Its frickin freezing in here Mr Bigglesworth

[Munster]

I cant imagine for a second that this is a new topic, but here goes anyway!

I'm a proud new father of a 2003 90 Defender County SW, I love it! But, I commute to work every day, I drive to the train station at a ridiculous time in the morning and that drive is just under 10 minutes, just short enough that the heat just starts to dribble out of the vents as I turn the engine off.

Now I'm sure is not a 'fault' as the heater works fine when the engine is warm, but that big lump of cast iron just takes so long to heat up!

Has anyone come up with a solution for this outside of electric handwarmers/wood burning stoves or tieing puppies to your hands in the morning??

The only things I can think of are;

- Restricting airflow to the radiator for short journeys

- buying an inverter and getting an electric heater

- getting an aftermarket heat exchanger (still needs the engine to heat up though)

- buying some sort of caravan/boat heating system

- Fitting an AGA and just having it run 24hrs

Has anyone come up with anything more workable, I did think that the heating system in the XS might be better, are there any upgrades available?

Cheers

Nial

[GBMUD]

The only things I can think of are;

- Restricting airflow to the radiator for short journeys

- buying an inverter and getting an electric heater

- getting an aftermarket heat exchanger (still needs the engine to heat up though)

- buying some sort of caravan/boat heating system

- Fitting an AGA and just having it run 24hrs

Has anyone come up with anything more workable, I did think that the heating system in the XS might be better, are there any upgrades available?

Sorry, but what ya got is all there is! The XS has the same heater as my base model 110 - and that takes twice as much warming!

You can get fuel burning heaters to pre-heat the engine, see Eberspacher (sp?) or Webasto - Some Discovery and Freelander had these as standard to help warm up once running, but you can add a timer to make them warm the car before you get in. Electric heaters can do the same job, see Kenlow.

My personal budget favourite is to put a 2kW mains heater in the back of the car using an extension lead the night before you need it. In the morning you turn it on from indoors before breakfast. Once you are ready to leave the house you disconnect the heater and the car is lovely and warm and defrosted for you. Because all the seats and other interior bits warm up there is sufficient residual heat to last until the engine is warmed up.

Chris

[Steve King]

Loads of info Here

Steve

[Mo Murphy]

Perhaps, Niall, you're not cut out for the rugged, manly, cold, world of Defenders ?

Mo

[Anderzander]

10 mins is such a short time that I think I'd just wear a hat and gloves.

I have a 20 minute journey to work, which I seemed to be able to have some impact on - first I put cardboard down my grill on mine which helped - then I just took the viscous fan off - which helped a lot more. (Though the biggest improvement was a huge improvement in how cleanly it revs!)

[Milemarker Type S]

Start by removing the viscous fan- not exactly needed at this time of year- especially on a 10 minute journey. This will allow the engine to warm up quicker- much better for it as well as the oil will get up to temperature quicker.

[bishbosh]

Surely we are looking at this from the wrong angle....?

If one only has a ten minute journey to the station, surely one should look to alternative methods of transport.

For example, if one was to use one's bicycle, one would arrive at the station toasty warm n'est ce pas??

Now, where did one leave one's coat........

[Munster]

Surely we are looking at this from the wrong angle....?

If one only has a ten minute journey to the station, surely one should look to alternative methods of transport.

For example, if one was to use one's bicycle, one would arrive at the station toasty warm n'est ce pas??

Now, where did one leave one's coat........

One could also buy a pair of hiking boots and walk those green lanes, but one has a Land Rover to play with so if one gets to enjoy the first 10 minutes of his otherwise boring 14 hour day then one will do so by driving his Land Rover!! I just want better heaters!!!

[DaveSIIA]

At the risk of putting the cat amongst the pigeons, the heater in my 300Tdi 110 has managed to de-ice the windscreen on the coldest of mornings this winter if the vehicle is left ticking over from cold for 5 minutes. If driven from cold, warm air comes from the vents within a couple of minutes. So far, I have not felt uncomfortable chucking on a fleece jacket if popping out on a short journey.

The heater was replaced a few weeks back, as the blower failed, by a complete assembly out of a 2002 Td5. All linkages/cables were correctly adjusted. The thermostat was replaced ~18 months ago with a genuine parts item, and the viscous fan is present - all in all, a stock installation. For reference, my old Td5 110 also heated up pretty quickly once I had set the linkages. It would be worth checking out the link referenced by Vambo ^^^^^.

One has to accept there is a limit as to how much can be achieved from a cold diesel engine unless it is worked. It will take longer to warm up if driven gently

[headhunter]

Fit a Kenlowe Pre Heater.

It is plumbed into your engine cooling/heating system and uses an external 240v domestic supply which you plug in and switch on in the morning 20 minutes before you leave.

See here - http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/index.html

John

[Munster]

Fit a Kenlowe Pre Heater.

It is plumbed into your engine cooling/heating system and uses an external 240v domestic supply which you plug in and switch on in the morning 20 minutes before you leave.

See here - http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/index.html

John

Haha, I'm a bloke, I wake up 5 minutes before I leave!!!!

Thanks though, I'll have a look at all the options, I think probably a fan heater on a timer is the way to go!

[santalars]

You also could get a remote start key fob which is included in many relatively cheap car alarms. press the button from inside the house 5 min before you leave and you should be fine then.

ah, and don't forget to take it out of gear in the evening.....

[Anderzander]

Whatever else you end up doing I'd remove the viscous fan

[Guest wunntenn]

Like they say about puppies not being just for Christmas.......if you intend keeping your 90 forever, my suggestion is an Eberspacher.

Reasons:

Hot engine in the morning = easy start = less wear on various components = longer life.

Thawed out windscreen = safer.

Unfrozen door locks = you can actually get inside.

Warmed engine coolant = heater toasty at start up = warm botty and fingers.

Self-contained = does not need a mains cable connection.

Standard fitment D4W Eberspacher comes with a 24 hr timer, set time the night before to 1 hour before your departure, heater fires up automatically, by the time you waken the van is warm, engine coolant bubbling, and driving becomes even more of a pleasure.

Thats the upside.

Downside: expensive. New over £1000 + Vat. But well made, and user serviceable if you can be bothered - I'm no expert but I've replaced parts inside mine several times.

[nas90]

I cant imagine for a second that this is a new topic, but here goes anyway!

I'm a proud new father of a 2003 90 Defender County SW, I love it! But, I commute to work every day, I drive to the train station at a ridiculous time in the morning and that drive is just under 10 minutes, just short enough that the heat just starts to dribble out of the vents as I turn the engine off.

Now I'm sure is not a 'fault' as the heater works fine when the engine is warm, but that big lump of cast iron just takes so long to heat up!

Has anyone come up with a solution for this outside of electric handwarmers/wood burning stoves or tieing puppies to your hands in the morning??

The only things I can think of are;

- Restricting airflow to the radiator for short journeys

- buying an inverter and getting an electric heater

- getting an aftermarket heat exchanger (still needs the engine to heat up though)

- buying some sort of caravan/boat heating system

- Fitting an AGA and just having it run 24hrs

Has anyone come up with anything more workable, I did think that the heating system in the XS might be better, are there any upgrades available?

Cheers

Nial

Strange my Defender takes about 3 minutes to warm-up even on the coldest of cold mornings.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, youv'e got a disease thats the reason, get a V8 mate, warm as toast

[JST]

get a webasto for same reasons as the above for FBH but only about £500 for a ThermoTopC 2Kw jobbie.

they work off a timer so it can come on whenever you want it, 10mins prior to journey is ideal for warm interior, demisted and warm coolant for easier starting, plus you can run it without having to plug anything in to mains etc so less likely to forget to do it plus you can time it to come on at work for the home journey. (just hope the trains not delayed too long!)

about half a day to fit.

[q-rover]

But make sure you have a good battery.

I had an Eberspacher fitted to my D110 I had. Wouldn´t have been

without it. I also had the remote control.

[Cranberry]

As the owner of a 110 with an Eberspacher heater ( fitted before I bought it ) I can say that they are fantastic. I bought a remote control for it off Ebay and now in the mornings I get out of the shower, press a button, and 15 mins later get into a toasty warm Land Rover.

When I get to work I know that I'll be there 8.5 hours - so I just set the timer for 8 and a quarter hours time, and after work I climb into a toasty warm Land Rover.

Whilst the warmth and comfort side of things is important, having a clear screen and side windows makes for much safer driving.

[smo]

Webasto thermotop or an Eberspacher D1LC would be where my money would go - they wor in different ways but both achieve the same goal of a nice warm vehicle.