In news:br53sc$dv$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk, Lofty wrote: | Since I bought my Freelander TD4, i've been wondering what the short | stainless steel pipe sticking out if the front bumper just in front | of the left had wheel was. | On starting the engine and leaving it running to un-frost the | windscreen, I notice steam coming for this pipe. On closer | investigation it seems to be a lorry night heater type thing running. | It is evident that it is making the in-car heater work well before | the engine becomes warm. Bloody hell I thinks, this is good!!! | No one told me about this when I bought it. | Since then i've looked at several Freebies, and only found one with | the same heater, or at least a pipe sticking out the bumper. | | I have a few questions:- | 1. Is this heater an option on new vehicles? If not what vehicles | have this heater as standard? | 2. What criteria does it need to operate, as it fires up on a cold | morning whether the in-car heater is on or not? | 3. Is it heating the engine coolant water? | 4. Can I make this heater come on unattended, so the vehicle is hot | when I come to start it? | 5. Has it got a more important purpose other than just heating the | cabin? | | Any advice on something I think is wonderful, but did'nt know I had | would be welcome, as I can't find anything about it in the owners | manual. Purhaps I shouldn't know its thier! | | Loft
It's probably a Webasto unit - I know they are an option on Discoveries, did not know on Freelanders.
Because modern engines are so efficient (yeah, I know) they don't generate so much 'waste' heat so often need a helping hand to warm up. Webasto produce a 5KW fuel fired heater to boost this by heating up the engine's coolant.
In your case I suspect the ECU is triggering the burn, not for your benefit but to get the engine up to speed quickly to reduce emissions, improve performance etc.
To make it act stand alone you can buy the control module and connect it in. This will allow the unit to start up on the press of a button [1], under control of a timer[1], remote control blipper[2] or even a pager[2].
See your dealer, or browse
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I have one fitted in my Defender TD5 (after market fitment, so got all the control bits, but not linked into the ECU) and it really upsets my shift colleagues when I can come off night shift and get straight into a warm car and go home while they waste 10 minutes defrosting!
Incidentally, on my new Webasto I have an option to run it in the summer - it does not run the burner but does run the ventilation fan helping to cool the car down a little bit. Magic!
Cheers
Mark [1] standard controls [2] extra cost (lots) option