[Vwdiesel] Grumpy starting

[Dave Cook]

In the last diesel I drove regularly, I had a block heater and a very small trickle charger from WallyWorld that got plugged in at the same time.  The charger was tucked between the headlight and battery and was plugged into a short extension cord with the block heater, and the extension cord is what I plugged into the house.

Dave Cook


--- On Wed, 12/9/09, William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:

> From: William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net>
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Grumpy starting
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 12:19 AM
> I wouldn't waste time putting a
> heating pad under a battery. Instead, put a battery charger
> or trickle charger on the battery. This way the battery
> temperature is raised to around +70F &battery will be
> fully charged. Haven't owned a TDI although I would like to.
> If there are no accessible frost plugs, why not splice the
> lower radiator hose & install one there? Some of the
> Canadian & Alaska members should be able to find out
> what sort of engine heaters they use on TDIs. 
> As to frost plugs, they are really there to clean the sand
> out of the block after it was cast, not as a protection
> against freezing. One pet peeve I have is that manufacturers
> use steel rather than brass. The steel will rust out but the
> brass plugs won't. Steel is used because it is cheaper.
> False economy, in my opinion. Had one of those front plugs
> rust out on my wife's Taurus. The plug was located in the
> behind the bell housing so the transmission has to be
> removed. Was over my head & expensive to have a
> professional remove it. Told him to remove every steel OEM
> frost plug & replace them with brass or bronze frost
> plugs. 
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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