-4°F Northern Michigan in Coach

[Scott & Heather]

Jim those look like a nice system. Simple too. I could plumb it in at the Heater core up front too if I wanted to


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[Jim Eh.]

Not too sure on the amount heat loss by the time it got back to the engine block but sure would be instant heat in the cockpit as soon as you fired up 

[Oonrahnjay]

Not too sure on the amount heat loss by the time it got back to the engine block but sure would be instant heat in the cockpit as soon as you fired up   

      Lots of details would be different, but VW doesn't cast blocks for the TDI diesel (Jetta, Passat, Golf in N America) with freeze plugs so it's impossible to fit an ordinary element-type block heater.  A small company has come up with a system that uses one of those Temro heaters (it's just a kit with the heater, electrical cable and connector, brackets, and replacement hoses with correct length and bends).
      Of course, a bus engine would be different (10 L vs. 1.9), but that system works like a charm -- warm engine to start, instant defrost and interior heat, etc.  I'm gonna guess that one of the "in-line" heaters would be very useful in a bus. 
      VW "dealer accessories" offered a stick-on oil pan heater - I never tried one but the people who did said that they helped a little but there wasn't a lot of heat to the top of the engine and they had a habit of falling off the pan!  I think if I lived in a really cold area, I'd have an antifreeze (or block) heater and an oil pan heater, too.  But for VWs, the in-line seems to be the ticket.

[MB LeMirage]

I had an inline heater on my old caterpillar D4 and it worked awesome. We could fire the old beast up at temps down to the -30s C. Just a $60 Tempro unit from Canadian Tire, but boy oh boy it was the best thing I ever did to that machine.
Ryan

[Jim Eh.]

On my 7.3L pick up I disconnected the block heater and just use the Temro. They work better, when properly installed, because they circulate by inversion just that much better.

A note on oil pan heaters... oil when heated tends to separate into layers so basically you are just heating the first 1/2" to 3/4" above the bottom of the oil pan. Not really worth the electricity to drive it.

[Scott & Heather]

Jim, if the coolant is circulating constantly, heat loss wouldn't be too bad. The coolant lines are inside the insulated tunnel.


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[RJ]

Scott -

1st priority is getting that big old 92-series fired up, thus a coolant/block heater on the engine itself.

2nd would be a supplemental coolant heater for the defroster, especially with those big C-series windshields.

3rd to eliminate the use of starting fluid, unless you're planning on rebuilding your engine from its use.

My coach has a block heater, which has been used often over the last couple of years. I have a switch inside to turn it on - a couple hours later she'll fire right up just like it's 70* outside.

Consider it an investment, not an expense!

FWIW & HTH...

[Scott & Heather]

Nice! I like the switch idea. On my 9 I had to go out and plug it in every time.


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[Dave5Cs]

RJ where is your Block heater screwed into the block. right side or on the front behind the dip stick tube?
Dave5cs