Help needed installing a Zerostart on a Chevy Cruze 1.4T

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
Hopefully you don't chase me out of the forum since I am no longer a TDI'er. It has been 5 years since I totaled my out my golf and have missed it ever since. It was the first time I have ever cried when I lost a car -- it was right at the time VW stopped making them and all the dealers were out of stock and no used ones to be found so I had a right to cry. I just decided to get back into the higher MPG car again and just bought a Chevy Cruze 1.4t 6M ECO. I like the car so far but it is still not the VW diesel.

The one complaint I have with the car is that it takes forever to heat up in the winter. I got the car a few weeks ago and noticed at 20 deg above it still takes about 10 to 15 mins to get it up to temp. Hate to see what its like in -20deg weather. I had a zerostart installed on the TDI and I would like to install one on the cruze if possible. I have checked with a friend that is a service manager at a chevy dealer and he said the car will pull a code if you install a coolant heater on the cruze. The car knows that the coolant is warm and the engine hasn't been run for a while and the coolant should be cold -- causing a code. Other than that he said the heater should work in the system. I am going to check with a tuner/programmer company about disabling that code.

What I am asking from you guys is some info on the heater install. I have looked at the hoses on the cruze and all the 5/8" hoses are more on the top side of the engine -- nothing on the lower half anyway. If i remember correctly the heater needed to be mounted lower on the coolant system to work correctly? The hose that I was thinking about installing the heater into is the hose that comes from the water pump area and goes to the heater core and wyes there and goes the the other side of the engine. Also does the heater need the be mounted a certain way, direction, check valves in the heater? Are there any other "rules" that needed to be followed for the install? Just looking for feedback on the subject.

I sure miss this forum for all the usefull information. You guys really made owning a TDI a joy with all the mods and tricks that were posted here. This is by far the best car owners forum that is out there!!!! The cruze is still new and the forums are just getting started. The best one is cruzetalk.com and there is a fraction of the info that this sight has and nothing about a coolant heater install. I plan on installing the heater on the cruze and sharing the info on that forum.

Thanks

Chad
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Hi Chad - not trying to chase you out, but I'm moving this thread to General Automotive... I think you'll get more responses there.
 

coalminer16

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
Golf 2004
This follows rules of how heated liquid behaves. So you need to have it in the lowest part of the system or it won't heat up much and won't circulate. The VW hooks up near the water pump/oil cooler area which is the lowest part of the system and then hooks back up near the top of the head/heater core. This makes the coolant circulate through the head/block and even the heater core. Not so much through the radiator as the thermostate wouldn't be open or stay open as much but that would be wasted heat. As for how the thing mounts I don't think it matters as there isn't a thermostat nor a pump in the heater but the heated hose out the top and the cool inlet on the most bottom part. You will have to do some playing around with where it will mount like in a fender well and hoses and connections. Honestly if they make and inline heater you just splice in straight between rather then a re-routing of hoses that would be the best but same things apply where it has to be the lowest. I have the frost heater deal in both rabbits and my golf. My rabbits were the first design for Terry and when I put the 1.9 TD aaz it was addapted over. Brother has one in his 05 wagon jetta and father had one in his BRM 06 jetta and traded that for an 09 sportwagon that Terry designed one for that. Seeing as you are in Eastern SD maybe just give Terry Frost a call and see if he would expand his line of heaters since he has all the spare hoses and connections to make it work. That is what I and my father did and depending on if there is a market to advertize for it he might do the install for free to gain more sales. Just throughing it out there. Nice guy. If you do it in the summer he can do it on his car lift but since it isn't heated and it is winter you might be stuck in the garage with just floor jacks so it would take longer.
 

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
I will give him a shout. It turns out he is from Arlington MN and that is about 20 miles from my home town. I will see what he recommends on the subject. I also called Trifica and they make a performance/economy tune for the Cruze and they said that they could disable the code that gets triggered from the temp sensor with one of there custom tunes. They are not sure what kind of side effects there will be though.
 

MrMopar

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Location
Bloomington, IL
TDI
none
I have checked with a friend that is a service manager at a chevy dealer and he said the car will pull a code if you install a coolant heater on the cruze. The car knows that the coolant is warm and the engine hasn't been run for a while and the coolant should be cold -- causing a code.
I don't want to doubt your friend but this sounds like bunk. Chevy would be aggravating a significant portion of the market if they did not account for the Minnesotans, Dakotans, Alaskans, etc. who all want to have a block or coolant heater. The car knows it hasn't run in a while and the coolant should be cold? That seriously sounds like poor a poor engineering train of thought that doesn't account for cold weather markets.
 

MPBsr

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Location
NJ
TDI
2009 TDI....Traded in
Hopefully you don't chase me out of the forum since I am no longer a TDI'er. It has been 5 years since I totaled my out my golf and have missed it ever since. It was the first time I have ever cried when I lost a car -- it was right at the time VW stopped making them and all the dealers were out of stock and no used ones to be found so I had a right to cry. I just decided to get back into the higher MPG car again and just bought a Chevy Cruze 1.4t 6M ECO. I like the car so far but it is still not the VW diesel.

The one complaint I have with the car is that it takes forever to heat up in the winter. I got the car a few weeks ago and noticed at 20 deg above it still takes about 10 to 15 mins to get it up to temp. Hate to see what its like in -20deg weather. I had a zerostart installed on the TDI and I would like to install one on the cruze if possible. I have checked with a friend that is a service manager at a chevy dealer and he said the car will pull a code if you install a coolant heater on the cruze. The car knows that the coolant is warm and the engine hasn't been run for a while and the coolant should be cold -- causing a code. Other than that he said the heater should work in the system. I am going to check with a tuner/programmer company about disabling that code.

What I am asking from you guys is some info on the heater install. I have looked at the hoses on the cruze and all the 5/8" hoses are more on the top side of the engine -- nothing on the lower half anyway. If i remember correctly the heater needed to be mounted lower on the coolant system to work correctly? The hose that I was thinking about installing the heater into is the hose that comes from the water pump area and goes to the heater core and wyes there and goes the the other side of the engine. Also does the heater need the be mounted a certain way, direction, check valves in the heater? Are there any other "rules" that needed to be followed for the install? Just looking for feedback on the subject.

I sure miss this forum for all the usefull information. You guys really made owning a TDI a joy with all the mods and tricks that were posted here. This is by far the best car owners forum that is out there!!!! The cruze is still new and the forums are just getting started. The best one is cruzetalk.com and there is a fraction of the info that this sight has and nothing about a coolant heater install. I plan on installing the heater on the cruze and sharing the info on that forum.

Thanks

Chad
Funny that I'm in the same situation. Had a frostheater on my 09 TDI. Now I have a 2012 Cruze 2LT RS and I do miss instant heat.

BTW...My nick over at Cruzetalk is Camcruse.
 

El Dobro

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Location
NJ
TDI
2017 Bolt EV Premier, 2023 Bolt EUV Premier
Block the grill like diesel owners do to heat the car up.
 

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
I don't want to doubt your friend but this sounds like bunk. Chevy would be aggravating a significant portion of the market if they did not account for the Minnesotans, Dakotans, Alaskans, etc. who all want to have a block or coolant heater. The car knows it hasn't run in a while and the coolant should be cold? That seriously sounds like poor a poor engineering train of thought that doesn't account for cold weather markets.
Chevy has an oil pan heater for an option and no coolant heater. I have found on a few posts on forums that they did get codes when adding a coolant heater. but can be cleared with a scan tool. So I am going to have to stick to what he says. Plus he is a very sharp guy, I called him on some things that stump me and he knows the fixes. I do agree with you GM sucks when thinking about the northern folks. They need to have a coolant heater on this car. 15 to 20 mins to warm up is too long. In
Canada their cars get a oil pan heater standard on the car and it is a dealer installed $350 option.
 

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
Another thought, How does a lower radiator hose heater compare to the circulation heater? Is that a good option on one of these cars???
 

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
Funny that I'm in the same situation. Had a frostheater on my 09 TDI. Now I have a 2012 Cruze 2LT RS and I do miss instant heat.

BTW...My nick over at Cruzetalk is Camcruse.

How long does you car take to warm up?? Guessing you have the automatic.
 

jgeorge

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Location
aurora, ontario, canada
TDI
2010 audi a3 tdi
There is a software update for " engine coolant temp too low"- the thermostats are electriclly controlled- If your car has an old calibration number, it can be updated. This might help your situation.
 

red golf tdi

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 16, 2001
Location
Minneapolis,MN
TDI
1999.5 Golf Red
I don't want to doubt your friend but this sounds like bunk. Chevy would be aggravating a significant portion of the market if they did not account for the Minnesotans, Dakotans, Alaskans, etc. who all want to have a block or coolant heater. The car knows it hasn't run in a while and the coolant should be cold? That seriously sounds like poor a poor engineering train of thought that doesn't account for cold weather markets.
This doesn't suprise me, most GM cars now since 2004 (that have a block heater) have a special cord that only turns the block heater on 0*F and below, otherwise a code trips.
 

albow77

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
sioux falls sd
TDI
12 Cruze Eco manual
This doesn't suprise me, most GM cars now since 2004 (that have a block heater) have a special cord that only turns the block heater on 0*F and below, otherwise a code trips.

Terry,

I'm not sure if you have ever seen a engine on the 1.4L Chevy Cruze or not, but wondering if you think one of these coolant/circulator heaters that have been installed on the VWs over the years would work on the Cruze. The one thing that worries me is there is no low coolant hose to hose to tap it into. The one I think may work is the hose that comes out of the water pump to the heater core. It is alittle above the the midpoint of the engine. Would it cause problems or not? Would I be better off installing a lower radiator hose heater to get it lower on the coolant system?? Just looking for your opinion.

The cruze's 1.4L is a very efficient motor and will not kick out heat right away in the cold weather. There are a lot of these cars out in the US and I think it is Chevys best selling car right now so if you figure out a system you could get a lot of new business. Trifica makes a preformance tune that if wanted to, could bypass the code with some programming changes. I will be getting the tune later this summer and am going to have them make the changes to bypass the code. I will then install a heater and see how it works. I think if you get something going for the cruze you will get lots of business from the northern states people and Canadians.

Thanks

Chad
 
Top