timer function + remote start....

Post Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:51 am

...on 13 button OBC. i have read the manual and it says something about a timed fuel burning heater. does anyone use this? sounds like a good winter function?

Post Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:55 am

the timer is for 0-60 mph

have you tried it's on board toenail clipping function yet ?

Post Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:25 am

Very unlikely you'll come across a UK specced. E30 that had the heater option box ticked. You are correct that the timer function was used to control this on cars with the heater, but on all others, it's just a stopwatch.

Post Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:06 pm

My dads missus was telling me her e30 m3 had one of those fitted back in the day. Her parents bought her it for passing her law exams and she was regaling me of summers spent blasting around the Eifel region. She is German btw.

Went up in my books after that

Post Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:36 pm

Brianmoooore wrote:Very unlikely you'll come across a UK specced. E30 that had the heater option box ticked. You are correct that the timer function was used to control this on cars with the heater, but on all others, it's just a stopwatch.

thanks brian. is a retrofit option or not worth the money/hassle?

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:22 am

I imagine you could retrofit one easily enough but have to ask why? They are very common in cold countries where it gets well below freezing for long periods of time but for the couple of weeks of a bit of frost in the UK it seems a bit excessive

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 1:54 pm

ok, 3 more questions....

1) i hate getting into a cold car and freezing my nuts off (i wish it was a couple of weeks of frost....more like 3 months!). are you meant to warm up the engine whist stand stand still or just drive off?

2) does anyone have remote start and what are the pros/cons?

3) do i just need to man up and stop complaining like a girl?

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:03 pm

1) You shouldn't let the car idle - you're wearing the engine while yielding no power, which is the worst of both. Just drive the car very gently for the first few minutes, keeping it below 2500rpm.

2) Remote start is really only popular if you have an automatic. Remembering to park the car in neutral, while part of the driving test, isn't something most people are in the habit of doing, and auto-start + parked in second gear = asking for trouble.

3) You really are being a massive tart. If it bothers you so much, get heated seats. Come over here and experience a 5-month winter.

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:05 pm

1. Neither really. Cold starts are just terrible for engines all sorts of ways. Setting off but only using low engine revs and throttle positions is the best of a bunch of bad options though. Of course, if the interior is misted up it is dangerous to set off.

3. Yes, but there are ways to aid your plight. The easiest and cheapest is to buy a small electric heater, run an extention lead out to the car and stick in it there while you eat your breakfast/have a shower/do morning stuff etc. Another slightly more complicated way would be to install a block heater, which warms up coolant. They're primarily used in countries with cold climates (scandanavia, northern US states and canada) but you could get one over here. BMW probably did sell one which will replace a core plug on the engine block, but you can get ones that you splice into coolant hoses. You then run a lead to the front bumper or grill, where you can plug it into the mains on a timer. The third and most expensive option would be to get something like a Webasto heater, which uses fuel (normally diesel) to heat up coolant. These are often found on trucks with sleeper cabs so the heaters can be used without the engine being on to keep the coolant hot.

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:30 pm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231082419129? ... 1439.l2649

Get one of these, i have and it's brilliant

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:56 pm

The only references I can find to the fuel burning E30 heater are in the instructions for the OBC and the fuse chart. Can't find any reference to it in the ETK for any model for any region, and Google only brings up a couple of others asking the same thing, plus one reference to it in an E34.
As said above, the only vehicles that normally have them are trucks - they're definitely in all of bro' in law's current F1 trucks.
Google also suggested that one reason they are never found in UK E30s is that they would have been illegal at the time - something that remote start still is.
The timed mains powered coolant or block pre heater is a very good idea, and I've been on the look out for one or two for some. They come up on ebay from time to time, but have always sold for far more than I'm prepared to offer.
For those with LPG powered cars, there's a little self contained blown hot air unit made by Propex, about the size of a shoe box, that would fit nicely in the back of an E30. Just needs one 30mm hole for an air inlet, a similar sized hole for the exhaust, a supply of LP propane, and 12 volts. I had about a dozen of these a few years ago, removed from ex. BT vans, which my bro' in law had bought up, selling the boxes as garden sheds and the rest as chassis/cabs for fitting a body of choice.

Post Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:19 pm

Brianmoooore wrote: The timed mains powered coolant or block pre heater is a very good idea, and I've been on the look out for one or two for some. They come up on ebay from time to time, but have always sold for far more than I'm prepared to offer.

As I am currently doing the effects on cold starting for my final year project, I've come to the conclusion you could easily make your own inline block heater using a dishwasher or shower element. One of my plans was to nick the magnetron out of a microwave and put it in a sump but I decided I didn't really understand microwaves enough to start messing around with that shit. Plus we've all seen what happens when you put angular metallic objects in one.