Do thermostat and thermo plunger of car heating system have same fuctions? 1

[issaq]

Do thermostat and thermo-plunger of car heating system have same functions? Where do they exactly locate? Do they help for engine cold starting by any means?

 

[BrianPetersen]

I do not know what a "thermo plunger" is. Explain it in different terms.

And nothing in the cooling system has anything to do with cold starting, because the whole engine is cold regardless of the cooling system. On a cold start, the cooling system hasn't started doing anything yet!

 

[issaq]

Hello B.Petersen

please refer 8 th page from the attachment that contains a sentence about thermoplunger. But still, i cant understand its purpose completely.. i wish any expert on heating system may explain its function clearly. Thnks

 

[pontiacjack]

re: page 8
Sounds to me that "thermo plungers" are electric heaters; either to help heat the coolant or the air traversing the vents.

 

[issaq]

yes, absolutely it heats the coolant, but why the coolant is to be heated?

 

[BigClive]

I've never heard of a "thermo-plunger" either. Maybe it's some kind of icy country gadget.

 

[Tmoose]

offered just on the Diesel. Maybe really to aid cold starting ie block heater, with the marketing twist of "for your comfort". more legit than many marketing claims I'd say

 

[BrianPetersen]

Okay, now it is clear. No doubt there was a translation issue from the original language of that document.

What they are talking about is an additional electric heating element to heat up the engine coolant under certain conditions (generally, warm-up - but NOT cold starting, this is AFTER the engine starts, and either for a preset time after start-up or activated if the coolant temperature is below a certain amount). Many VW TDI diesels also have supplementary electric coolant heaters.

The reason is that when a diesel engine is idling, it produces very little heat. This is an issue for the driver in very cold weather because (a) it's freezing cold, and more importantly (b) it prevents the windshield defroster from operating effectively.

Once you start driving, the engine produces more heat, the coolant temperature comes up, and the electric heaters switch off. The switch-off point is still well below normal operating temperature, but high enough so that the interior heating and the defroster can work. Usually the coolant heaters are in the coolant loop that leads to the interior heater, so that they can take effect faster.

The thermostat is completely separate from this, and is the usual mechanical device that opens to allow coolant to go to the radiator as the temperature rises above its opening setpoint.