I got this little electric input under front right head light on my fabia. not sure what it is for. the car came with a rather long power cable and I have not plugged it in as yet. here is a pic of what I am talking about:

http://www.butterpeanut.com/fabia/imagepages/image4.htm

look at the lille black bit under the light. What is this input for? I am assuming it could be one of 2 things:

1. charging,

2. heating it in the winter (I live in COLD sweden...)

thanks for any comments,

modern andrew

It may be one of those things that heats the coolant in the winter like you say.... so it nice toasty in the morning for you...

I was going to say a preheat, but surely the glowplug would remove the need for one?

Hewesy

You haven't bought an electric car by accident?

Chris

You haven't bought an electric car by accident?

Chris

haha, i hope not. If I have, it's taken 67 litres of petrol already : )

oh, Hewesy, what is a GLOWPLUG by the way?

It looks like the mains connector for an electric pre-heater for the coolant. If you look under the bonnet there will be a silver cylinder connected to the plumbing and to the other end of this socket.

oh, Hewesy, what is a GLOWPLUG by the way?

Simply, it's the diesel equivalent of a spark plug

Chris

It looks like the mains connector for an electric pre-heater for the coolant. If you look under the bonnet there will be a silver cylinder connected to the plumbing and to the other end of this socket.

I'll go have a look a bit later under the bonnet..

ALSO...

I am not sure if you looked at the other pics but there is a massive and disgusting 'S' sticker on the back (S = Sweden) that I really want to get rid of. Here is a pic:

http://www.butterpeanut.com/fabia/imagepages/image3.htm

It is a sticker as oppsed to a magnet. Any ideas how to get it off without leaving marks?

It is a sticker as oppsed to a magnet. Any ideas how to get it off without leaving marks?

Heat it up with a hairdryer & carefully pull it off.

pull it off then use some bug and tar remover or similar to remove the residue then clean and polish the area to protect the paint

i'd say like others have that the plug is either a pre-heater or a trickle charger but more likely a pre-heater

I had the same thing on my old Jeep in Canada.

It's for an engine block heater. The temps used to go to -40 deg C for 2 weeks every year in Ottawa (I was 6 years there!).

You plug it in to the provided (!) AC mains plug recepticle in the garage, and when you start up in the morning, the car starts realtively easily. Otherwise the oil is so thick and the battery so weak that it would be a struggle.

Needless to say, I removed it when I moved back out to the Arabian Gulf!!!!

Cheers

Bas

I am originally from Canada, now living in a warmer climate too..

All my Canadian cars had block heaters. They are not designed to warm the car in the morning, rather to help the liquids in the block stay in their liquid form - (oil as Basil said) and coolant too. Cars without block heaters at -40 or further below end up with cracked blocks because the coolant can freeze. When it freezes it expands and if there is no where to expand to, ice is one of the most powerful physical motivators. lol

In the province of Alberta (very cold in winter - up to -60 with the windchill factor) most diesels are kept runing all night long. They won't start early in the morning if you turn them off - even with glow plugs and block heaters. You have to wait for the sun to come out and warm up engine and fuel. Then, once you start your lump you get black smoke clouds that make the Kuwait oil fires' smoke columns dim in comparison. lol

It certainly is a blockheater system from Norwegian company DEFA.

You'd better check if it also has a automatic battery-charger as well!

I'll go have a look a bit later under the bonnet..

ALSO...

I am not sure if you looked at the other pics but there is a massive and disgusting 'S' sticker on the back (S = Sweden) that I really want to get rid of. Here is a pic:

http://www.butterpeanut.com/fabia/imagepages/image3.htm

It is a sticker as oppsed to a magnet. Any ideas how to get it off without leaving marks?

Pull as much of the sticker off as you can, and then use petrol to remove any that's stuck on. Wash the area thoroughly afterwards.

as for the sticker, thanks for advise, but I have a feeling I need to keep it on. I live in Sweden, hence the 'S', but I travel everyday to Denmark for work. I think I may need this S bumper sticker as a mark of where the car is registered...

Ss for the electric plug, hmm.. thanks for confirming. I doubt i will use it though : ( as I am in the south of Sweden, and it only gets to about -10'c in the winter and I am parked in a basement garage, where the temperature will not get too low.

more questions to come though. i am amazed at how much you guys know, and the rapid responses : )

andrew

s for the electric plug' date=' hmm.. thanks for confirming. I doubt i will use it though : ( as I am in the south of Sweden, and it only gets to about -10'c in the winter and I am parked in a basement garage, where the temperature will not get too low.

[/quote']I use my pre-heater all year round. Even if the air temperature is 30