Heat this winter

Looking at rad hoses on my 06. The hose from the bottom of the rad goes to the thermostat housing. The water manifold at the end of the head goes to the top of the radiator. Does that mean the thermostat is on the suction side of the pump? Is it possible that more flow goes through the oil cooler and transmision cooler and less gets to the heater core? Less plumbing going throgh coolers than going through egr cooler and heater core. Thinking because it's cold in the winter could restrict the cooler flow to increase heater core flow and maybe more heat. ANY body already try this?

I cannot speak to redoing the heater circuit, but I cannot imagine that any good would come from it. It seems that your problem is - diesels don't produce the excess heat that gassers do, and you want to be comfortable... Assuming that's correct, here are my thoughts:

What has worked for me is a Frostheater ( http://www.frostheater.com/ ) and an ID parts winter front ( https://www.idparts.com/a5-jetta-2009-sportwagen-winter-front-p-4503.html ), particularly the latter. I have heard about Malone dynamic idle (higher idle when cold to help warm-up) but don't have it (I have a GIAC tune).

I have no financial interest in either, but when the deep white hits, I love them both dearly!

morpwr said:

Looking at rad hoses on my 06. The hose from the bottom of the rad goes to the thermostat housing. The water manifold at the end of the head goes to the top of the radiator. Does that mean the thermostat is on the suction side of the pump? Is it possible that more flow goes through the oil cooler and transmision cooler and less gets to the heater core? Less plumbing going through coolers than going through egr cooler and heater core. Thinking because it's cold in the winter could restrict the cooler flow to increase heater core flow and maybe more heat. ANY body already try this?

Click to expand...

Yes, the thermostat is on the suction side of the water pump. No, blocking off coolant flow to the oil cooler will not do what you're thinking it will.

Your theory only works works with positive displacement pumps. Your oil pump is positive displacement...your water pump is not.

Do you know what your coolant temps are now? Is your thermostat and Aux heater working properly?

My 06 Jetta usually runs around 90C at full operating temp. Sometimes I'll hit 92C on bigger hills, and sometimes 88C when driving downhill, or coasting, or sitting in traffic. Between the heater and my seat heat, my car is too damn hot inside. However, it takes about 12 km of driving to hit full temp in the morning after a cold start.

I just installed a Frostheater myself last weekend. I love these things and had one on my previous TDI as well. It doesn't get cold enough here that I actually need the thing, but I love having a warm car on the cold mornings.

Check your thermostat.

I have a frostheater in my "2007" SE TDI and this will be my first winter...how long do you need to plug it in for it to be effective? I'm seriously thinking about using a space heater in the cabin by plugging it into my power outlet for those cold mornings.

HawkGuy said:

I have a frostheater in my "2007" SE TDI and this will be my first winter...how long do you need to plug it in for it to be effective?

Click to expand...

I would run it for at least one full hour....longer depending on how cold it is. Where are you located? How cold does it get?

I have mine set so that it is usually on for a couple hours before I go. It doesn't need to be on that long, but I randomly leave early, so I have it set to come on early, just in case.

Rembrant said:

I would run it for at least one full hour....longer depending on how cold it is. Where are you located? How cold does it get?

Click to expand...

I just hate it when people feel the need to be clever with their location. "Planet Earth" or "Fogy Bottom" or "next to a tree" etc doesn't help much with understanding a problem that might be climate related or what market a car is sold in.

If Hawkeye's Country tavern (Silverdale, PA.) is near the OP's location, Google Maps says I can walk there in 921 hours. My travel time is charged at the special shop rate of $40 an hour.

Ol'Rattler said:

I just hate it when people feel the need to be clever with their location. "Planet Earth" or "Fogy Bottom" or "next to a tree" etc doesn't help much with understanding a problem that might be climate related or what market a car is sold in.

If Hawkeye's Country tavern (Silverdale, PA.) is near the OP's location, Google Maps says I can walk there in 921 hours. My travel time is charged at the special shop rate of $40 an hour.

Click to expand...

Maybe he's an Iowa Hawkeyes fan.

I'd run a Frostheater for at least an hour, two hours to be safe...but that's my own personal take on it. Once the coolant is up to temp, the Frostheater will cycle off anyway.

Rembrant said:

Maybe he's an Iowa Hawkeyes fan.
I'd run a Frostheater for at least an hour, two hours to be safe...but that's my own personal take on it. Once the coolant is up to temp, the Frostheater will cycle off anyway.

Click to expand...

I'm glad someone could figure that out...Go Hawks!
This is my first experience with a Frostheater. From what it sounds like I should be able to plug it in when I park my car for the night and let it do its thing until I leave in the morning. On average this would likely be about 12 hours. Does this cause any issues with the coolant by keeping it heated, will it cause degradation?
TIA

HawkGuy said:

From what it sounds like I should be able to plug it in when I park my car for the night and let it do its thing until I leave in the morning. On average this would likely be about 12 hours. Does this cause any issues with the coolant by keeping it heated, will it cause degradation?
TIA

Click to expand...

I plug mine in at work once in a while and leave it all day long...usually about 9 hours I guess. I pull in with the car at full operating temp, plug it in and leave it. I imagine the Frostheater has a fairly easy job maintaining the temp once it is already hot. I hope it doesn't hurt anything...lol, the thought hadn't occurred to me to be honest.

I have it on a timer at home though.

Heres a tip:

Get a high wattage Christmas tree light remote controlled switch.

I remote control turn mine on in the am, and by the time Im out of the shower/ready to go, its hot.

Remote control or timer if you don’t want to leave it on all night.

I have a post I just made about my heater core not getting warm. It would intermittently work but not reliably. I tried everything! Replaced heater core, all hard lines and soft hoses, thermostat, bled everything (even though it's a self bleeding system), and eventually replaced the water pump and timing belt. None of that made a difference. Finally I got sick of it and capped off the oil cooler and routed the supply from the oil cooler back to the heater core. I NOW HAVE HEAT!

Honestly I think it's just a poor design for the heater core supply. I just purchased a Y to connect the oil cooler again but I want to leave my heater core hooked up to this supply perminantly. I strongly suggest doing this if the simple things like flushing your heater core or replacing your thermostat don't work. Don't waste as much money as I did listening to friends and people on this forum who say "this next part has to be it! Just spend the money and replace it"

Rembrant said:

I plug mine in at work once in a while and leave it all day long...usually about 9 hours I guess. I pull in with the car at full operating temp, plug it in and leave it. I imagine the Frostheater has a fairly easy job maintaining the temp once it is already hot.

Click to expand...

Same here, mines plugged in all night at home 9 to 10hrs......wish I had the option to do so at work to!

scrambld said:

Same here, mines plugged in all night at home 9 to 10hrs......wish I had the option to do so at work to!

Click to expand...

My car was recently plugged in for 48 hours...lol, but not intentionally. I had to leave my car at one of our offices about 300 miles north (much colder up there), and I had asked my coworker if he would plug the car in for me a few hours before I got back. He ended up leaving a day early, so he plugged the car in before he left, and then I was a day late getting back, so instead of a couple hours my BRM coolant was cookin' for a couple days, and there was nothing I could do about it either. Oh well.

How about just make sure your electrical heater is actually working? I had to replace mine...those things are expensive

pedroYUL said:

How about just make sure your electrical heater is actually working? I had to replace mine...those things are expensive

Click to expand...

The electric aux heater only works temporarily. That means it’s useless if you drive more than 5 minutes or so. That’s not a practical solution to not having heat for most people. Plus they are very expensive to fix and not reliable. I suggest deleting it and fixing your heat by re-routing the supply. I’ve been going for a few weeks now and it’s so much better!