I Have a few questions about adding a circulating sytle coolant heater.

[nogard]

It would seem to me that to get the best circulation you would want the "in" and "out" to be the furthest apart on the engine. I'm not sure the best way to achieve this. Since the drain plug adapter that comes with the unit isn't metric, it won't work. And the radiator adapter that they supply I believe is 1.5" and the Camry has 1 3/16" hoses. I also understand that the Camry has a reverse coolant flow from most cars? I thought about getting an adapter machined, or trying to make one to fit in the block drain plug hole. Any suggestions on how to connect the unit, at what points on the engine/hoses. Also does anyone have a diagram of the flow of the coolant system?

Thanks.

[white90dx]

You should be able to T into the radiator core hoses. Before you run the block heater, make sure your interior heat setting is towards the cold side to avoid heating the interior of your car instead. Brass T fittings would work just fine for that purpose, and should work as long as the heater has hose-barb fittings on it.

Coolant flows into the engine from the bottom of the radiator or from the cross-pipes in front of the motor (behind the exhaust manifold). Water that runs through the interior heater core comes from the engine outlet and goes back directly to the water pump inlet, and is not controlled at all by the thermostat. Coolant for the throttle body also follows a similar path.

-Charlie

[toyomoho]

Do you have a link to this product?

[nogard]

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about.

Here is the link:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2000837/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2000837/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=zerostart

There is another company KATS that is sold through Advanced Auto. I got the Zerostart at a Fleet Farm (I think that chain is exclusive to this area, Wisconsin). Hope this helps. I'm just having a little bit of a hard time trying to figure out the best places to tap in to get the best flow.

Charlie: I went to Advanced Auto today and ordered a lower radiator adapter I went with the 1.25" since one end of the stock hose is 1 7/32 and the other end is 1 11/32. It looks like the middle of the hose will be really close to 1.25". All I had to chose from is 1", 1.25", and 1.5". It was $4.00 plus $10 to ship. Kind of a rip off, but I don't have many options. The directions also recommend to leave the interior heat set to hot. But I see your point if the unit didn't have enough power you would just heat the inside of the car and not the block. I guess it depends on what a person is shooting for. I just want my car to warm faster, start with less engine wear, and get better gas mileage, by not having to run as long cold injecting extra fuel until it is warm. The directions also said not to mount it to close to the thermostat to make it open and bypass the rest of the engine. I'm going to think this through and take another look at the car and draw a picture. With the way I procrastinate that will take a little time.

[GregElliott]

Are my eyes playing tricks or is that a household plug? lol

[toyomoho]

Keep in mind the lower hose leads to the T-stat that will be closed.

Suggest looking at the heater or bypass hoses. You want to force the water through the block.

Perhaps installing between the bypass hose and closing the heater control valve would work. The coolant would the be forced through the engine.

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by toyomoho

Keep in mind the lower hose leads to the T-stat that will be closed.

Suggest looking at the heater or bypass hoses. You want to force the water through the block.

Perhaps installing between the bypass hose and closing the heater control valve would work. The coolant would the be forced through the engine.

This is about what I am suggesting, though you don't want the heater/pump in the way when the car is running which is what would happen if you used the normal bypass hose. That is why I think that T'ing into the heater core hoses would work better.

-Charlie

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by GregElliott

Are my eyes playing tricks or is that a household plug? lol

Where else would you get the power to heat an engine block in *really* cold weather without starting the car?

-Charlie

[GregElliott]

well I suppose that makes sense... I've never seen one though.
very interesting

[nogard]

I wouldn't put the heater inline, it would be in parallel. And after reading the directions it sounds like they basically want you to put it on block side of the thermostat pushing into the block and pulling it out after the block on the lower radiator hose. This is the set up for a typical V8 where the lower hose is the return, not the feed like on our cars. That way no coolant would go through the radiator upper hose with the suction of the pump pulling it before it could go through the radiator which is blocked by the closed thermostat on the lower hose. And the pump would push it right back into the block on which ever one of the hoses goes right into the block. And I see your point to close the valve for the heater core. Then all the heat is focused on the engine block. If you had a larger wattage unit you could heat the heater core and maybe have a little heat in the car.

The one think I thought of is is the coolant in the radiator isn't really flowing then it would be cold. But I suppose that is how it works anyway when the car is running and the engine is warming. YEAH! now this makes sense and it sounds like it should work. I just have to wait for my part. I should take pictures and share the results to see if it is worth doing for those of you that are interested in doing the same thing.

Thanks to all.

[white90dx]

I'm definitely *not* interested in doing the same thing. I gets below freezing at my house about 10 days each year.

And yes, i still own 2 AWD cars.

And speaking of radiator flow - it it much smarter to take return water from the bottom of the radiator. If the car is low on coolant, you want the water pump to pull from the lowest point in the system. Also, heat rises and during most of the operation of the car, you want the coolest coolant going into the motor. (not for your project, I mean the engine's water pump)

-Charlie