PSA for those in cold climates: Aux heater usage

[rayofsi]

I'm a little confused....

People are saying "wow thanks" for something that has been running under normal circumstances anyway....? If your heat is set to max and the blower is on, and the outside temperature is cold-- this should be working. Correct?

Have you guys been warming up your vehicles with the heat not set to max and/or the blower turned off? It doesn't seem like something you can "try out" unless you're comparing it to a previous state where the heat and blower weren't on-- at which case, yeah, it should definitely warm up faster

I don't think people realized there was a auxiliary heater built in and this was how it functioned. I had no idea there was an auxiliary heater built in.

 

[nb rob]

ahh-- I re-read and I believe you're right. Thank you.
I also had no idea that there was an aux heater, which means it didn't make a bit of difference to me- it warms up the same as it always has.

 

[Antman]

Yeah- I don't have it. Still cold as shit in there. :whoo:

 

[aabottom]

I thinks it's working in my 2016 TR4 SR5 Premium. The heat from the vents is not very hot, it very subtle, but it's not freezing cold. Then the temperature gauge goes up in a couple of miles. Guess I gotta whip out my digital thermometer and take some data to be sure. I also keep it my garage- likely it never gets below freezing in there.

 

[1jzgte]

OK ... how warm is warm? Some of you guys make it sound like you're ready to strip down to your undies a minute after engine startup. The air from the vents barely slightly warmer than ambient. Definitely not i'd consider warm at all. Like ANTMAN says im still freezing my balls off.

For those who are successfully making warm air at startup, do you have all 3 relays PTC no.1 PTC no.1 and PTC no.3. I do not have a relay on PTC no.3. I wonder if im even equipped with PTC.

I can imagine even the slightest heat is heavenly for the guys living in freezing temps.

 

[TacoRunn0517]

7 degrees this morning. I tried this and sure enough after only about 2 min. I got warm air. I noticed the temp gauge had not moved at all. Nice.

It's been clutch over the last two weeks or so with this unusual cold front. Glad I stumble across this thread before winter haha.

 

[ScoMey]

OK ... how warm is warm? Some of you guys make it sound like you're ready to strip down to your undies a minute after engine startup. The air from the vents barely slightly warmer than ambient. Definitely not i'd consider warm at all. Like ANTMAN says im still freezing my balls off.

For those who are successfully making warm air at startup, do you have all 3 relays PTC no.1 PTC no.1 and PTC no.3. I do not have a relay on PTC no.3. I wonder if im even equipped with PTC.

I can imagine even the slightest heat is heavenly for the guys living in freezing temps.

Fair question.

In my case, I have a Limited, with the Auto Climate control... I'm a 'set it and forget it' kind of guy, so I just leave the control set to "auto" and set the temp to something which will eventually be warm - upper 60's or 70 degrees... When it's cold out, and at a cold start when operating in 'auto' mode, the blower fan does not blow AT ALL until the coolant gets to a certain temp - probably something around 100 degrees or so (don't know the exact answer) On a normal MN winter morning, that has me letting it run for a minute or two, and then driving about a mile or so before the fan starts to operate and blow warm air.

This morning, I overrode the auto feature by manually setting the fan control to a mid-speed setting, and setting the temp control to max temp ("HI")... after running for about a minute... warm-ish air is coming from the floor heat vents... and it kinda smelled a little like it does when you first run a furnace in the fall.

While I'm pretty familiar with the owners manual (yeah, I pretty much read it), I can't say I read every minute detail in the section about using the climate controls... so I wonder if it says something about manually setting the controls to get the PTC to work?

To answer your question... it's definitely warm enough to tell a difference after a minute or so of running. I'll have to look to see if I have all 3 relays...

 

[Its-a-4Runner]

Awesome. So just to confirm, this electric heater turns on with headlights set to auto? Definitely excited about this for 5am start-ups at -20 Celsius.

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

[JPOVS]

Next winters goal 2 cars in the 2 car garage

My boss calls that a fantasy garage. To fantasize he can fit two cars.

 

[Hydguy]

Question: With just the block heater running and WITHOUT remote starting, where does the needle point on your temp gauge when you fire up the car?

The block heater will not have any noticeable effect the coolant temp. It's function is to warm the oil in the pan so it's not super thick due to the cold. The minor warmth difference will not affect the coolant enough to affect the position of the gauge.

 

[IanB]

The block heater will not have any noticeable effect the coolant temp. It's function is to warm the oil in the pan so it's not super thick due to the cold. The minor warmth difference will not affect the coolant enough to affect the position of the gauge.

I haven't looked, but where is the block heater element located on these trucks?

Just stumbled across this thread and learned something new about our new 4Runner, very cool!

Can anyone confirm what the headlights need to be set to for this to function? The bit about the headlight dimmer needing to be off is confusing, ours is often set to auto.

 

[nevada]

interesting that this is actually a thing. I was thinking about some type of auxiliary heater mounted near the heater core just the other day, for this very reason. early morning cold starts.

this is a feature that should be on all rigs. if done correctly, it could actually put out heat. enough to defrost the windshield at least. would be super hard to retrofit however.

I wont be surprised if we start seeing such a thing as standard equipment in the years to come.

 

[Double_M]

Thanks for the PSA! Tried it out on one of first really cold and damp sub-freezing days here in Atlantic Canada and it worked!

My drive from home to work is barely 10 minutes, so the 4Runner barely has time to warm up. Sure its not hot, but at least its taking some of the chill out of the air coming in.

 

[Thrasher_S]

Can I get confirmation on what "Headlight dimmer switch off" really means?

1-No brights, but headlights on?
2-DRL ok?
3-Lights completely off?
4-Other?

This really isn't useful to me unless I can drive in the dark, so I'm hoping for #1. That said, why would the brights on matter with the engine running?

 

[LimeLED]

Can I get confirmation on what "Headlight dimmer switch off" really means?

1-No brights, but headlights on?
2-DRL ok?
3-Lights completely off?
4-Other?

This really isn't useful to me unless I can drive in the dark, so I'm hoping for #1. That said, why would the brights on matter with the engine running?

I'm not sure on the high beams, but I can confirm that get heat with the DRLs or low beams on.

 

[Hoju]

-With modern engines and fluids, there is no need to let your car idle for any period of time to "warm up". Starting the engine and driving off will do no harm, and this how how many vehicles (at least the test vehicles I drove) are tested. Granted, you should not be driving like a crazy person from a cold soak, but any normal driving style will be fine.

-Also, why the hell does the dimmer position have to be off? I really hope I have this, but my dimmer is never off so maybe I just never used it?

This is bad advice. Most of your engine wear occurs at startup as the oil needs to circulate and protect all engine components. Starting up and just driving off is going to put more wear on the engine. I agree there is no need for a long warmup, but starting and going as indicated (especially in cold weather) is terrible advice.

I'm sure vehicles are tested under these circumstances as this is due to our impatient society, however I would rather have a vehicles engine last 500k + miles vs 200k miles by letting it warm up for 30 seconds when the engine is cold.

Oh and i'm another owner that did not know of this function... going to test it out on the next cold day!

 

[FrontRange4Runner]

This is bad advice. Most of your engine wear occurs at startup as the oil needs to circulate and protect all engine components. Starting up and just driving off is going to put more wear on the engine. I agree there is no need for a long warmup, but starting and going as indicated (especially in cold weather) is terrible advice.

I'm sure vehicles are tested under these circumstances as this is due to our impatient society, however I would rather have a vehicles engine last 500k + miles vs 200k miles by letting it warm up for 30 seconds when the engine is cold.

Oh and i'm another owner that did not know of this function... going to test it out on the next cold day!

I would argue that it may be bad advice for you specifically, but it is not bad advice in general. This is how vehicles are designed to operate today. The truth is that 99% of people are not going to keep their vehicle for 500k miles. At the 500k mileage level there are so many other factors coming into play that allowing your vehicle to idle for 30 seconds before driving will be a tiny part of the equation. I would also argue that most people allow their vehicle to idle for 30 seconds or more before driving as they check their surroundings, put on seat belts, set radio stations etc. The point of my post was to simply point out that a specific warm up period is unnecessary.

Best of luck if you are trying to get 500k, I would love to see how a 5th gen holds up at that mileage.

 

[westsideriderz15]

ebay's got a ton of OEM toyota heater elements but not that exact part number

Just bought a prius one. Plan to try to retro fit it when it comes in. My truck didnt have it.

 

[Slowgoat]

CONFIRMED! It's called a quick heater assembly, part number 87710-60030. Looking through TIS, I've attached what I came up with. This is is actually a neat piece of information that I never knew about.

Reviving a dead thread, I know.

Anyone know if it is possible to add one of these heaters?

Some of the above posters and in other threads have said they were going to do it, but no one ever wrote it up.

Mine definitely doesn't have the PTC Heater (My 04 does, it is a Sport with Dual Auto Zone Heating, my 2010 is an SR5 Premium with manual heating controls. It definitely doesn't have it).

I see the heaters on Ebay (Toyota 4Runner Power Quick Heater Auxiliary 87710-60030) and could probably pull it off if the 3 relays and the heater are the only items necessary??

How much of a pain is pulling out the AC Unit the heater goes into?

AC Amplifier is in the circuit also.

Anybody have any advice on this?

 

[Go JayBee]

I didn’t know about the PTC either. Found out that my 2012 Trail has it. Truck is in the dealership right now due to rat infestation via fresh air vent above Cabin air filter. Estimate pending approval from insurance. $6400. I was questioning the part number in the estimate because according to parts locator, the Evap assembly was described in 3 different options: manual, dual zone, and no heater. When I checked the part number against what is actually on the label of my truck, they were correct.
I need to polish my pics upload skills. Not having any success with iPad.