Cold weather diesel operation tips?

[champjack]

hi guys . can some one tell me how the inline rad hose heater work.?
i have a 90 prado with a 2l-te engine with one installed, im not sure what kind it is. ...i pluged it in tonight and found it to get quite worm i was thinking i may wake up in the morning with coolant all over the ground. I was allso told that you can hear them work but i could not hear this one but it got hot enough to produce smoke but that may have just been residue on it i don't know. any info would be great i thought that they some how via pump or something moved the coolent through the engint?...

 

[crushers]

Wayne

Who are you buying from. I found Cool-it in Abbotsford. They are selling an espar coolant heater for around $800. Dose the one you are installing heat the cabin as well?

Zach

is this just the heater or complete with in cab control blah, blah... i bought mine from Bruce Lowen, i don't know what his mark up was but i highly doubt it was $1000...

i will give the company above a call next week and see what a kit is worth...
cheers and thanks for the lead...

 

[crushers]

hi guys . can some one tell me how the inline rad hose heater work.?
i have a 90 prado with a 2l-te engine with one installed, im not sure what kind it is. ...i pluged it in tonight and found it to get quite worm i was thinking i may wake up in the morning with coolant all over the ground. I was allso told that you can hear them work but i could not hear this one but it got hot enough to produce smoke but that may have just been residue on it i don't know. any info would be great i thought that they some how via pump or something moved the coolent through the engint?...

do you mean the big hose at the bottom of the rad or one of the smaller heater hose?
if it is the lower rad hose heater it is convection and "might" make a bubbling sound although with my great hearing <sarcasim> i have not heard anything...

 

[champjack]

lower rad hose . but i can't hear it but i sure can feel it verry hot looks like it could melt the hose

 

[Gold Boy]

lower rad hose . but i can't hear it but i sure can feel it verry hot looks like it could melt the hose

unplug the heater.

sounds like you have an air bubble in your cooling system. you need to run your engine and let the air bubbles pass out into your coolant overflow tank, top up with coolant as needed.

 

[Mattse.cx]

hint, the glow light sucks, if you listen for a bit after the light goes out you will hear a very faint (to me with hard of hearing it is anyway) click. crank it now.
sometimes you will need to glow more than once.

Yep. There are two clicks that come from the left side of the engine bay after you turn the key. The plugs are still glowing until the second click. On cold mornings, it seems to take around 10-15 seconds before the plugs are done and the relay clicks, and the light goes off after only 5 seconds.

Where I used to glow cycle 3 or 4 times according to the light, I now just wait for the second click.

 

[crushers]

lower rad hose . but i can't hear it but i sure can feel it verry hot looks like it could melt the hose

it is similar to the heating element in the bottom of your kettle. it gets very ot, DO NOT TOUCH. this is normal.
BUT as gold boy says, make sure there is not air trapped.

being mounted in the lowest part of the cooling system and because it works from convection there will not be a air bubble down there.

the smaller heater hose convection heaters are more prone to air trappage due to piss poor design...

 

[champjack]

thanks guys after work i will plug her back in and see how she gose

 

[champjack]

it works great , im not sure what kind it is but it sure keeps the water hoses nice and toasty. Was just a little scared at how hot that little unit gets but its all good . Thanks for the peace of mind.

 

[Whistler74]

Just to add my .02 - the lower rad hose heater was an easy install for me, although the "professionals" that did it the first time seemed to have a bit of trouble as I discovered two weeks later when I noticed the growing leak. Just make sure that the hose has no scale on the inside - if in doubt, replace the hose.

A couple of hours plugged in gets it toasty-warm inside.

If your memory is better than mine, remember to use the hand throttle knob to increase your idle speed to about 1000rpm or so before you shut down the engine for the night. That way you can just turn the key in the morning and it should start right up with a steady idle.

 

[oldblue]

The glow light on the dash is only telling you that the system is running a check on itself, ( this way it only gos for 1 sec.)

 

[waydownunder80]

2lte is a hand grenade in disguise ,change out the glow plugs mate,when the light goes out the glow plug voltage drops to 6 volts to aid cold running for the next 5-10 seconds depending on coolant temp,all 2lte`s smoke!! blue black white its all part of their job description

 

[KniferB's]

if you go onto the webasto web site and look for dealers in canada look up one's in alberta i'v found them for 950 in edmonton this way don't have one yet but saving for one at the moment. maybe for xmas but we will see.

 

[suckmybarrel]

There are different models for cab heating and water heating. I done it as the 2H would not even start with ether sprayed in at -20. All fluids are ready to lubricate properly as you turn the key. If you let it heat up long enough (max 120min with timer), everything will be warm (fluids, air, and even the snow will melt from you hood).

 

[Douglas S]

I'm really looking forward to having a Webasto this winter.

Now to just get it installed...