As winter approachs, what is your method for warming up the car?

pearing

Active member
Joined
Sep 16, 2019
Location
Ashland WI USA
TDI
2015 Golf TDI
New to diesels. I have been told they won't warm up just idling. How does one see when the windshield fogs to ice from your entrance if the car doesn't 'warm up' until you get to your destination. Wondering how this works... sorry, no garage for the tdi, so not an option.

Thanks

Pat
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Get in, start it up, and drive off.

The folks that have the newer TDIs and have never owned the older stuff really have no idea just how good you've got it. Seriously. They are like from another planet in comparison to when VAG first started with diesels. They preglow in seconds, if not A second, they start right up, and you can drive off pretty much as soon as you get your seat belt buckled and find your favorite radio station without so much as a hiccup, and they have devices and engine management that works in concert to get the cabin heat going fairly quickly.

If you need to, scrape the frost off the windows. I have found that having the glass treated (RainX or similar) makes this much easier. They also have some nice windshield covers that help keep the worst of it off. My car sits outside, too.
 

Pharcyde145

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Joined
May 27, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
TDI
2011 JSW 6MT
Great tip on the rain-x before frost season and winter, it helps fill the abrasions in the surface of the glass giving the water less surface area to bond with. It makes scraping a breeze, which is my primary method and takes no longer than 5-10 minutes.

If you want a cheap/temporary solution when it's supposed to snow excessively, you can cut out a piece of cardboard in the general shape of your windshield and lay it over the top. Then clean the snow from the hood with a brush, and fold the cardboard forward. It won't last long unless you wrap a large contractors bag around it, but as long as it's below freezing it will keep together.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
You can also use one of those mylar sunshades on the OUTSIDE, use the wipers to hold it down. They work well and will last a couple winters.
 

Pharcyde145

Veteran Member
Joined
May 27, 2018
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
TDI
2011 JSW 6MT
Precisely, cheap and easy.

My '11 warms up in about 4 miles @ 45mph in 4th gear. But I'm pretty sure the MK6 came with an electric heating element that turns on when you set climate control to max temp and above 2 on the fan setting, so it supplements heat until the coolant warms up enough to run hot through the heater core. So the defrost function should begin working relatively quickly. Just don't leave damp/wet clothing or items int he car overnight, or you'll regret it.
 

dandywriter

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Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Location
Ottawa (Kanata), Canada, eh?
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2014 Golf Wagon 6M
I have winter/summer interior shades for the front window; silver in the summer keeps it cool, black in the winter keeps it warm. When there has been freezing rain, enough solar energy comes in to heat the ice from below making the chipping easier.



Keeping one window just barely cracked allows moisture from your breath to escape before it forms frost on the inside.



A winter front helps to heat the engine, and keeping the fan on the lowest position until the engine is warm helps a lot. Heated seats also increase the load on the engine a bit, which helps (except for mileage).
 

Giberish33

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Joined
May 30, 2017
Location
Montreal, Qc
TDI
1997 Jetta TDi 1z
black in the winter keeps it warm. When there has been freezing rain, enough solar energy comes in to heat the ice from below making the chipping easier.
That's an interesting idea, I've heard of that with swimming pools (solar blankets) but never had thought that the same principle could be used during the winter. I'm going to have to try it out this winter. Where did you find a black sunshade for the windshield? I've only ever seen silver or ones with pictures on them.
 

dandywriter

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Jul 18, 2007
Location
Ottawa (Kanata), Canada, eh?
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Last edited:

Rob Mayercik

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Dec 19, 2001
Location
NJ, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS, Baltic Green/Beige
Get in, start it up, and drive off.

If you need to, scrape the frost off the windows. I have found that having the glass treated (RainX or similar) makes this much easier. They also have some nice windshield covers that help keep the worst of it off. My car sits outside, too.
I think he's referring to the inside of the windshield fogging up from evaporation coming off his coat/shoes, not the outside. Kind of hard to see to drive in that case.

For myself, I don't normally see the inside of my windshield fog up significantly in the winter, but usually a minute or so on defrost with the fan at max clears most of it even without any heat in the coolant.
 

dandywriter

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Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Location
Ottawa (Kanata), Canada, eh?
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2014 Golf Wagon 6M
Yes, I meant inside; hoar frost. You can't blow it away with air when it's zero F. I do scrape the outside windows before going.



My 2006 had an Aux Heater which was somewhat helpful for both inside and outside, but getting going and adding load to speed the heating of the engine was necessary.


I had a FrostHeater on the 06 (liked it) and have the factory plug-in heater on the 14; curious to see how it works.


Not curious enough to want to see the snow, though...
 

Mongler98

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Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
No warm up. Just drive it. Add some plastic card stock over half the radiator when mild cold, full cover when dead of winter. That's how I roll.
 

jettawreck

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Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
The stories that they don't warm up idle I guess is a myth. It just takes a lot longer than gas engined vehicles and longer than if you drive/work it. At below -0F my 2001 will reach operating temp in about 20 minutes per the ScanGauge. When it's extremely cold you have to do what you have to in order to be safe and/or comfortable (?). Idling isn't very good for it as has been probably pointed out. Hasn't had any adverse effect on mine in 230k miles yet, but I don't make a practice of doing the extended idle unless I'm away from the home garage.
Cover the entire radiator with plasti-core board. It won't overheat the engine and speeds up the warm up time while driving much better than the "winter front" kits (which I also have). On my "winter" TDI I leave the radiator covers on permanently now.
Best case scenerio is get a coolant pre-heater if possible.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
No myth. They actually cool back down at idle even if they were at full temp already. Coolant temp is not synonymous with operating temp. Oil temp is key. And the OP does not have a VE anyway. The DPF health is also a consideration.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Oilhammer-what is a VE? You understood my question(s)... thanks.
VE (short for the German word 'verteiler', which is 'distributor') is what the early TDIs used, which is an older type diesel injection system that Volkswagen started using way back in 1977 when their diesels came out. The TDIs used an electronic controlled version of the Bosch VE pump. Then came PD ('pumpe duse', which is 'pump injector') that uses individual electronic controlled mechanically activated (off the engine camshaft) injectors one per cylinder. Then finally, and sadly, lastly, came CR, which is common rail (which is the same in German) that uses a pre-pressurized fuel chamber, or "rail" which is a long cylinder that is fed fuel via a high pressure fuel pump that supplies the totally electronic controlled injectors (either by piezo-electric wafer stacks or older design solenoids that have been tweaked) to provide the even higher pressure but super precise fuel metering into the engine.

The CR is superior in every way, in that unlike both the VE and PD, it is not constrained by engine mechanical position for timing control of the injection event. It can be done completely independent of any mechanical timing of the engine. So things like staged pre-injection, post injection (for exhaust emission control equipment function) as well as an infinite range of both timing and quantity can be easily handled. That is why they can start so easily, run so quiet (relative to older diesels... although the VAG and especially MB CR diesels at hot idle are barely any different that their modern DI gas counterparts), and get such great fuel economy (potentially). But the emissions compliance strangled and ultimately removed them from our availability. You can still buy as many 12 MPG Suburbans as you like, though, the EPA has no problems with those. :rolleyes:
 

[486]

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Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
But I'm pretty sure the MK6 came with an electric heating element that turns on when you set climate control to max temp and above 2 on the fan setting, so it supplements heat until the coolant warms up enough to run hot through the heater core. So the defrost function should begin working relatively quickly. Just don't leave damp/wet clothing or items int he car overnight, or you'll regret it.
this
you've got a supplemental electric heater in the newer cars
 

rhinorear

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Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Location
Lost Causes NM
TDI
2014 JSW
Here we go again, mentioning the elusive winter front.



Damikt! I want 1. I drive a diesel. Winter fronts are for diesels, cardboard and such is for gassers.



Can somebody do a search of google Germany please for VW winter fronts? Winter fronts for VWs still have to be available there. I'm sure there is quite the cottage industry built up around manufacturing them.


Thanks for listening.


Oh, I won't do the pipe insulation thingy either. So don't even go there
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
Here we go again, mentioning the elusive winter front.



Damikt! I want 1. I drive a diesel. Winter fronts are for diesels, cardboard and such is for gassers.



Can somebody do a search of google Germany please for VW winter fronts? Winter fronts for VWs still have to be available there. I'm sure there is quite the cottage industry built up around manufacturing them.


Thanks for listening.


Oh, I won't do the pipe insulation thingy either. So don't even go there
The coroplast works much better than the winter front kits and if you get (or paint it) black it's invisible, unlike the pipe insulation.
 

Diesl

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Dec 3, 2012
Location
Chicago
TDI
'78 Golf Diesel (long gone); 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI w/ DSG
As already mentioned, setting the heat to max will turn on the supplemental heater and produce slightly above freezing air right away, sufficient to defrost the inside of the windshield.
 

pearing

Active member
Joined
Sep 16, 2019
Location
Ashland WI USA
TDI
2015 Golf TDI
Okay... I tried the fan al the way up and max heat this morning. No joy. Much easier to drive with my head out the window. Is it possible that the supplemental heat isn't working or they missed my mk VII some how?
 

Matt927

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Location
Northeast
TDI
several
There were a few Mk7s that came to North America with the supplemental electric heater. It all depended on where the car was destined for. I ordered a Mk7 Golf TDI, destined for NJ well actually an eastern PA dealer....no supplemental heater.

My current Mk6 has one, it does take the edge off and help to defrost the windshield in the winter. I run an ID Parts lower cover throughout the entire winter here. It helps tremendously.
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
They warm the engine coolant up much quicker (even at idle) with the cabin fan/blower off or at least on lowest setting. The heater core is a primary heat exchanger as the coolant always is circulated thru it regardless of temp and the blower fan is very good at extracting heat from it and keeping coolant temps low(er). I never turn the fan on higher than 1 or 2 until driving up to speed and coolant temp is on the rise.
 

[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
They warm the engine coolant up much quicker (even at idle) with the cabin fan/blower off or at least on lowest setting. The heater core is a primary heat exchanger as the coolant always is circulated thru it regardless of temp and the blower fan is very good at extracting heat from it and keeping coolant temps low(er). I never turn the fan on higher than 1 or 2 until driving up to speed and coolant temp is on the rise.
the newer ones have 6 fan speed settings, so the electric heater being on at "2 and above" is really like it'd be on at "1" on a mk4 car

ETA: I've been thinking about constructing an electric air heater from a space heater
just gotta shorten the runs of resistance wire to 1/10th their normal length to run on 12v rather than 120
hopefully it'll draw something like 90a or so
 
Last edited:

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
VE (short for the German word 'verteiler', which is 'distributor') is what the early TDIs used, which is an older type diesel injection system that Volkswagen started using way back in 1977 when their diesels came out. The TDIs used an electronic controlled version of the Bosch VE pump. Then came PD ('pumpe duse', which is 'pump injector') that uses individual electronic controlled mechanically activated (off the engine camshaft) injectors one per cylinder. Then finally, and sadly, lastly, came CR, which is common rail (which is the same in German) that uses a pre-pressurized fuel chamber, or "rail" which is a long cylinder that is fed fuel via a high pressure fuel pump that supplies the totally electronic controlled injectors (either by piezo-electric wafer stacks or older design solenoids that have been tweaked) to provide the even higher pressure but super precise fuel metering into the engine.

The CR is superior in every way, in that unlike both the VE and PD, it is not constrained by engine mechanical position for timing control of the injection event. It can be done completely independent of any mechanical timing of the engine. So things like staged pre-injection, post injection (for exhaust emission control equipment function) as well as an infinite range of both timing and quantity can be easily handled. That is why they can start so easily, run so quiet (relative to older diesels... although the VAG and especially MB CR diesels at hot idle are barely any different that their modern DI gas counterparts), and get such great fuel economy (potentially). But the emissions compliance strangled and ultimately removed them from our availability. You can still buy as many 12 MPG Suburbans as you like, though, the EPA has no problems with those. :rolleyes:

In my opinion this is a great technical summary that, if not already, should be a 'sticky' for everyone to fin easily. Thanks OH!
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
You could probably add the electric heater, as I doubt VAG made the entire HVAC case different. Chances are there is a slot there with a cover on the end that is for that part. You'd just need to figure out how to control it, which may be simply a matter of installing the wiring and controller and doing some soft coding changes in some modules.
 

kjclow

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Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
One could always buy a small hairdryer that plugs into the cigarette lighter to help keep the windshield clear. I've used that in the past.

I've always found that leaving the fan setting on 1 or 2 will work better for heating or cooling the car than setting it on max. In the winter, with the hvac system on high, it seems to try to rob heat from the engine and not get the car up to operating temp as quickly. Once the temp gauge gets to about halfway, then you can crank it. For summer, the compressor can only do as much as it can. Kicking the fan up too quickly just helps push hot air around until the compressor starts to cool.
 

jjblbi

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2000
Location
lbi, nj
TDI
2014 Passat SEL TDI
My two TDIs have the aux heater which works fine until the engine comes up to temp. Keep the fan speed on 2 and the recirc button on. Heated seats help too. My warm-up is just enough to scrape the windows.
Try amazon or google "12v windshield defroster"

Good luck, John
 
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