ryanchris wrote:
TURBO-DIESEL-FREAK wrote:
ryanchris:
Go out and splurge on a Webasto TSL17 engine coolant heater... get the heater in a 923369 universal installation kit for all diesel powered vehicles that run on 12 Volt electricity. Install it using a Sasquatch Motorsports battery tray - it has a spot created under the battery for the heater to be conveniently mounted. Drop your fuel tank and install the fuel feed line SEPARATELY from main fuel line, and while you have the tank dropped, install an in-tank fuel lift pump because that is the BEST place for a lift pump to be.
Hook the coolant lines of the heater to the cooling system by plumbing through the viscous heater and the thermostat assembly; this method saves you from having to pull the engine to get directly at the block, but there is 1 negative to this method. When your correctly installed Webasto starts to heat up when it is switched on, it will heat the thermostat first. The temperature sending unit that feeds readings to the computer will shut off the glow plug circuit before the engine has a chance to warm up the block. This is O.K., because the Webasto heater is so powerful, it will heat up your engine faster than idling it to warm it up; you just have to realise that it is not O.K. to use the Webasto heater for only 5 minutes and expect it to start your engine. The block will still be stone cold, the thermostat will be hot and your glow plug circuit will be shut off.
Give the Webasto heater a chance to warm up your engine, and you can kiss all of your cold start problems good bye. The Webasto TSL17 is called that because at full blast it pumps out 17,000 BTU of heat... this is fully 12.5 times the heating capability of your block heater. Enough heat will be generated that you will never have to idle your engine to warm it up again... you will save a significant amount of fuel and wear and tear on your engine. You will also do an end run around the glow plug issues that the CRD has, because by preheating the engine with the Webasto they will never be called upon to turn on again. You can remove your great working but fragile ceramic glow plugs and install the durable steel but poorly performing plugs and never worry about having to starting again. A CRD owner who has a Webasto heater installed says that at -17 degrees Fahrenheit, his CRD warms up without being plugged in to a point where the needle is a the 1/4 mark in about 25 minutes.
While you are at it, consider installing a real engine thermostat assembly in your rig. Cheap and very effective thermostat valve replacements in the future. Way better heat, tighter control over engine temperatures, and better fuel economy will result. There is a sale locally here in Edmonton for Webasto heaters, and I can put together a package deal with the sale of a Hot Diesel Solutions Model 001 engine thermostat assembly if you wish.
That sounds awesome. I have looked into the Webastos before and they make some nice stuff. I was thinking about using one for a camping rig as a air temp heater. But they are alittle pricey for me at the moment with all the other money i have put into this beast. I do like your thermostat housing, but I hollowed the factory one out, and installed a jegs inline one with replaceable unit right after the factory hollowed out one before i knew about yours. It seems to work well. I like the jegs inline better because it bolts together and doesn't twist together like the others and have a change to work its way loose.
But just a thought on the Webastos and the piping. Couldnt I used the hole in the block where i installed the plug deleting the coolant line from the old egr system and pipe it in through that way? Assuming the heating unit has some kinda circulation of the fluid that way the coolant could move its way through the block right? Then just have the feed line tee of of some other place near the thermostat maybe or the vh lines. Maybe even use the space left vacant by the egr stuff to mount the heater...I am just guessing btw and have not looked into it or anything just a thought that crossed my mind when i read your comment.
There are several ways to plumb in a Webasto heater, and the way you are thinking of doing it is probably fine. The owner's manual has some helpful hints on the proper ways to plumb in the heater, and going directly to the block is the most effective way. The heater is so powerful for this application that it is hard to mess this part of the installation up. I think the power of the heater is why the normal method of hooking the hot line low on the block and the return line through the cylinder head was ignored in this application, because I think you have to pull the engine to do this or at least remove a lot of parts off of the engine to get to the ideal spots on the block and the cylinder head.
With your modified thermostat set up, at least you had the good sense to remove the guts of the O.E. housing. The overall effect of your set up should be O.K., but I think your cooling capacity in high demand situations might be adversely affected due to the fact that you have a bypass circuit that is permanently open now... this diverts at least some of the hot coolant back to the engine when it should be going through the radiator circuit.
I had a friend use a Webasto bunk heater to heat his Mac Tool truck, and it was constantly breaking down because he was asking it to heat too much volume. However, if you are only going to heat a small volume about the size of a sleeping bunk in a transport truck, I think you will be O.K. Depending upon the size of the volume for your camping application, I think you would be better off using a propane heating set-up.