Interior heater - Where do I drill??

Up north where it's cold and dark this time of the year :)
Got another 3-5 cm of snow last night.
I take it you have a 400W contact heater bolted to the engine block?
What is your opinion of the efficiency of that heater?
The engine heater for a TDI is a direct coolant heater of 550W mounted between the oil cooler and the water pipe. See attached fitting instruction if interested. At my work, automatic timers are built into the electric outlets. The outside temperature decides for how long the pre-heat period will be. Unfortunatley I found this period to be little on the short side so I've actually been thinking of installing another heater. A grand total of 1100W of power.:D
 
Yep, i've got the contact heater. I'm pretty pleased with it.
 
Where did you put the inlet?

Hi,
can you please post a picture that shows where in the bumper you drilled for the power connector? I have a 1,4 TDI.

//Mats
 
I didn't drill through the bumber. Since my car doesn't have foglights I put the connector where the left hand foglight usually is.
 
Kable routing

Thanks Xiter! I put my inlet in the same spot. That worked just fine.

I have some more questions:

- Can you describe how you routed the cables in the enginecompartment?
- Where did you place the joint block?
- When you dismounted the inner plastic wheelhouse, did you manage to reuse the plastic "poprivets" or did you buy new ones?
 
Hi matsen

You can re-use the plastic rivets providing you press in the centre pin about 5mm before pulling the rivet assy out. Push too far and the pin falls out the back of the rivet and usually gets lost.

Cheers Spike
 
matsen said:
Thanks Xiter! I put my inlet in the same spot. That worked just fine.

I have some more questions:

- Can you describe how you routed the cables in the enginecompartment?
- Where did you place the joint block?
- When you dismounted the inner plastic wheelhouse, did you manage to reuse the plastic "poprivets" or did you buy new ones?
Click to expand...

From the left hand side fog light panel I pushed the cable upwards, near the left headlight and then followed the bonnet seal to the other side, where I routed it into the wheel house. I put the joint block along the way. Can't remember exactly where at this time.
If I remember correctly I didn't need to buy new rivets.
 
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I have now removed the plastic cover from the passanger's side wheel to reveal the hole to the interior. Thanks Xiter for sharing this!

During the removal of the plastic cover I lost 3 of the 7 or 8 rivets by pressing too deep the center. :mad: I have no clue how to get them back from the other side! Somebody knows the part number as this being the case, I most probably end up buying new ones soon?

Bye the way, those of you who has also wired through this hole, what did you remove from the interior to reveal the hole? Maybe the box or something else too...?
 
Glad I could be of help, it's usually the other way around :).
It was a long time ago but the only part I remember removing was the glove box. It may require other panels to be removed as well but I'm not sure.
 
jupis: the rivets aren't expensive. If you need some NOW I have a bunch here and can bring them with me on Monday morning... 8Z0 807 300 @ < €2 each.

Try enlarging the hole in the grommet (there's another one on the other side if you really need it) and squeezing the cable through. Is it a 2.5mm2 one?

It really ought to be only the glovebox.

I ought to do this myself at some point....

Bret
 
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I finished the installation today. The defa cable was thick as hell to put through the tiny hole. I had to brake some of the foam or whatever behind the hole to be able to get the chord straight through.

The rivets were only losses during installation :) I put there what I had left and cover seems to hang there so it can be as is as long as I don't have new ones to replace.

Just a short note for those of you thinking to do this interior socket via the same hole: I found there is a nice empty tube going in the top of the wheel house. See picture "chort_tube". It seems to be a good place to put all chords and most probably is designed for this purpose.

The white cables in the picture I put just in case I need them later for other purposes. What I need to do next is to install daytime running lights which I already have waiting. I either take the power to these led lights directly from the fuse box or then from the chord of the primary light unit. I don't know yet which way I choose to go. :rolleyes:
 
Where do I connect the batterycharger that comes in the Defa warmup kit? The charger itself has to be in the engine bay and I was hopeing I didn't have to pull cables directly to the battery in the back.
 
err... does it *really* have to be in the Engine bay?

If so, use the + from teh starter motor or pull a single 1.5mm2 cable through to the secret compartment under the driver's seat (on LHD cars).

Bret
 
Where to place the - cable? Also on the starter? This is an integrared kit so its convenient to keep everything in the engine bay.
 
no. On the left side of the engine bay there's an M5 threaded bolt hole, or at least there is on mine, and it's visible. My setup is all over on that side so it's extremely convenient for checking.

Bret
 
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