Auxilary Heater

Matt

Matt

Registered User
Joined
Jul 4, 2006
Messages
1,413
Reaction score
4
Points
38
Location
Cumbria
Still getting to grips with things on my car so been looking up things in the handbook and spotted something called the Auxilary heater.

Is this an optional extra or is it not UK spec? I dont think my car has it as when I scrolled through the DIS I couldn't find it.

And what model year is my car? Its a September 2007 A3. Has the newer style radio/cd player if thats any help!
 
I think you'll find you've not got one. They are usually fitted to cars in colder climates - Scandinavia etc. My previous car, a Citroen HDI had one - an Eberspacher model fitted under the bonnet by the nearside wheel arch. It had its own diesel fuel supply and a glow plug to fire it. A small exhaust pipe came out of it. It caused chaos as far as I was concerned. Smoke would pour out of its exhaust for the first 5 mins of running. On 2 occasions when stopped at lights with smoke pouring out from under the bonnet I had pedestrians hammer on the window pointing and telling me my car was on fire! lol My local dealer said another customer got thrown off a petrol forecourt by the owner ' before the whole effing place goes up!' I sat in the car once with smoke coming out of the air vents on the dash! After that I got the dealer to remove the sensor that controlled it and fit a switch on the dash so I could control it myself. Some of them nowadays are electric. I can't say I'm missing mine. although it did give a very fast warmup.
 
The auxilary heater will start blowing out hot air almost immediately when the car is turned on - whereas your standard AirCon\Climate Control will take a few minutes until the car is heated up before doing so.

A september 2007 car is MY08. As far as I know it changes in June or July.
 
Strange that they don't consider the UK worthy of them.
Okay, I'm in the NE of Scotland, but a winter drive from home to work can be a ****** cold one.
Which is why I tend to leave my car idling for ages, before using it in the winter.
I know, I know, you're not supposed to do it, blablablabla.
 
I've always left my cars idling on frosty mornings to clear ice from the glass and I've never had any problems with them unless its something that takes along time to rear its head?

My Dad used to have a Ford Galaxy with the 1.9 TDI VAG engine and that had the auxiliary heater. But it was an import so thats maybe why?!
 
Matt said:
I've always left my cars idling on frosty mornings to clear ice from the glass and I've never had any problems with them unless its something that takes along time to rear its head?
Click to expand...

I've been doing it for 23 years now too, never had a problem.
Some say it's bad for the engine, for some reason.
I think the manual says you shouldn't do it, so maybe people are just following the manual verbatim.
"Thou shalt not blablabla"
I'll continue to do it though, that's for sure.

I'm pretty sure some VAG products have the aux heater though.
I seem to remember reading something about the diesel MPV's having them.
Something about the exhaust being moved so that it didn't exit out of the wing anymore, because people were getting 'fire scares'.
 
Hmmm..... my Touran smokes from the front (they all do it sir) but it takes bl@@dy ages to warm up inside:motz:
 
steveg9 said:
Hmmm..... my Touran smokes from the front (they all do it sir) but it takes bl@@dy ages to warm up inside:motz:
Click to expand...

Not as long as it would take WITHOUT one though!
;-)
 
fair comment!!!! Having owned the 'ran for four years with 140PS can't wait for the A3 (lower and lighter!!):yes:
 
Diesels have an extra electric heater to produce quicker heat inside the car after start up, the auxilary heater option works with a timer or remote switch which can warm everything up before you step outside the house, one of these i would likenow its getting cold, now glad i got those heated seats.
 
Strange that they don't consider the UK worthy of them.
Okay, I'm in the NE of Scotland, but a winter drive from home to work can be a ****** cold one.
Which is why I tend to leave my car idling for ages, before using it in the winter.
I know, I know, you're not supposed to do it, blablablabla
Click to expand...

Perhaps when you get your desireable D3 someone may just jump in and drive it away!
 
h5djr said:
Perhaps when you get your desireable D3 someone may just jump in and drive it away!
Click to expand...

That is where you need to be a bit clever and have the second key. Start car with usual key, and then use the spare to physically lock it!
 
steveg9 said:
Hmmm..... my Touran smokes from the front (they all do it sir) but it takes bl@@dy ages to warm up inside:motz:
Click to expand...

My collegues UK spec touran has an aux heater and used to smoke up front as well. He received a letter about a recall to change the exhaust system of the aux heater to extend it back.
 
Eeef
Now that's interesting. When I had direct contact with Eberspacher in Germany re the one fitted in my Citroen a few years back, I suggested that very thing i.e. extending the exhaust backwards. They said they couldn't do that as it would affect the running temperature of it and make it far too cool.
 
Twizzler said:
I think you'll find you've not got one. They are usually fitted to cars in colder climates - Scandinavia etc. My previous car, a Citroen HDI had one - an Eberspacher model fitted under the bonnet by the nearside wheel arch. It had its own diesel fuel supply and a glow plug to fire it. A small exhaust pipe came out of it. It caused chaos as far as I was concerned. Smoke would pour out of its exhaust for the first 5 mins of running. On 2 occasions when stopped at lights with smoke pouring out from under the bonnet I had pedestrians hammer on the window pointing and telling me my car was on fire! lol My local dealer said another customer got thrown off a petrol forecourt by the owner ' before the whole effing place goes up!' I sat in the car once with smoke coming out of the air vents on the dash! After that I got the dealer to remove the sensor that controlled it and fit a switch on the dash so I could control it myself. Some of them nowadays are electric. I can't say I'm missing mine. although it did give a very fast warmup.
Click to expand...
I know exactly why there were problems on that car:

Twizzler said:
Citroen
Click to expand...
:arco:

But anyway, I noticed the auxillery heater option when I first got mine and I asked about it at my dealers and they knew nothing of it. Suffice to say you can't get it fitted in the UK. I asked about it for my current order and it was a no go.
 
mm, there's actually three types of extra heaters available to A3, at least here. Well, one is diesel only which heat the incoming air with electricity, then there's webasto which burns fuel to warm-up the car before you start it, and while you're running it (the first few miles for example).

Those two actually work, but then there's the third (or fourth..), which is the oil/water heater. They take the power from cord infront of the car. There's the old type of doing it, heating the water, which is fine and works well, but at least wasn't available to 2,0FSI engines, since it's aluminium or something. All they offered to these new FSI engines was 'radiation heater', which warms up the oil..

.. well, it should warm up the oil. In truth, when you need it, it's too cold that it would actually work. At -20C, there's no difference at all, the car warms up just as fast with or without. Just a waste of electricity.

Sometimes new solutions just don't.. work.
 
The Eberspacher worked extremely well - it had over 3kw output and heated the engine coolant giving a very fast engine and interior warmup. On the coldest of days the car was at its 90degree running temp within 3 miles. The problem was the smoke it generated. Not noticable in motion but very evident at a standstill.
 
Webasto & Eberspacher are basically same products, just competing manufacturers. Yes, they work, and of course they make smoke if you want heat. How do you burn something without smoke?

In the motion, it's turned off after certain point. Not to mention, your car makes a lot of smoke (well, steam actually) standing still as well, in the cold.
 
yak, There's smoke and theres smoke! My engine burns diesel but it doesn't produce clouds of smoke that envelop the car and blow out of the vents on the dashboard! You are correct when you say it turns off in motion - it does, but not until the engine reaches its normal running temperature. The local natives thought my car was fueled by an underbonnet garden bonfire! An Eberspacher engineer had to be sent to my local Citroen dealer to decoke it as it became clogged with soot.
 
Hi Bowfer, I think the reasoning for not letting your engine tick over from cold was a throwback to when people used petrol I think that's what they called it, condensation & acids building up in the exhaust & rotting them from the inside.

I'll get me coat.....

Oh & get heated seats they're a fantastic option, just wish they'd do the steering wheel also, I'd go for that too if they offered it.
 
Detector said:
Oh & get heated seats they're a fantastic option, just wish they'd do the steering wheel also, I'd go for that too if they offered it.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough I found myself wanting a heated steering wheel the other morning! :laugh:
 
Diesel A3s have auxiliary heaters, what we don't get in the UK is the ability to programme it to operate without turning the engine on via DIS. Below 5 deg C it comes into operation. I wish this temperature could be changed as at 5.5 degrees the car takes ages to get warm air through, but 5.5 is hardly tropical when compared to 5! At 5 degrees it only takes a minute or so.
 
Yeh the electronic ( think it is based on a ceramic) heater works pretty quickly, so good for defrosting, its not really warm, but certainly warmer than the outside air!
 
The ceramic heater presumably only heats the air to the car interior and not the engine coolant? The diesel fired Eberspacher had a 3.5kw output and you're not going to get that out of the battery or alternator.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
heater
Replies
0
Views
771
bdr
B
Zac
Auxillary Heater
Replies
13
Views
2K
Sayam
Sayam
BakPak
Heater issues
Replies
1
Views
345
BakPak
BakPak
E
Heater issues.
Replies
1
Views
510
ch1z64
ch1z64
D
Heater matrix
Replies
3
Views
9K
SootySport
SootySport
Top
Back