lightning

lightning

Well-Known Member
Right then...it's obvious that the heater in our Defender TD5 is "marginal"....if I fit a Kenlowe fan will it heat up quicker in the winter, or is there not much difference? Also they claim 8% better economy...is this true?
Engine pre-heaters, has anybody had experience with these, are they easy to fit?
I don't want a repeat of last year where my wife sends me out in the freezing cold at 7am to warm up/de-ice the bugger.
 
I thought about going down the Kenlowe or pacet fan route a bit back. It's a lot cheaper to get a fan from the scrapyard and a thermostat from vehicle wiring products. Judging by what has been said on here about fans, you don't realy need one unless towing, so I doubt that it would make much difference to the heater. I reckon the biggest advantage of an electric fan is being able to switch it off if your doing any wading therefore not blathering the engine and what have you in muddy water.
 
you can probably remove the fan completely in the winter.
in normal driving it shouldnt overheat.
just watch the temp gauge though when stuck in traffic.

or put some good old tinfoil in front of the rad. keeping an eye on the temps will tell you if u need to add or remove some foil.
 
lightning said:
Right then...it's obvious that the heater in our Defender TD5 is "marginal"....if I fit a Kenlowe fan will it heat up quicker in the winter, or is there not much difference? Also they claim 8% better economy...is this true?
Engine pre-heaters, has anybody had experience with these, are they easy to fit?
I don't want a repeat of last year where my wife sends me out in the freezing cold at 7am to warm up/de-ice the bugger.
Click to expand...

Hi,Have you seen the new GSM-AUTO SYSTEM foer remotely operating pre heaters via a Mobole Phone and they will work on Kenlowe pre heaters and most others
On their site they list Kenlowe,Webasto and most of the others and there is a link to the Disco5 site showing how to connect a GSM-AUTO system to a Webasto.
I dont think they are dear although they quote about $199 dollars.
The link is PRE-HEATER REMOTE CONTROL USING A MOBILE PHONE, CELL PHONE and may be woth a look.
 
During the cold weather I remove my viscous fan completely. No problems even in heavy traffic for an hour or so. Not tried it during the summer though.
Be careful of tin foil because it also blocks your inter cooler which will cost you in power.
My TD5 heater is OK. Not scorchio but more than enough to keep things demisted and me comfortable during the recent snow.
Have you tried flushing your cooling system? You'd be surprised at what crap comes out of it. I used domestic central heating sludge remover for a week or so before draining and flushing.
 
nigelg said:
Hi,Have you seen the new GSM-AUTO SYSTEM foer remotely operating pre heaters via a Mobole Phone and they will work on Kenlowe pre heaters and most others
On their site they list Kenlowe,Webasto and most of the others and there is a link to the Disco5 site showing how to connect a GSM-AUTO system to a Webasto.
I dont think they are dear although they quote about $199 dollars.
The link is PRE-HEATER REMOTE CONTROL USING A MOBILE PHONE, CELL PHONE and may be woth a look.
Click to expand...

anybody tried them spam fritters
 
If your cooling system is operating correctly then the coolant doesn't even flow through the rad until it is up to operating temperature and the thermostat has opened, the heater is on the closed circuit so you get the warmer water straight away. If your thermostat is not closing properly then it will allow some water through the rad before it needs to be cooled which could be keeping the temperature down for a while.
Personally I run a viscous fan & no rad muff and my heater works fine even in the coldest of weather, full heat in under 4-5 miles (measured at the windscreen vents at 62degrees C).
 
Ken Spooner said:
i have a 110 1990 model and the heat output is negligible - is this normal?
ken spooner
Click to expand...
Yes and no. It's a 21 year old vehicle, and the heater's weren't great when new. However, making sure that what you've got is working correctly will at least get the best out of it.
Make sure your thermostat is opening correctly - the one in mine was opening way too early, so my engine wouldn't get up to temperature at this time of year. A genuine one is about £10 and makes a huge difference.
Replace your coolant and flush the system through.
Is the fan blowing? Make sure the heater box is well sealed to the bulkhead - you might be losing what little hot air it produces into the engine bay.
 
With regard to the fans - I have a 200tdi and don't run a viscous fan at all. I've got an electric fan sat in the garage to fit at some point - more as a backup / safety device than anything else. Over the winter I've had a radiator muff fitted, but left mostly open. Engine has quickly got up to 82 (ish) degrees and then stays there - even in traffic. A properly hot engine is also an efficient engine :)
 
Hi
Has any one fitted a kenlow heater to there discovery 2 td5.
And if so how did you do it.where did you put the heater and where did you plumb it in to the systems.
If there are any videos that would be good to see.
Hope someone can help
Cheers
Martin
 
I'm currently looking into fitting either an eberspacher or webasto to a 300tdi.

I've been looking on eBay for a unit, but the massive majority of pulls are incomplete. Most leave the fuel pump on the vehicle. The parts are expensive to buy sepperatly, so its important to get the whole lot on one go.
 
Td5 engine very expensive so I wouldnt advise running with no fan or even an elec fan in its place Im not scare mongering but 200 cold as ice 300 not much better and td5 just plain expensive if you cook it for whatever reason, well worth a google for engine heat soak, Im sure some people get away with it and Im always the first to try stuff and who cares what happens as I can fix it, but viscous still fitted on my D3!
Both my tdi engined cars have elec fans fitted but as stated well tried and tested and parts cheap.
I also believe kenlowe no longer exist?
As for the economy improvement I reckon thats utter bollacks after all no truck has an elec cooling fan and their entire wold revolves around fuel economy.

Block pre heaters on the other hand are dead good, mains powered easiest to fit but obviously no good when out and about, diesel ones lot more hassle to fit and they WILL go wrong at some point expensively!
Google frog (I think) engine pre heaters meant to be good and I have seen some for sensible money on the Polish version of ebay

Ive just fitted webasto timer to my D3 to activate the standard fit block heater at set times of the day.
 
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