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Old 5th November 2006, 16:34   #1
lazyprod
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Unhappy PLEASE HELP! DEFA Warm up trouble

Hi,

I've had a garage mount a "DEFA warm up" engine heater to my ZT. However there seems to be a problem. The heater unit shorts itself somehow, after running for a couple of minutes. All the connections are fine and the garage is used to fitting these units in other cars (however not MG's)

As my car is a 1.8T it does have the "to small cooling system".. I wonder if this could have anything to do with the problem.. Sort of the heater running dry when getting hot.

The garage contacted the manufacturer, and the only solution they could come up with was to fit a short extension hose to the cooling system allowing more fluids to remain in the heater element(?!)

Has anyone else had this type of unit installed in their car? I had the system in my old ZR, no probs, warm & snugg...

I've had to replace the unit twice alreaady, going to replace it again this week...

Need to get it fixed as we had our first snow here in Stockholm this week, and there's more to come...

Any ideas?
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Old 5th November 2006, 18:49   #2
GreyGhost
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Bump............
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Old 5th November 2006, 21:28   #3
Keith
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Hi lazyprod I have moved your post over to this the technical help form so that it will get more appropriate exposure

I have never heard of the unit you describe can you provide pictures or a link to the manufacturers web site please?
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Old 6th November 2006, 17:30   #4
lazyprod
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Info about the heater systems can be found at http://www.defa.com
Made in Norway, they have the biggest chunk of market here in the nordic region. Where polar bears roam the streets five months a year...

Connects to the cooling system, straight on to the hose. The hose is cut, and the heater element is mounted between the two parts, allowing coolant to run through the heater body. Simply plug in to the electrical mains and your engine will never have to do a cold start again (if it works... which mine doesn't )
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Old 6th November 2006, 17:47   #5
Mike
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I would have real concerns about any item that plugs into the 1.8K on the 75. This is because of the small bore coolant runs on the engine and the real dangers posed by any drop in coolant available to the engine (HGF).

I know it doesn't help but I suspect that there may not be enough total coolant to run both the heater and engine - in that case if the heater is taking essential coolant away from the engine then that would be trouble -i.e. over heated and thus warped head etc.

If it was my engine then I wouldn't do this fit

hth and good luck
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Old 6th November 2006, 19:02   #6
direstraits
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Hi. This is a common system in Canada and the states. I do not know the cooling system of the engines but these heaters must be placed in a pipe that will allow free flow of water. If it is being placed in the pipe just after the thermostat then the flow will be restricted and the element would burn out as it would overheat. I would have thought that the bottom of the radiator on the return side would be best as the radiator would then heat up and the water would be able to flow through the engine by convection. I hope that this will be of some assistance to you.
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Old 6th November 2006, 19:29   #7
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Thanks for all the replies!

Talked to the garage, and they are quite confident they have solved the problem. Like "direstraits" mentioned this is a problem with fluids not flowing free through the heater.

It seems standard mounting can be a problem, when the cooling system is smaller than it should be... or "ample" as someone said ..

DEFA have solved this by making an extension hose, allowing the heater body to be mounted with basically a 90° angle compared to conventional mounting, allowing more fluids to remain inside the heater, minimizing the risk of air pockets, and overheating..

Now all we need to know is if it works in practice...

Heading of to the garage, hopefully tomorrow or whenever I can sneak of early from work

I'll let you know if this modification kit works.
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Old 6th November 2006, 19:32   #8
dustybin
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have no problem with mine, and it´s a 1.8t, firstly it connects to the heater hose which is directly connected to the engine with no obstructions, otherwise you´d get no warm air from your heater till the thermostat open´s, would you... Did the garage install the extra montering´s kit ?????? also these system´s don´t boil the heating system like a kettle, just warms the water , works fanstastic on my kangoo deisel, and all the glowplugs are dead.....
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Old 6th November 2006, 22:48   #9
direstraits
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I am glad to hear that the cure was really quite simple and that I was on the right track. in another life I was in the MN and spent many winter months in the Baltic and this was a problem with the emergency diesels and life boat engines. Designers are not always right and it takes observation to sort out this problems. Then its getting the designers to recognise that the troops may know what is going on.
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