Additional heater??

[MickAdams]

Hi everyone,

My A6 2.7 TDI has the additional heater option in the climate control setup (I think this is standard fit?). I have it set to auto, which the manual says it will start working below 5 degrees to heat up the cabin before the engine/coolant are warm enough to provide heat with the standard heater.

What I'm really wondering is how long should it take before warm air is being blown into the car on a cold night? Should it be warm or just not as cold as outside? It currently takes 4-5 minutes before warm air is coming into the car and I can get the windows clear. Is the additional heater working or should I get it looked at?


Thanks,
Mick.

[richdee]

Hi my 2.7 tdi is the same - the auto heater is set to auto but it does not heat up that quickly, I think my wifes focus heats up quicker than my audi - let me know if you find anything out.

[Blashkyrk]

I have the same car and I think the heat comes quite quick. I have not tested it in really cold conditions. Will do that and post back as we have -10C today

The heater can be turned off by the battery management system if it thinks the battery is not up to it.

[Blashkyrk]

As promised I timed the heater yesterday after work. The outside temperature had risen from -10C to -3C during the day. The car had been parked outside all day (8hours) and not driven.

All settings on the climate control was in Auto mode then I change the output to the front outlets in the dash so I could easier feel the temp. Temperature for both sides were set to 22C. I started the car and drove away.

After 1:30 minute I could feel slight heat coming.
After 2 minutes I could feel real heat coming from the outles.

...so I think the auxilery heaters works quite good !

As I said before, check your battery if it doesn't work. I think the battery management turn off things that is not essential if the battery is weak.

[Roley140]

I have a 2.0TDi A4 which has the same setup, and even on the last few mornings of -3 to -4 degrees, I am getting warm air from the fascia vents after about 60 seconds driving. This works great, but must be a huge drain on the electrics.

[MickAdams]

Maybe the problem is I'm not actually driving the car, just sitting there idle waiting for the warm air to clear the windscreen. Call me a wuss but I like to be able to see where I'm going

Do you find it takes a lot longer when just idling the car?

[Roley140]

In a word - Yes.
It is not a great idea to expect a diesel to warm up very quickly at idle on a realy cold morning.

[Blashkyrk]

well...it's not the engine that we are talking about here, it's the auxiliary heater which is powered by electricity (battery). It's put there just because diesels are more efficient then petrol engines and thus produce less heat.

I still think you should check your battery level and if thats ok, then you should go to your dealer. My 2.7 Tdi produces warm airflow from the wents in less then 1 and 1/2 minute...while it might not be as hot as when the engine is warm its plenty warm enough to remove ice and humidity from the windscreen.