Vehicle Heating question

[GavinP]

Hi,
Recently replaced a 13½ year old E320 CDi estate (S211) with an E400d estate (S213).
Normally it would take > 10 minutes driving before the heater gave warm air.
It had an auxiliary heater (drip feed diesel) that came on automatically below 5º ambient.

The new vehicle does not have aux heater according to the manual.

Yet, yesterday (Sunday), on starting the vehicle, warm air came from the dash vents almost immediately (within 2-3 minutes of starting) - the outside temp was 9º.

Vehicle had been in an unheated garage since Friday at 19:00

Anyone else experienced this too please - or understand how?

Regards

G

 

[whitenemesis]

I believe it has a piezoelectric heater to supplement heating until the coolant reaches operating temp

 

[GavinP]

I believe it has a piezoelectric heater to supplement heating until the coolant reaches operating temp

Thank you - have you seen this in any publication please?

 

[Rory]

It had an auxiliary heater (drip feed diesel) that came on automatically below 5º ambient.

I didn't know Mercedes fitted these in the UK (if it was a UK car?).

I know mine is a different model, but it uses a hefty electric heater in the block, which works if the outside temp is 8C or less. The car has to be moving due to the amount of current it takes from the alternator. I can back my car off the drive, go 200yds to the end of the road, and by then the air is starting to feel warm (well, less freezing ).

I did have a B Class courtesy car a while ago and that did the instant heat thing after being parked all day - like turning a hair dryer on. Quite amazing!

 

[BTB 500]

An electric heater in the HVAC system for front demist/de-ice is fairly common - our 2007 Vito definitely has one (activated by a switch on the dash ... it has manual aircon rather than Climate Control), and I'm pretty sure our 2007 C Class does as well (activated when demist is selected on the CC).

 

[GavinP]

I didn't know Mercedes fitted these in the UK (if it was a UK car?).

I know mine is a different model, but it uses a hefty electric heater in the block, which works if the outside temp is 8C or less. The car has to be moving due to the amount of current it takes from the alternator. I can back my car off the drive, go 200yds to the end of the road, and by then the air is starting to feel warm (well, less freezing ).

I did have a B Class courtesy car a while ago and that did the instant heat thing after being parked all day - like turning a hair dryer on. Quite amazing!

An electric heater in the HVAC system for front demist/de-ice is fairly common - our 2007 Vito definitely has one (activated by a switch on the dash ... it has manual aircon rather than Climate Control), and I'm pretty sure our 2007 C Class does as well (activated when demist is selected on the CC).

 

[GavinP]

Thank you - yes, it is a UK vehicle - but cannot find anything in the Guide or Owner Manual (except the Aux Heater than comes with it's own remote control) and it isn't one of those! I knew the 211 I just sold had an aux heater a bit like the HGV Cab units (e.g. Eberspacher)

 

[mersum1es]

W210/W203 has electric heater in coolant circuit. W211/W219 (even webasto fitted) has electric heater in air duct in all diesel models. Not sure about W213, sounds like same. It is not option but standard feature, thats why it is not shown in SA codes.

 

[markjay]

Neither my 2006 C180K W203 nor my 2013 C180 CGI W204 had/has any form of quick-heating - there's no warm air coming out of the vents until the coolant temperature picks-up, which can take a good 5 minutes.

So I guess that, on the C-Class anyway, any form of quick heating is optional.

BTW the heated front seats also take 3-4 minutes to kick-in, which together with the slow heater make the very first part of early morning trips somewhat unpleasant....

 

[whitenemesis]

The block heater in the W203 only starts working once the alternator has surplus capacity, so rarely gets going! Most end up failing, short circuiting and draining the battery.

 

[Rory]

Neither my 2006 C180K W203 nor my 2013 C180 CGI W204 had/has any form of quick-heating - there's no warm air coming out of the vents until the coolant temperature picks-up, which can take a good 5 minutes.

So I guess that, on the C-Class anyway, any form of quick heating is optional.

Issue for you is petrol. All diesels have diesels have some kind of heater otherwise they'd never warm up in cold weather - which happens on older diesels as the heaters fail.

On my car I can set it in the cluster computer. I think there is some interaction with the a/c switch as another poster suggested but I forget what now - I think if it's set to manual the a/c switch controls it, but on auto it just works.

Wife's diesel Tiguan has similar thing, but no control is available, it just does its own thing. Her car warms up just as quick as mine, but the water temp shows 90C at 3 miles, but apparently that's a lie, it's the ECU just saying 'normal'. Interestingly the cluster computer in her car can show the oil temp. At 3 miles it's still blank. On a chilly day it takes about 12 miles of rolling driving to get to 90C - same with the water temp on my car.

 

[nickpb]

Interesting. I had a 2012 W204 and the cockpit heating always blew hot within a couple of minutes of driving.
In my S213 I get a very small trickle of warm air (not enough to heat the cockpit on a cold day) until I have driven about 5 miles, then it starts to get warmer and more efficient.