wrinkledpants

For those not familiar with it, the parking heater is a small, gas heater that mounts in the wheel well of the car. It will turn on and heat up the coolant around the block and the auxiliary water pump that we already have circulates the coolant around the motor. Of all the ways to pre-heat a car (idle, plug it in, oil pan heater), this is the most efficient way since the whole block is heated up. The interior HVAC system will run the fan so it pre-heats the interior of the car, too.

The V10 and V6 Touareg TDi's came from the factor with the Park Heater, but it's there solely to provide interior heat after you start the car since they take so long to heat up. It's easy to convert those to a park heater, though, and many of the Touareg guys do.

We were slotted to get the option, and if memory serves me correctly, Cayenne's fitted with the option were turned back once they got here because of some issue with the EPA, and the requirement for a closed fuel system. Park heaters are incredibly common in europe and the Scandinavian countries. You see them on just about every type of car, either as a factory option or an aftermarket retrofit. There are companies in the US that will retrofit a park heater, but going the factory route has really good integration on the Cayenne.

Our manuals talk about how the parking heater works, but you can either turn it on with a remote, or you can setup a timer on the car, and it'll come on automatically. Or, set it for a schedule and it'll come on when you've turned that program on. For example, it comes on at 7:30 AM and runs for 30 minutes. You just need to remember to turn on that schedule that day before.

From what I've gathered so far, the retrofit doesn't look that bad. Parts needed that I've identified so far:

- Fuel pressure regulator
- A few different fuel tubes for a supply and return fuel line from the Webasto heater
- The wiring harness
- Webasto Heater
- The HVAC head unit with park heater controls.
- PIWIS for coding

Aside from the convenience factor, I think this might be a good way for NA V8 guys to help prevent scored cylinders from the cold starts in the winter.

Trying to gauge interest since I doubt I'd be able to do this on my own.

rebrewer

That would be awesome after a day of cold skiing...

Sniffer

I have been thinking about this too - I`d be very curious to hear from anyone who has one or better still retrofitted one

This is infinitely superior to a remote starter in my opinion and an excellent way to preheat the engine to combat scoring

155

Great post. This feature stood out by far after my first scan of the owners manual. I've spent many nights in my brothers Tundra Limited... the saving cash, riding supermoto, spending it on hard liquor kinda road trips.

Sniffer

Wrinkledpants - did you make anymore progress with this?

I`ve been poking around on the net and these heaters can be had for relatively cheap ($500 - new) but I`m unsure what hardware is needed beyond that

Firstly - can anyone confirm if the factory fitted heater was a "Webasto Thermo Top C" ?

Wrinkledpants had mentioned most of the hardware required but I`m curious why it would need a supply AND return line from the fuel tank? I know some vehicles have this type of arrangement on their fuelling systems but is this how the Webasto is setup as opposed to simply needing to take a single pipe from the tank to draw what fuel it requires?

wrinkledpants

Not really. Going to make it a winter project to put together a complete parts list. Will update this as I go.

mtnrat

Winter project? I was hoping you would have it figured out before then so I could do it for this winter.

Sniffer

That was pretty much my sentiment too.......

wrinkledpants

I need to see what the setup is currently behind the wheel liner. I'm taking mine off sometime soon to check for a failed electric water pump, and was going to take some good photos of the area since that's where the webasto heater will be mounted. Once I know the setup there, it shouldn't take much to assemble a parts list.

Sniffer

My limited research has led me to believe that the factory fitted option was a Thermo Top C so this unit should be compatible for sure

I know there was capability for control of this unit built into the Cayenne and this thread has already mentioned utilising that but it appears that there are now other more advanced control options although this may mean using the Thermo Top Evo 5+ unit as opposed to the Thermo Top C. I suspect this unit will be more expensive but it can be controlled by long range remote control (1000M) as well as the "Thermocall" app which gives control options from anywhere

Looking at the Webasto`s though it appears that they're not vehicle specific in any way apart from output (bigger heater for bigger vehicle type scenario) - on the technical side they are pretty much the same throughout the range

My observations are as follows:

You pick the size dependant on the vehicle

Choice of operating voltages (Cayenne will be 12V) to run the unit

Choice of fuel (I need "Benzin" for my CTT)

The heater can take control of the cabin fans to circulate hot air when it is running but at first glance this appears to be simply a case of adding in a relay to the existing supply wires which then gives the Webasto control when it needs it - normal operation will not be affected

A dedicated fuel pipe needs to be run from the tank with several options to connect this (new dedicated hole, vent pipe connection)

An exhaust from the unit needs to be routed to the exterior of the vehicle

The coolant lines need to be tied into the heater somehow (I`m a bit in the dark with this part)

I read somewhere that the heater can be fitted in a space somewhere around the left wheel well - can anyone confirm this?

wrinkledpants

Yeah - there is a spot for the heater in the wheel well. I'm not sure if the mounting and hardware tabs are in place, so this is something I need to look specifically for. The FPR would need to be replaced as there is one specific for cars with the aux heater.

The heater doesn't take control of the fans. The HVAC control unit does, and it's also what controls the webasto heater. It's why you have to replace the HVAC control all together since I think it also has the remote control receiver in it. When you press the "rest" button, that's doing the same thing that will occur when the webasto heater is running (circulating coolant and running the interior fans).

The exhaust pipe, and everything else should bolt right in.

Do you have the Porsche Parts Catalog? This is where I'm getting all the parts lists from, as well as seeing where things are different.

Two different VIN ranges in regards to the cooling tube setup. Looks like the water pump changed from early to late VINs.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessori...artscatalogue/

Sniffer

Sounds correct, if you choose to go with the OEM style setup (and I can see the attraction of that for sure) but these units are essentially generic as opposed to vehicle specific and as such they can be fitted in a more simple "stand alone" fashion

I may choose to go this route simply as I prefer the "Thermo Call" control

This is what I`m basing my assumptions on

http://techwebasto.com/redirect/heat...t/5000778B.pdf

mtnrat

That is pretty much what I am thinking. Not much different from when I hooked up a hot water shower under the hood of my Landcruiser. Coolant circulating through a heat exchanger and a 12v pump to pump the shower water through the heat exchanger. Similar, but different The only addition is the fuel for this. I wonder if there is an electrical version that could be plugged in like a block heater.

wrinkledpants

That almost seems more complicated. The ECU controlled setup from the factory has a lot of really nice built-in features. The timer, scheduled run, monitoring of battery charge, ability to run the factory electric pump, ability to run the factory HVAC fan, ability to trip codes when things go wrong. I'm not sure how you would connect the after market setup to the interior fan or electric water pump without tripping codes. I think this would be easy to do on any other car, but with the HVAC unit having a bit of power for the "rest" function, seems like this would trip a code if you powered the fan or water pump when the ECU didn't call for it.

At least with the factory remote, you can trigger the thing to come on when you're deep in the wilderness without cell service.

mtnrat

Could become more complicated for sure. Our cars seem very sensitive to anything that it sees as alien. If it can be done relatively easy using stock and PIWIS I am all for going that route.