My 10 TDI has one, but it is not anything that you control. It just works when you turn the heat on to just warm up the water faster for heat. I generally always had a nice warm car at about a mile away from my house in the winter.

 

My 2012 TDI has some sort of auxiliary heater. It will heat up very quick and the motor is still stone cold.

 

Will this work if you start and idle the car in the driveway (ie not driving)?
In the really nasty stuff, I like to start and warm the car while clearing off the snow/ice/roadboogers.

 

Didn't the T1/T2 with the auxiliary heater have an Eberspacher sticker on one of the front door frames?

Does the Tdi T3 have the sticker?

 

No sticker on my door, but definitely has an auxillary heater of some sort in it.

 

Yes, the heater burns your diesel to heat itself and the car.

Some enterprising people with the right skills and a lot of persistence have even managed to get the heater to do this on a timer without the engine even running so they go out to a pre-warmed car that has remained secure - i.e. locked up - so no one can steal it whilst you leave it running and go back in to the house to say goodbye to your wife and kids!

 

SRSLY? Where the heck do you live that someone would nick your car from your driveway?

 

If you live in North America, and have the cold climate setup on a T3, you do have an aux heater but it's of the electric variant, not diesel, and can't be programmed to start on a timer...

 

Still, better than nothing. Thanks!

 

Don't even warm it up, just get in an drive it. You will have heat in no time..

 

I'll be scraping ice/sweeping snow off anyhow, so better to let it warm while I do so if it can. I'll be a Popsicle before I get in. Hurrah for seat +steering wheel heaters.
My wife's car takes quite a while to warm up hence the questions on what to expect.

 

If you live in North America, and have the cold climate setup on a T3, you do have an aux heater but it's of the electric variant, not diesel, and can't be programmed to start on a timer...

How can you tell if you've got this 'cold climate setup'? Is it only on gasoline models?

 

Heated steering wheel, heated seats. If sold in canada, I believe it comes standard.

 

Heated steering wheel, heated seats. If sold in canada, I believe it comes standard.

OK, I've got the heated seats, standard. The heated steering wheel is on the next model up. Perhaps I am confused though. Is there an electric heater that warms the interior before the engine gets up to temperature? Does it operate only when the engine is running? Should I find an AC power cord somewhere that needs to be plugged in?

 

OK, I've got the heated seats, standard. The heated steering wheel is on the next model up. Perhaps I am confused though. Is there an electric heater that warms the interior before the engine gets up to temperature? Does it operate only when the engine is running? Should I find an AC power cord somewhere that needs to be plugged in?

The heater does not warm the interior persae, but the water going to the heater core to allow you to have heat faster then waiting on the motor to warm up. Get in it, start it up, turn the heat on,put in drive and go. You will get a warm interior in short order. That is all that is to it. Nothing to over think which you are doing at the moment.

 

Yes, I was definitely over thinking it. I thought it was a system that I had to turn on, and not an automatic system as you mention.

 

Aux heater is simple, turn on climate control and warm air comes out the vents. You don't think, you don't program, you don't do anything...it just has an electric heating element in line that gives you early heat until the slow to warmup diesel gets warm enough that the usual heat exchanger method starts to work. If I'm not mistaken it comes on every V6 TDI of every trim level. Kind of essential otherwise you'd have to drive around for 10 mins before getting any heat out of the diesel.

The V10s had a diesel fired heater that could be programmed (there was complexity in getting the programmer installed etc). Worked amazing well, people wondered why exhaust fumes would come out of the drivers side wheel well, and I'm sure it wasn't environmentally friendly - but it worked and was interesting.

 

Has any one successfully retrofitted an aux heater to their T3? I'm about to embark on this project for my 2015 TDI. Bought a complete webasto heater with hoses and fuel pump off eBay.de, and wiring harness from Kufatec. I may buy the remote module at a later date.

Also looking to retrofit 4XMotion and possibly air suspension. >

 

I'm very interested in this as well. Please start a thread to cover the retrofit effort, and include part numbers and photos - lots of photos!

Good luck with the 4XMotion upgrade. You'll need the 6 speed automatic transmission, transfer case and various computer modules to do it.

 

I could have sworn the 4XMotion used the 6 speed transmission. Not sure where I saw that.

 

I'm pretty sure all T3s (at least T3 TDIs) use the 8-speed. I don't even see a listing for a 6-speed in the parts catalogue.