Does the 2011 Jetta TDI have an electrical heater?

Anyone can confirm the canadian 2011 TDI Jetta has the electrical heater? Incredible the lack of information there is on some Volkswagen models. Even the dealer I spoke to doesn't know... He "thinks so"...

Probably not. The canadian Golf TDI's don't have them. I would assume the price pinching on the Jetta by VW, this is an item they wouldn't include.

Do you mean a plug in electric heater?

No I don't mean the plug in radiator heater which has an electrical outlet on the front bumper; I already know the canadian 2011 Jetta has it. I mean the electrical cabin heater. I have read all the the NA TDI MKVI have it. Just wanted a confirmation.

pierreracine said:

Just wanted a confirmation.

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Start your car cold, turn the temp control to max, and turn on the blower. You should feel luke warm air in a matter of seconds. You'll also hear a relay click on.

IFRCFI said:

Start your car cold, turn the temp control to max, and turn on the blower. You should feel luke warm air in a matter of seconds. You'll also hear a relay click on.

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Thanks. I'm so scary that my wife is gonna kill me if she ever discovers that I made her buy a car that takes forever to warm up in winter It IS my wife's car but I made her buy the TDI for the times I take a ride in HER car

I don't think the Canadian models have it. I live in Montreal and never had problems with my Golf TDI keeping me warm in the winter. Make sure you get the heated seats. You will be fine.

I don't think they have it. It takes about 5 minutes before it seems to crank out any heat from the vents. Had temps here around 0 C (32 F) and determined the 3 level heated seats work great though. May be a different story when it hits -20C.

2011TDIowner

I love the aux heater in my 06 Jetta. I will be very disappointed if this feature was not carried over.

Try the same procedure for the 06 and see if it works. Turn the temp to max hot, turn the setting to defrost, and the fan speed to 2. This is what makes the aux heater come on in my car. However I can also just push the ecno button to turn the econ light off and also have the aux heater come on. Please let us know what u discover.

Yes it does.
There is a plug is in the bumper for it, but what it is exactly, I really do not know.
Sales person told me it was a "radiant heater that radiates heat from the coolant to the rest of the engine compartment, and NOT an oilpan heater" I told him "that is total BS as anyone that has lived in -30 to -40 knows you can't radiate **** under the hood at -40, what exactly does it do?" "it heats the radiator coolant" "so it's a block heater?" "No, it heats the coolant, not the block" "but the block is full of coolant." "Yes but it heats the radiator coolant, which radiates heat to the rest of the engine compartment, heating the transmission, and all of the motor." " Oh-huh, okay."
Now you know what I know.
It could be a freakin 20 watt light bulb for all I know, but yeah, it's there, it's a heater of some form, that heats the front section of the car in some radiant manner that is not a block heater or a pan heater. why oh why do my conversations at a car dealer always seem to sound like this?

mechanist said:

Yes it does.
There is a plug is in the bumper for it, but what it is exactly, I really do not know.
Sales person told me it was a "radiant heater that radiates heat from the coolant to the rest of the engine compartment, and NOT an oilpan heater" I told him "that is total BS as anyone that has lived in -30 to -40 knows you can't radiate **** under the hood at -40, what exactly does it do?" "it heats the radiator coolant" "so it's a block heater?" "No, it heats the coolant, not the block" "but the block is full of coolant." "Yes but it heats the radiator coolant, which radiates heat to the rest of the engine compartment, heating the transmission, and all of the motor." " Oh-huh, okay."
Now you know what I know.
It could be a freakin 20 watt light bulb for all I know, but yeah, it's there, it's a heater of some form, that heats the front section of the car in some radiant manner that is not a block heater or a pan heater. why oh why do my conversations at a car dealer always seem to sound like this?

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We are not talking about the same thing. What you are talking about is a block heater, not the Webasto auxiliary heater (Webasto call them parking heaters and is the manufacturer of the INTERIOR heater that is supposed to be intalled on all the MK5 and MK6 sold in North America.

Here's a good link and photos of the aux heater

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113468

Serious. That's a good idea. Oh, and "It's not a block heater!" lol.
thanks for setting me straight. My wife will be overjoyed at finding this out. The last couple diesels have been cool in winter until warmed up. I'll ask specifically about this on Friday, as I'll be at the dealer's.. or rather I'll look at the fuse panel for the big wire that runs it
-j

mechanist said:

Serious. That's a good idea. Oh, and "It's not a block heater!" lol.
thanks for setting me straight. My wife will be overjoyed at finding this out. The last couple diesels have been cool in winter until warmed up. I'll ask specifically about this on Friday, as I'll be at the dealer's.. or rather I'll look at the fuse panel for the big wire that runs it
-j

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Her's a link for you: http://www.parkingheater.com/products/parking-heater.html

You can install the system yourself. It's my pleasure to please your wife...

yes all TDI's have the aux heater, my wife's 2010 Golf has it, my 2011 Jetta TDI has it as well. Don't expect it to be hot air, its just luke warm air that comes out to take the front out of the window. its not meant to heat the car, just to take the chill out until the car warms up.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=276766

it was discussed while back.

All TDI have an electric heating strip (auxiliary air heater Z35) in the air vent to help warm up the cabin in cold ambient temperatures. It's enough to prevent the windshield from fogging over with frozen breath but it won't blow hot air. The faster the air vent is blowing, the less noticeable it won't have time to warm up. This is not on gas VW.

This is an excerpt from myturbodiesel.com.
Here is the link - http://www.myturbodiesel.com/forum/f15/2011-vw-jetta-tdi-buying-guide-checklist-page-3-a-3022/

mo_focus said:

yes all TDI's have the aux heater, my wife's 2010 Golf has it, my 2011 Jetta TDI has it as well. Don't expect it to be hot air, its just luke warm air that comes out to take the front out of the window. its not meant to heat the car, just to take the chill out until the car warms up.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=276766

it was discussed while back.

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No not all TDI's have the AUX heater. Mine is a 2010 Golf TDI and I do not have an aux heater. Confirmed with VCDS.

ziggy55 said:

No not all TDI's have the AUX heater. Mine is a 2010 Golf TDI and I do not have an aux heater. Confirmed with VCDS.

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I do have it in my 2010 Golf TDI, do you have a canadian model?
I have a 2010 Golf TDI highline model and it has it.

Yes I have a Canadian model comfortline. I also checked a friends car highline and doesn't have the heater.

I tried the procedure that NL TDI suggested. Seems to work so I guess mine has the aux heater. There was slightly warm air out of the defroster almost immediately when I tried this. Definitely better than when I had the fan set to 1, temp control to mid point and on defrost, when it seemed to take a long time to throw any heat.

Definitely not enough to make much difference to the cabin temp but certainly would help to defrost the windshield.

Great to know for when the cold kicks in. A good example of the benefits of having this forum!

2011TDIowner

Aux Heater TDI

sydneycb said:

All TDI have an electric heating strip (auxiliary air heater Z35) in the air vent to help warm up the cabin in cold ambient temperatures. It's enough to prevent the windshield from fogging over with frozen breath but it won't blow hot air. The faster the air vent is blowing, the less noticeable it won't have time to warm up. This is not on gas VW.

This is an excerpt from myturbodiesel.com.
Here is the link - http://www.myturbodiesel.com/forum/f15/2011-vw-jetta-tdi-buying-guide-checklist-page-3-a-3022/

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All 2011 Jetta TDI'a have it.

2011TDIowner said:

I tried the procedure that NL TDI suggested. Seems to work so I guess mine has the aux heater. There was slightly warm air out of the defroster almost immediately when I tried this. Definitely better than when I had the fan set to 1, temp control to mid point and on defrost, when it seemed to take a long time to throw any heat.

Definitely not enough to make much difference to the cabin temp but certainly would help to defrost the windshield.

Great to know for when the cold kicks in. A good example of the benefits of having this forum!

2011TDIowner

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Good to know 2011TDIowner....I live near Ottawa as well and trust me this aux heater comes in handy in the winter.......keep us posted on your 2011 experience.....I plan on buying one from HC as well in the future.

I had no idea these heaters even existed... total Easter egg for me. I usually leave the heat off until the engine starts to warm, so I never happened up it by accident until just a few days ago. I had to run the air for defog. At the same time I couldn't figure out why the mpg dropped so badly, until I turned the heater off and watched the instant mpg readout double. The next day I put the blower on 3 (manual climate control) and temperature to max. Luke warm heat 2 blocks away from my house. Freaking awesome. The owners manual makes no mention of the auxiliary heater. Details on here and other sites seem to be spotty and contradictory, so I checked for myself.

This photo was taken in my 2015 Jetta S 6MT... the cheapest TDI model available at the time. Note the large gauge wire and bits behind it. This is the heater.

The same thing is present on my 2013 NMS Passat, but the plastic cover goes a bit higher. Still, if you look for the brown wire, you can see it between the panel gaps.

My buddy's 2015 Golf TDI did not have it. You have to slightly pry back the panel cover, but when you do, clearly seen is a block off plate. No large brown wire. So, if you've got the wire, you've got the aux heater. What an awesome feature that is pretty much mentioned nowhere in the equipment list or manuals.

Auxiliary heater is located Aft of the heater core in the center console. If you remove the drivers side center side panel next to the accelerator pedal, you will see two rather large lugs with what looks to be about 8ga wires connected to the side. If you remove the two bolts that hold the heater core cover on, you can slide the Aux heater out of it's slot.