however.
 

Owain@malonetuning

Associate Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Location
Vancouver
TDI
PD jetta wagon
Block, coolant, oil, all heating the block at the end of the day :p

Are any of those universal magnetic block heaters worthwhile? must be something universal that works in one way or another. Ideally without being a fire hazard.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Seems that most heaters other than the Frostheater are pretty low power. The best of the coolant heaters is the Webasto diesel powered coolant heater. Doesn't need to be plugged in, works with a remote. Not cheap, however.
 

brian_e

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
Location
Farmington NH
TDI
2001 Silver Jetta
TDI is an awesome car in winter in NE. I have/had 2001, 2010, 2009, 2015 and all are awesome. Certainly the '15 is the best w/heated seats and the electric climate heater. They start and take care of the driver well. 2010 is a beast in the snow with the IRS!
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Block, coolant, oil, all heating the block at the end of the day :p
Are any of those universal magnetic block heaters worthwhile? must be something universal that works in one way or another. Ideally without being a fire hazard.

Yup. Pretty silly to parse semantics. The traditional freeze plug block heaters are also coolant heaters. I've never had any problems starting my mk6 at down to -15F. Does seem happier with the frostheater at arctic temps though- and I get heat much faster when I plug it in.
 

MichaelB

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Location
SE Wisconsin
TDI
2014 Passat SE DSG
Yup. Pretty silly to parse semantics. The traditional freeze plug block heaters are also coolant heaters. I've never had any problems starting my mk6 at down to -15F. Does seem happier with the frostheater at arctic temps though- and I get heat much faster when I plug it in.
I have a Frost Heater (frost has nothing to do with frosty temps, the vendor's name is Terry Frost) installed on my Passat and also had one on my 2010 JSW. It is not necessary to insure that your TDI will start in sub zero temps but it sure is nice, not only for the fast cabin heat but the car starts like it is July just turn the key and go.
 

The Tortoise

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Location
Ottawa
TDI
2015 GSW Trendline - White
While the Canadian cars didn't get paddle shifters at least we got a plug in block heater. Hopefully it makes a difference when winter arrives.
 

Mike in Anchorage

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Location
Anchorage, AK
TDI
2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
If you have a garage, use it. If you don't and have access to an outdoor plug with an indoor breaker, you'll get past this. Frost heaters probably work great. For a less expensive fix, get a hot air corn popper at your local used stuff place. Actually, two of them is a better idea. On nights that will get cold, plug one in and place it inside your car. When you get up in the morning, flip the breaker switch to "on" and the car will be toasty and all frost off the windows when you go out to jump in. If you'd like the engine to be warm as well, and if your breaker can handle two poppers at the same time, place the other one under the engine. It would be helpful to have a blanket on top of the hood, but they blow away easily. Otherwise, just use your seat heaters and the 1 KW on-board heater in your cabin heating system to do what it's there to do.
 

jason_

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Location
michigan
TDI
2015 s wagon dsg
I wish I could find a genuine block heater and not frost heaters inline style.

Dealer found I believe 50mm and 59mm plug sizes... But I have no idea what's behind them (straight shot, cylinder wall, distances, etc)

Sent from my One using Tapatalk
 
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