I totally agree Ed, for cars with a block heater. My Sonata doesn’t have a block heater and I wouldn’t recommend adding a non factory inline heater. The Sonata takes so long to warm up if the heater fan motor is running, that the car goes into limp mode, hard hammering shifts,(automatic) because the transmission is sensed as being too cold. To get around the SES fault, I keep the cabin fan blower motor off until the temperature gauge reaches normal and the thermostat opens. The rad then heats the transmission and there’s lots of heat for the cabin. Mind you, this is for ODA temperatures below -20 ˚ C. and of course, we all use Mobil 1 0W-40 or another synthetic oil. With GDI the engine starts well at -25 ˚ C. and is as smooth as silk. Summary: With the cabin fan blower off, the engine and transmission heat up much faster. So who gets the heat first, the engine or the cabin? For real car guys and gals, the engine trumps all. My wife doesn’t agree, too bad. “Happy Motoring”
At 0º without the heater, the temp gauge is in the blue zone when I hit the highway. Plugged in for an hour or so (not much more than 10¢ at peak rates), the gauge is a few needle’s widths above the blue zone, even in -20º weather. Hmm, which is better for the engine?
I totally agree Ed, for cars with a block heater. My Sonata doesn’t have a block heater and I wouldn’t recommend adding a non factory inline heater. The Sonata takes so long to warm up if the heater fan motor is running, that the car goes into limp mode, hard hammering shifts,(automatic) because the transmission is sensed as being too cold. To get around the SES fault, I keep the cabin fan blower motor off until the temperature gauge reaches normal and the thermostat opens. The rad then heats the transmission and there’s lots of heat for the cabin. Mind you, this is for ODA temperatures below -20 ˚ C. and of course, we all use Mobil 1 0W-40 or another synthetic oil. With GDI the engine starts well at -25 ˚ C. and is as smooth as silk. Summary: With the cabin fan blower off, the engine and transmission heat up much faster. So who gets the heat first, the engine or the cabin? For real car guys and gals, the engine trumps all. My wife doesn’t agree, too bad. “Happy Motoring”
At 0º without the heater, the temp gauge is in the blue zone when I hit the highway. Plugged in for an hour or so (not much more than 10¢ at peak rates), the gauge is a few needle’s widths above the blue zone, even in -20º weather. Hmm, which is better for the engine?