diesel don,

I will try to get some data for you. At least a few websites. As I recall the water temperature indicator inside the car reads about 60*C when I get in. The blower comes on once the water temperature reaches some preset value to minimize electrical power consumption.

The brands from the article I have are Clarix, Defa, Eberspaecher and Webasto.

As for the question of how the running of the car every day makes it so it will start more reliably, I think some has to do with how long it takes the lubricating oil run off the contact surfaces causing friction, but mostly I think it is a warm battery will accept a better charge. As the car sits it looses some electrical charge from the battery anyway, and if you run it every day long enough to heat up the engine and battery, and you charge the battery good, then the machine is in its best condition to restart the next day. I cannot think of much else, but it is a fact that the car will run every day with no problems, but leave it for a while and it can be a pain.

Good luck, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Leather....

Good reminder as some will try to double pump the glo light. I'd rather go with the extended glo deal. My family is all trained to let it go 30 seconds or so. Often, I'll wait for the click as well. HOWEVER, you could let it glo for 24 hours and it won't do squat if below zero. There is just no way to communicate what a Northwest/Northeast wind of 20 knots will do to temperatures of near zero to begin with. We need all the help we can get to survive winters up here. With my volvo, the compression was so bad that I just let it run most of the winter. It was either pluged in, driving or at idle. No inbetweens. I hate to go there yet with my wagon but might be forced to.

Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed