Best Block heater For ALH TDI

Hussman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Location
Crosslake, Minnesota
TDI
2003 VW Jetta ALH TDI 5 speed
I go to school in North Dakota and my college doesn't have a plug in for any diesels. I was wondering if you guys know of any heaters that run off the battery or something without being drained? This will be my first winter with it so I am unsure how it does with cold. My BEW golf started every time except one -27 degree day. My BEW also had 65,000 less miles.
 

gforce1108

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Location
Newburgh, NY
TDI
04 Jetta GLS BEW, 14 Audi A7 V6 TDI, 13 Porsche Cayenne V6 TDI
Webasto is the only one I know of - burns diesel. Nothing running off the battery will work, unless you have a trunk full of spare batteries! In the cold you want a fully charged battery to crank that puppy over.

EDIT - looks like ESPAR makes one as well. look through here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=335884
 
Last edited:

belome

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
The best thing you can do is get the best battery you can get and make sure your glowplugs are in perfect working order. If you live on campus and it sits for awhile, it may be worth buying a good jump box that you keep in your dorm room in case it gets super cold.

A properly running ALH TDI will start at -40F if the battery is up to the task.
 

Hussman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Location
Crosslake, Minnesota
TDI
2003 VW Jetta ALH TDI 5 speed
The best thing you can do is get the best battery you can get and make sure your glowplugs are in perfect working order. If you live on campus and it sits for awhile, it may be worth buying a good jump box that you keep in your dorm room in case it gets super cold.

A properly running ALH TDI will start at -40F if the battery is up to the task.


My battery is 3 years old, so I need a new one for sure. Any suggestions?


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burn_your_money

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Location
Missouri
TDI
99 Beetle, 96 B4V, 05 Passat wagon
Get the battery tested first, it might be ok. It really depends on what kind of life it has lived. Do a voltage drop test on all your starting cables. Also make sure your starter is in good condition. Make sure you are running synthetic oil.
 

Hussman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Location
Crosslake, Minnesota
TDI
2003 VW Jetta ALH TDI 5 speed
Get the battery tested first, it might be ok. It really depends on what kind of life it has lived. Do a voltage drop test on all your starting cables. Also make sure your starter is in good condition. Make sure you are running synthetic oil.


I always run synthetic, I’ll have to do some testing. Thanks guys!


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jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
Are you concerned mostly about the car being parked over night or while at classes?? My TDI(s) get inside an unheated garage over night but when I used to commute to work it sat out on the street 10 hrs where it was very cold in the winter (I live about 50 miles from you). Severely cold days I would start it after lunch time and let it run for 20 minutes or so. Even in -30F with the cabin heat blower OFF, radiator covered with coroplast it will warm up the coolant almost to 190 and starts like warm weather when time to go home.
If you have access to plug in power when parked overnight a FrostHeater type coolant heater on a timer makes for warmth almost right after start up.
The proper size battery, working GPs, proper advanced injection timing and (often overlooked) a new or refurbished starter make for much better cold weather starting. Most of the aging fleet of TDIs can benefit from a new starter. Cranking rpm is gradually unnoticed and lost over time.
If you don't have or need VCDS to check timing/etc, drop me a message and we can get it checked out sometime when on a school break.
 
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