Hi guys.

So last year my tdi vrs took nearly the whole journey to reach peak water temp but I doubt the oil got up to peak temps. What I'm wondering is what can I do to help the thermally efficient engine heat up quicker and at the same time being sympathetic to the engine.

On a cold morning is it bad for the engine to let it idle for say ten minutes? 5 is the usuall idle time while I scrape ice off the windows.

How about blocking off some of the grill to reduce the amount of cold air hitting the engine, which parts should I look at reducing the opening on, top and bottom?

And the next thing is the dpf, is there anyway I can reduce cold air hitting it so that it works passively over the coming cold months.

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Trade it in for a petrol.... Mines toasty by the time I've scraped the wndows!

Block the grill up with something?

Team heiko or however you spell it who do the wind deflectors also do something that covers the upper grill. I'm tempted to try something more pikey in the first instance as a trial.

Allowing the car to idle for 5 mins will make no difference in my experience.

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Trade it in for a petrol.... Mines toasty by the time I've scraped the wndows!

I agree, mine warms up in a minute or two. but find interior of cabin warms up quicker by not using auto.

Driving straight off and making the engine work (gently!) is far and away the best way to warm it up. I would leave it idling for as little time as poss, and if it's cold enough where you are for ice build-up on the windscreen I would pre-empt it by putting a big sheet of cardboard on it the night before.

Block the grill up with something?

Which grill top or bottom? I take it the bottom grill is for the radiator adn I cant block that one up, the top just looks open to allow airflow over the engine, and a bit for the air intake.

EBay has a variety of engine block heaters - in Northern Alberta just about every vehicle has them fitted and parking lots outside restaurants and hotels etc provide hook-up points.

 

Can't vouch for any of the heaters listed but it is a technology that works. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/engine-pre-heater

I've bought the team heko for my top grill this winter. £34 from eBay and it comes from Poland. Got mine in under a week. It has a hole for the bonnet release and clamps not the plastic fins

Hopefully I can get up to 90c before the end of my 20mile commute this year.

EBay has a variety of engine block heaters - in Northern Alberta just about every vehicle has them fitted and parking lots outside restaurants and hotels etc provide hook-up points.

 

Can't vouch for any of the heaters listed but it is a technology that works. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/engine-pre-heater

just don't buy anything 110-120 volt        can't speak for your engine but does it have heater plugs(2 or 3) ?  on VAG stuff found (usually) on the opposite end of the block from the cam belt   if so you could disconnect and rig a manual feed -one relay will do 2 plugs but you also need a hefty fuse    or you could fit a heater from a scrapper -I used a citroen one from a scrapper with 4 plugs switched in pairs   rarely need all four at once 

So last year my tdi vrs took nearly the whole journey to reach peak water temp but I doubt the oil got up to peak temps.

How long is the journey?

 

As above, the best way to warm engine up is to drive the car, not have it idling. The manual for my car says as much and I expect yours will too.

 

Block heaters are expensive. Certainly not worth it if fuel saving is the goal, but by the sounds of it you want the engine warmed up for other reasons? If it's purely for the sake of the engine then have the in car heating off, or at as low a temperature as you are comfortable with. Less heat blown into the passenger compartment means less heat taken away from the engine.

 

The ecomodder forum is a good place for information on grill blocks if you're interested. The primary interest there is their effect on improved mpg, but part of that comes from helping the engine to warm up more quickly.

Edited 2 November, 201312 yr by Ultrasonic

Super Skoda do one

http://www.superskoda.com/Skoda/OCTAVIA-II/Octavia-II-Scout-winter-grille-cover-for-the-front-bumper

Has anyone tried one of the Team HEKO winter covers?  Do they work without any worries of overheating?

 

I like the look of the Heko and Superskoda upper grill covers, I haven't come across these before. Much neater than the DIY options. Must admit I'm tempted.

 

On my car (and I guess more recent models) the air intake is in line with the top right of the upper grill as you look at the front of the car. I assume that the engine actively sucks air in though so this is a non-issue, right?

 

Does anyone have any experience of how insurance companies react to this mod?

Edited 2 November, 201312 yr by Ultrasonic

I like the look of the Heko and Superskoda upper grill covers, I haven't come across these before. Much neater than the DIY options. Must admit I'm tempted.

On my car (and I guess more recent models) the air intake is in line with the top right of the upper grill as you look at the front of the car. I assume that the engine actively sucks air in though so this is a non-issue, right?

Does anyone have any experience of how insurance companies react to this mod?

Insurance? Mod? Seriously?

Do we need to contact the insurance for a magic tree air freshener to?

Its not a mod. Its a device to help the engine heat up quicker, nothing more, nothing less. Its not aesthetic.

Won't blocking up the grilles impede the intercooler?

 

I seriously considered getting an engine block heater last winter. I researched them extensively and found a Canadian company that ships to the UK. They produce a pad type heater that sticks onto the bottom of the sump. Available in a 240v version and in a variety of wattages depending on sump capacity. They recommended a 120 Watt version and they say it would heat up the oil by 40C in 2 hours.....All for £44 including delivery.

 

In the end I didn't bother getting one.....mostly because I wanted to be able to plug it in without opening the bonnet, and I couldn't think of a way to do this while keeping to the plug dry. I know a lot of Canadians have the plug hanging out of the grille exposed to the elements.....this might be ok on 110v, but I think would be unsafe with a 240v installation.   

Insurance? Mod? Seriously?

Do we need to contact the insurance for a magic tree air freshener to?

Its not a mod. Its a device to help the engine heat up quicker, nothing more, nothing less. Its not aesthetic.

Well it is certainly a very visible change, and actually I do quite like the look of it (in the photos at least). Also, people who don't understand what it is could easily think it was purely cosmetic. But that isn't really the point either way - a mod is something that changes the car from the standard spec.

 

I would hope an insurance company wouldn't charge for this, but reading my own insurance policy it's not at all obvious that this isn't something they would want notifying of. An air freshener is of course entirely different!

 

I was planning to phone my insurance company tomorrow to enquire about changing to winter wheels and tyres, so I'll ask about a grill block while I'm at it.

Edited 2 November, 201312 yr by Ultrasonic

Heko direct. Don't appear to be any pre-FL ones on eBay.

http://www.e-heko.com/en/Marka_Model/SKODA_OCTAVIA/II-2004.html

It modifies the performance of the car, its a mod.

Engine heater if you want to go to town! Only experience of these I have is them being fitted to ambulance I used to drive.

Electric engine heaters are really common up here in northern Europe. The major manufacturers are Defa and Calix. 

 

As for just starting the car to let it warm up... that method isn't very effective on a modern diesel, or on a modern petrol engine for that matter. My 1.4 TSI needs to work to warm up. My drive to work consists of lots of traffic lights and coasting, so it never warms up properly. If I head out of town where I can stay on the throttle for more than a few seconds at a time, it warms up pretty quickly. 

 

Has anyone tried one of the Team HEKO winter covers?  Do they work without any worries of overheating?

 

 

My Skoda dealer sells these. Their parts guy promised me that it's OK to cover the upper grille in fall, winter and spring with no issues. He told me that if I was to cover the lower grille as well, I would have to start paying attention to the temperature gauge. 

 

It modifies the performance of the car, its a mod.

How exactly?

Do I need to tell them about my roof bars, my cycle carriers, my bikes?

Has anyone tried one of the Team HEKO winter covers? Do they work without any worries of overheating?

I'll let you know as I have one sitting in the garage

And by the way, fit and finish is pretty good. 

 

The couple of times I went to Sweden every car seemed to have a block heater and car parks had electric sockets to plug into whilst you shopped or worked. In the ten years I lived in Iceland I never saw one. I would suggest the UK is, at least below the Scottish Highlands, too warm to bother.