Guest JudgeMental Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Have been using the van quite a bit recently for just general getting about as wife started a new job and uses car al the time (far to cold to cycle!) . What I find odd is that the heater takes forever to heat up, wondering if I have a problem or is this normal with a modern diesel engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 JudgeMental - 2013-02-13 9:51 AM Have been using the van quite a bit recently for just general getting about as wife started a new job and uses car al the time (far to cold to cycle!) . What I find odd is that the heater takes forever to heat up, wondering if I have a problem or is this normal with a modern diesel engine No, Eddie - it's a feature of the Fiat cab heater. Ours is the same, takes ages to warm, and even when it is warm you can get warm air from the dash vents or even the screen vents but the footwells.............hopeless! RE: other diesel engines, my 10yr old Audi will have the car warm in less than two miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Hi Eddie, I am afraid so. They have to be efficient at keeping cool because the EGR system generates a lot of heat and this has to be kept under control in all ambient temperatures; the down-side of this is that they take a long time to warm up enough for the thermostat to open and allow any warmth into your heater unit. If it was this cold all year I would invest in a Webasto or Eberspacher heater to get my cabin warmed up quicker! I had to drive for over 5 miles yesterday in an Iveco Daily before it gave me even a breath of warm air inside. I wear a duvet coat all day at work! Wrap up warm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Thanks ..at least there is nothing wrong I guess...Its out with the thermal long johns then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 A fact of life with modern diesels, I don't think the Fiat is that bad compared to my last car a Kia Sedona that took about 10 miles to get the engine up to temperature, pure luxury when I get in the new petrol car heat coming out within a mile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Cant see what the problem is. We used our cab heater on our trip last week, after about half an hour we turned it down as it was getting too warm, the outside temp was around 1c. We came back Monday in snow and again after around half an hour turned it down again. If the controls are set right we have never had a problem on the last three Fiat cabs, also never had draughts with the doors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I am using it locally as general transport, mostly for journeys less then "half an hour" so its now obvious thanks to reply's that its not reaching temperature....at least I know there is nothing wrong with it. No big deal will wear thermals that I wear cycling/walking anyhow..was just not expecting to have to wear them driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Ours chucks out a lot of heat but most of it is lost trying to warm the whole van and this is not helped by the 'positive' ventilation of the skylights which draw in vast amounts of cold air when on the move. Some judicious draught excluding to reduce that airflow has helped and another handy tip is to temporarily fix a heavy blanket across the van behind the front seats just below mirror height to reduce the airflow from front to back. It's easy on a coachbuilt (another advantage!) because we have the bulkhead to clamp a blanket to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douzeper Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Ours is quite rubbish (2.8 JTD) takes ages to warm up and we must have it up to full heat to be any good, footwells remain cold. We have started pointing the bottom vents down as much as we can and it at least warms our legs a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I foolishly(expensive) changed the thermostat to try and get more heat,it made no difference. When we installed a curtain across the cab,magic.The heater just isn't designed to heat the whole van,just the cab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Eddie, Our 2004 Merc also takes an age to warm up on its own BUT it came fitted as standard (by Merc) with a 5kW Eberspacher auxiliary heater so we can get hot (not just warm) air from the heater after only a minute or so idling before we even pull away! The only down side is the outside temp must be below 5°C and the engine must be running for it to work. If you're going to use your's a lot in the cold it may be worth looking at getting an Eber or Webasto retro-fitted. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 gocro - 2013-02-13 12:30 PM When we installed a curtain across the cab,magic.The heater just isn't designed to heat the whole van,just the cab We have put full length curtains across the back of the driving seats, and then set the controls to "re circulate" and it is much more acceptable. Still get a mighty cold draft around the feet though *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 lennyhb - 2013-02-13 10:43 AM A fact of life with modern diesels, I don't think the Fiat is that bad compared to my last car a Kia Sedona that took about 10 miles to get the engine up to temperature, pure luxury when I get in the new petrol car heat coming out within a mile. No its not my car warms up very fast. Eddie why do you not run your vans gas heating if its that cold? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan D Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 No problem with my Kia Sportage Diesel, just got the new one. Soon warms up, heated seats while waiting and immediate hot blast on screen if required. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshague Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 find x250 very cold put blower on full and cannot hear her that should be obeyed talking ...that's the good side of heater not being hot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 JudgeMental - 2013-02-13 11:47 AM I am using it locally as general transport, mostly for journeys less then "half an hour" so its now obvious thanks to reply's that its not reaching temperature....at least I know there is nothing wrong with it. No big deal will wear thermals that I wear cycling/walking anyhow..was just not expecting to have to wear them driving. Eddie, you could try wearing ladies' tights - my Dad used to swear by them for when he worked in a garage as they kept him nice and toasty, on really bad days he did wear long johns too!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 JudgeMental - 2013-02-13 9:51 AM Have been using the van quite a bit recently for just general getting about as wife started a new job and uses car al the time (far to cold to cycle!) . What I find odd is that the heater takes forever to heat up, wondering if I have a problem or is this normal with a modern diesel engine Progress eh?......Eddie? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowtelse2do Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 rupert123 - 2013-02-13 1:38 PM No its not my car warms up very fast. Eddie why do you not run your vans gas heating if its that cold? Don't think thats legal, it should knock off when running. And if you try the tights trick Eddie will you post us a photo :-) Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 nowtelse2do - 2013-02-13 9:35 PM rupert123 - 2013-02-13 1:38 PM No its not my car warms up very fast. Eddie why do you not run your vans gas heating if its that cold? Don't think thats legal, it should knock off when running. And if you try the tights trick Eddie will you post us a photo :-) Dave Nope.......i have securemotion valve on gas system, so can run gas heating while driving if need be..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 laimeduck - 2013-02-13 1:30 PM We have put full length curtains across the back of the driving seats, and then set the controls to "re circulate" and it is much more acceptable. Still get a mighty cold draft around the feet though *-) ....it has been mentioned before on this forum, so you may already have taken action. Two major sources of draughts on the X240 based vans are: i) The cab doors, with draughts finding their way in through the poorly sealed parts, e,g. the window seals and the door handle cut-out. These can often be reduced quite considerably by duct-taping over the output ventilation "louvres" in the trailing edge of the cab doors (by the lock). There is considerably more fixed ventilation in a coachbuilt van (behind the cab) than an enclosed cab or normal van, and with this these louvres seem often to act as an input, rather than (as designed) an output. ii) The box-section below the seat-belt inertia-reel mountings is (or at least has been on all my X240-based 'vans) open to the air under the cab. (I can only assume that, in the normal unconverted vehicle this also provides a ventilation exit), and can provide a significant influx of cold air at low level. I've managed to carefully remove the trim, and stuff an oversized closed-cell foam block underneath to close off the air-flow (and then replace the trim). Whilst not improving the efficiency of the Fiat heater, these two measures made a big difference to the amount of draughts, both on the road, and on-site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Robin, have implemented these two measures in our X2/50 and there are definitely lower levels of draughts. Heater set to 'feet' seems to struggle to get a decent flow of air. Whereas you can use (say) blower level 1 or 2 for 'face' (which works reasonably well) it seems that only level 4 produces any air into the footwells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Robin - thanks. I will add these to the list of things to do! I will also look to see if it's possible to put some form of insulation inside the door*. The original owners stuck some draft excluder on the passenger cab door & that needs attention or removal. *I have recently removed the trim from the passenger door to get rid of a grease smear that kept occurring. It was due to the wiring for the electric window motor rubbing on the glass & the wiring had touched the grease on the winding mechanism - it left an annoying smear every time the window was operated. There was no insulation at all inside. (the" to do" list seems to get longer & longer!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 laimeduck - 2013-02-14 1:27 PM (the" to do" list seems to get longer & longer!). .....the two bits of Duck Tape on the doors will take about ten seconds each (and if the trim has been off, and the "waterproof" plastic seal removed, it may be a good idea to do it). Believe me, it does make a difference. If the bit of trim round the seat-belt mounts hasn't been modified (it's near the cab/caravan join) the blocking of the hole here should also be relatively easy. (I don't think I had to move anything but the trim to do mine). You need a piece of foam that you can compress fairly well into the hollow section behind (below the seat-belt mount), to stop it falling down. The sort of softish foam insert that many more-fragile goods are goods are now delivered in (e.g. disk drives) is pretty good, as it doesn't readily absorb moisture. This particular "mod" made the most difference on mine, but you should be able to test by putting your hand against the seatbelt reel when driving, and see how much draught there is). Make sure anything is well below, and doesn't interfere with, the reel. I have the same issue on my current Transit, but access to the hollow section is all-but blocked by the seatbelt reel, and the trim is also rather difficult to remove. That job is still on my to do list. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolly1965 Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 My Motorhome takes an age to get warm air trhough, though it's not as bad as mu car, a 2010 Chrysler 300c! Thank heavens for heated seats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Robin..just had a look at my doors (twice to make sure) and there are no vents to tape up. are you talking about earlier vans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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