Author Topic: new jetta heater or lack of!!!! (Read 4367 times)

madrogers · « **on:** January 03, 2009, 01:17:56 am »

OK, the Wife has a 2000 jetta tdi , the heat in the winter has aways bin iffy would take 15/20 min. to hit operating temp (needle just below center of gauge) (with heat blowing at #2 setting) the heater blows very weak and cabin never gets very warm . It has always been like this, and thought that was the way it is. THEN saw a person get out of a tdi jetta looked to close to same year in a tee shirt and that got me wondering??? what is the heat like in other cars it was -20 C at that time of the "TEE SHIRT" encounter. so what are your cars like????
Mark.

cyrus #1 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2009, 02:06:55 am »

My moms '04 sounds just like yours. It will warm up when working on the highway but cools right off as soon as you idle at all. Hers has heated seats though.

You may want to check the coolant glow plugs. Also, have you considered installing one of those circulating coolant heaters to heat things up before you set off?

the caveman · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2009, 03:07:45 pm »

Okay first problem is that you live in Winnepeg... :wink:
Seriously though, Check the strength of the a-freeze, no more than 50/50 which means as long as it's good to - 35 oC . Remember don't worry about wind chill, it's only us mammals that feel it.
Next make sure the water pump is still okay. One of the numerous reasons i left VW is when they decided to cheap out and use plastic impellers for the water pumps. Normally the diesel ones don't fail as much as the gasser ones ,but i have seen it. To check, at idle or with just a small amount of throttle you should have flow into the overflow bottle from the small hose.
Next thing is if your car has a manual trans, you will have those 3 glow plugs in the cooling circuit going to the heater. Check all 3 and if they are good, then you will have to make sure the electrical part is functioning. With the motor cold use a multimeter or ammeter to see if there is current going to them.

jtanguay · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2009, 03:27:40 pm »

my mTDI does about the same. unless driving hard it rarely gets up to temp. i think only on the highway does it ever... these engines are just too efficient!

my other problem could be my large bypass filter. its made out of steel so i could be losing a lot of heat from my oil this way... i'll have to make some sort of blanket to help keep the heat in. i've also thought of blanketing the full flow oil filter as well. being in the front, that thing must really cool the oil.

i'm seriously considering putting a piece of cardboard in the front as an air dam for the winter. if you decide to do this, make sure to keep an eye on the temp.

Smokey Eddy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2009, 03:54:06 pm »

I regularily blocked my rad (when my car ran...) in the winters or else it would definately not run at operating temp and i would feel it in the mileage

the caveman · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2009, 07:18:52 pm »

Even though TDI's are one of the most thermally efficient engines produced, the system should produce enough heat for complete heating. I never had problems with enough heat in my 98 TDI Jetta and believe me, i demand heat. I would say that even in the coldest weather here, -20,-30 oC i would enough after my regular morning drive of 10 minutes in town and then once i was on the expressway for 2 minutes i had HOT air from it.
Even on cold days on the highway after a while i would turn down the temp a little. There is no real reason you wouldn't have enough if everything is working properly. Then again a short drive on a super cold Winnipeg morning would test any car or truck. Just keep the fan off or on low until it gets warm. Getting a coolant heater will help engine life on top of giving you heat a little sooner.

madrogers · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2009, 10:17:37 pm »

i was thinking of a winter front to start , what sould bring the temp up to operating a littel faster but the cabinheater just does not blow very hard and it was like that from day one when it was brand new was hopeing to get some comments from some other owners of the 2000 and up models just to see what ther heaters are doing in relastion to moveing air and the temp of that air on a -20C day.
Mark.

jtanguay · « **Reply #7 on:** January 05, 2009, 06:34:57 pm »

Quote from: "the caveman"

Even though TDI's are one of the most thermally efficient engines produced, the system should produce enough heat for complete heating. I never had problems with enough heat in my 98 TDI Jetta and believe me, i demand heat. I would say that even in the coldest weather here, -20,-30 oC i would enough after my regular morning drive of 10 minutes in town and then once i was on the expressway for 2 minutes i had HOT air from it.
Even on cold days on the highway after a while i would turn down the temp a little. There is no real reason you wouldn't have enough if everything is working properly. Then again a short drive on a super cold Winnipeg morning would test any car or truck. Just keep the fan off or on low until it gets warm. Getting a coolant heater will help engine life on top of giving you heat a little sooner.

i'm finding all of that a little hard to swallow caveman.. my 1.6TD was as you describe... lots of heat! but the TDI i have just doesn't produce the same. your car must have been using the glow plug heater system.

the caveman · « **Reply #8 on:** January 06, 2009, 10:03:04 am »

To be perfectly honest i have 2 customers with exactly the same car ,well okay one is 2000 and the other is 2001. The 2001 hasn't had any complaints, but the 2000 complained to me about the lack of heat. I checked everything i told madrogers to do but i don't know if it solved his issue. He never told me one way or another [was the fall of 2007] One other customer i have has a 2000 but automatic but he also gets on the highway within 2 minutes of his house so his issue is not lack of heat but he does have problems getting heat to his WVO tank in the trunk once in a while. If we can say everything was equal can the difference be driving situations and style ? My 98 did have the glow plug heat assist and i guess works fine [ a very good friend has the car now and loves it. his wife would complain if there wasn't enough heat]. Sticking a piece of cardboard in front of the rad would help , but i can only think of it as a bandaid and not a solution.

VW_Commuter · « **Reply #9 on:** January 06, 2009, 10:53:47 am »

I don't think reducing airflow to your radiator in cold weather as "a bandaid and not a solution". If you look at many of the over the road trucks/18 wheelers they use the same concept when they snap on the vinyl air blocks in front of their grilles. The really fancy ones have multiple zippers so you can tailor the amount of airflow you allow so as to keep the engine at operating temperature and also allow proper coolant flow. If you rely on the thermostat to control the coolant temperature in sub-zero conditions you will end up throttling the coolant flow such that you can end up with hot spots in the engine which can lead to all sorts of nasty things happening.

the caveman · « **Reply #10 on:** January 06, 2009, 07:18:54 pm »

Quote from: "VW_Commuter"

I don't think reducing airflow to your radiator in cold weather as "a bandaid and not a solution". If you look at many of the over the road trucks/18 wheelers they use the same concept when they snap on the vinyl air blocks in front of their grilles. The really fancy ones have multiple zippers so you can tailor the amount of airflow you allow so as to keep the engine at operating temperature and also allow proper coolant flow. If you rely on the thermostat to control the coolant temperature in sub-zero conditions you will end up throttling the coolant flow such that you can end up with hot spots in the engine which can lead to all sorts of nasty things happening.

You are right, however you don't see them as much as before. One reason is than some have a controlled shutter system. My point is that why would one car work fine but not another. The car that has overcooling issues has something wrong compared with the car that doesn't. THEN again Germany doesn't have the cold that we have, and i know that VW used to have problems creating the deep cold with the humidity that some places [like Montreal] have. In cold temps combined with high humidity cause even more problems because of the condensation pulling heat out of components.
Okay Winterpeg has a dry cold but damn minus 40 is minus 40.
When i was working on the first generation rabbit diesels, to address the cold starting,running,heating issues, we have to tell customers to put a liter of gas with every tank, use 0-w30 [we had to source it from truck part shops, there was no synthetic then] and we would blend the a-freeze so it was good only until - 20 o F. Never saw a frost plug burst, but would certainly give the passangers a bit more heat inside.

VW_Commuter · « **Reply #11 on:** January 06, 2009, 10:26:56 pm »

In the Jetta that doesn't have any heat, can you hook up a VAG-COM while at operating temp and read what both temp senders are reading? You could also do that to the Jetta that does have heat and compare the readings to try and help point in the right direction.

Could the thermostat in the Jetta that doesn't have heat be stuck open? What does the temp gauge read after a good run on the highway?

the caveman · « **Reply #12 on:** January 07, 2009, 03:13:06 pm »

Quote from: "VW_Commuter"

In the Jetta that doesn't have any heat, can you hook up a VAG-COM while at operating temp and read what both temp senders are reading? You could also do that to the Jetta that does have heat and compare the readings to try and help point in the right direction.

Could the thermostat in the Jetta that doesn't have heat be stuck open? What does the temp gauge read after a good run on the highway?

Both good points

smutts · « **Reply #13 on:** January 24, 2009, 01:44:26 pm »

I don't know if this applies to your car, but my 1990 GTD had similar issues in winter, and a Brit winter is mild compared to the Brass Monkey stuff you have. So thermostat was my first port of call. For some reason, VW had made the thermostat with a bonded rubber seal on the disc that opens and closes the port. This disc was built with about a dozen 2mm holes around its perimeter, and the the rubber was vulcanized through these to anchor it in place. Rubber disintergrates, and for some reason your temperature stays cold. A solution looking for a problem :evil: .
Dont forget the superglue! :twisted:

the caveman · « **Reply #14 on:** January 24, 2009, 02:02:41 pm »

I checked my friend's [ my old car] 98 and the coolant glow plugs system isn't working. The relay is cooked. Found one from the distributor for $70. From the dealer it's $190!. Gonna change it next week and see how much it changes things. If it works well, i'm going to install one in my transporter for next winter, but i will switch them from the dash [i ain't got no ecu]