The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Has anyone experimented with a preheater and small pump to set to a small timer for this weather? It would mean an engine that's nearly ready to run without choke, when you start the car the heater will blow warm air from the off as well as it circulating through the heater matrix which might release a little heat under the windscreen area thus melting ice. Obviously it'll mean less engine wear but without going to an oil pre-heater too it's not perfect.
I just wondered if some of the non-original cars have it on?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271856720033 with a small pump plumbed into the heater hoses?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282172960747
Maybe even a similar setup for the oil if an oil cooler is fitted???

There was something a few years ago by Kenlowe that was a mains operated heater and small pump if I remember correctly. Try a Webastor/Ebaspacher unit if you cannot plug your car into the mains, it's what is often used on boats, back of vans for example my Fourtrak has one as a 'supplemental heater', you can get water heater versions as engine pre-heaters (or for canal boat radiators!), the Rover 75 had one for example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-75-MG-Z ... Sw2xRYPbKh they do however need a diesel supply to run, though they use a very small amount and can have a tiny fuel tank.

The problem with the one you suggest for the Kangoo is that I believe they are designed to be used with the engine running due to the large current draw, to speed warmup time and because direct injection diesels are so efficient that they do not generate enough heat sometimes for the car interior.Some like Ford use heater elements in the heater. I'm not sure it's a practical idea on its own, as even if you did have rig up some form of battery monitoring you would also need a supplemental electric water pump.

Edit: I see that Kenlow still do them http://www.kenlowe.com/Heating.php

Simple solution has to be the 240V pre heaters like the old kenlow hotstart.
Very popular in the colder parts of europe!
£100 give or take, and a simple fit into the cars plumbing circuit, engine nice and toasty ready to go. If you used an modine oil/water heat exchanger ie as fitted yo VW,ford etc etc then once the engine has started, the oil should warm quicker too. Downside is you really need (for the ohv) a 3/4" oil filter adapter, but they are available from the USA easily.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... r&_sacat=0

HI

I used to have a Kenlowe hot start on my LandRover Discovery back in the late 90's, which was parked on the drive at night.I had the mains power lead run through to the tow bar and used to connect via a wandering lead to an outside socket which was connected to a time clock which was set to come on about 45 min before setting off.

It worked very well warming up the engine and water in the heating system so that when you started the engine up there was heat coming out of the heater which was a bonus in a car the size of an Discovery