# Warm Up Time - Pleasantly Surprised



## jalaner (Dec 28, 2013)

I was completely unaware of the auxiliary electric heat when I bought my CTD. It makes the remote start unnecessary for me unless deicing the car. I have noticed that it seems to affect fuel economy so I switch to standard heat when the engine warms. I have only personally seen this in one other car, a $55,000 BMW Z4 convertible, it helps heat the car with the top down.


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

I only use my remote start to de-ice on my diesel, it's useless otherwise.

I start driving and wait until the temperature gauge hits 1/4 mark, start to get real heat about then.


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## CharlesH (Aug 30, 2014)

I have noticed the fast warm up in the car, too. I was expecting to be freezing for quite a while and that has never happened. I missed mention of the electric heat when I scanned the owner's manual. How do you manually shut it off when no longer needed?


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Turn the temperature from full hot to one notch down. The aux heater only works with heat set to max


Sent from the sexy electrician


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

I am finding myself turning down the heat after a few minutes of highway driving, our temps have been lows of around 0F and highs of 15F this past week. The electric heat is nice for the first few minute to bridge the gap. As hot as the heat gets on max when warmed up I am confident that these CTD will be plenty warm even at -40F, the car is well sealed so it does not leak much air. In town driving may be a different story though, I do mostly highway myself.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

At -30c last winter I had no heat problems at all. 


Sent from the sexy electrician


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## Smoothride (Sep 16, 2014)

This is great info. I don't like reading manual's.

Thanks


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

I have found the rear defroster on a couple of times with the remote start this week. Is it temp activated?


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Yup. @ 32f or 0c the seat warmers come on and so do the defrosters or so I've been told. 


Sent from the sexy electrician


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

money_man said:


> Yup. @ 32f or 0c the seat warmers come on and so do the defrosters or so I've been told.
> 
> 
> Sent from the sexy electrician


I have not seen my heated seats turning on, or if they do the lights do not come on. I have noticed the rear and mirror defrost turn itself on.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

The light doesn't come on for the heated seats. They also don't get very warm, just enough to take off the chill


Sent from the sexy electrician


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## mr overkill (Dec 1, 2013)

you can set it in your options to turn on the seats (no light during remote start) and auto front and rear defrost once temps go below freezing. ice feature


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

mr overkill said:


> you can set it in your options to turn on the seats (no light during remote start) and auto front and rear defrost once temps go below freezing. ice feature


Wow, never knew that. Cool!


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

TDCruze said:


> I am finding myself turning down the heat after a few minutes of highway driving, our temps have been lows of around 0F and highs of 15F this past week. The electric heat is nice for the first few minute to bridge the gap. As hot as the heat gets on max when warmed up I am confident that these CTD will be plenty warm even at -40F, the car is well sealed so it does not leak much air.


With my 1.4T once warmed up there is no way I could ever use the temperature dial much above 1/2 way, gets way to hot. I just leave it set around center all the time and fan speed on 1-2, once the engine is warmed up still doesn't take long to warm the cabin.


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

mr overkill said:


> auto front


Auto front? You sure about that one, pretty sure you have to set it on front defrost before you exit if you want it to kick in upon remote start.


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## 2013LT (Jul 3, 2013)

I'm jealous. If I had known the diesel had this I would have bought it for this feature alone. But then again no manual hmmmm...


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## R CRUZE (Aug 21, 2011)

I have a 2014 Cruise Diesel and I have never heard of the auxiliary electric heat. When I read this thread I went out to get my owners manual and check on it. I don't see anything in the owners manual about this. Do all the Cruise Diesel's have this or is it an option. If they all have it, where does it tell you about it in the owners manual?


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

My manual said something about it if I recall and they all have it.


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## plasticplant (Mar 26, 2013)

My electric heater must be broken. I don't think the air that it spits is nearly warm enough for those 10 degree (or lower) days and this is after 2-3 minutes on the 3rd or 4th fan setting. I also find that when you "use" the electric heater, it takes the engine a great deal longer to heat up. I'm at the point now where I just turn on the heated seats (no heat) and tough it out for the next 10 minutes or so. Ugh.


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

The Cruze warms up really quickly IMO. I have noticed my rear def also comes when I have not turned it on if it's a cold evening after work. That's a nice touch. In 5-6 minutes, with the heated seats (on med) and heater (on 3/4), I'm already warm. I feel sorry for people who don't drive a CTD.

I have also noticed that the fuel with the anti gel...sucks. My mileage dropped 20%.


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## q2bruiser (Jun 8, 2014)

plasticplant said:


> My electric heater must be broken. I don't think the air that it spits is nearly warm enough for those 10 degree (or lower) days and this is after 2-3 minutes on the 3rd or 4th fan setting. I also find that when you "use" the electric heater, it takes the engine a great deal longer to heat up. I'm at the point now where I just turn on the heated seats (no heat) and tough it out for the next 10 minutes or so. Ugh.


You have to turn the temp to full hot and the fan to max speed (6).


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

q2bruiser said:


> You have to turn the temp to full hot and the fan to max speed (6).


No need to crank the fan. The aux heater works just fine at lower fan settings. Temp selector must be all the way up, however.

Last winter I found with mine that I would get nearly instant warm air as long as the ambient was warmer than about 15-20F. Once ambients get lower than that, it certainly helps cut the chill a bit, but don't expect it to blow anything more than lukewarm at best until the car warms up. It's pretty much useless for defrosting below 25F or so. Then again, the defrost in general on all Cruzen doesn't cut it like some cars I've had even at full operating temp.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

MOTO13 said:


> The Cruze warms up really quickly IMO. I have noticed my rear def also comes when I have not turned it on if it's a cold evening after work. That's a nice touch. In 5-6 minutes, with the heated seats (on med) and heater (on 3/4), I'm already warm. I feel sorry for people who don't drive a CTD.
> 
> I have also noticed that the fuel with the anti gel...sucks. My mileage dropped 20%.


really?

mine barely drops


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## gyrfalcon (Dec 27, 2013)

Any way to test the electric heater? In cold weather I'll drive 10+ miles before the heat starts to warm up.



PanJet said:


> No need to crank the fan. The aux heater works just fine at lower fan settings. Temp selector must be all the way up, however.
> 
> Last winter I found with mine that I would get nearly instant warm air as long as the ambient was warmer than about 15-20F. Once ambients get lower than that, it certainly helps cut the chill a bit, but don't expect it to blow anything more than lukewarm at best until the car warms up. It's pretty much useless for defrosting below 25F or so. Then again, the defrost in general on all Cruzen doesn't cut it like some cars I've had even at full operating temp.


That's my experience, the car doesn't provide any real heat until the engine warms up. I'd expect an electric heater to provide instant heat once you start up the car.


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

gyrfalcon said:


> That's my experience, the car doesn't provide any real heat until the engine warms up. I'd expect an electric heater to provide instant heat once you start up the car.


It takes a LOT of power @ 14 volts to put out decent heat. The alternator can only put out so much. I am not sure how many watts our electric heaters are, but for example, 100 amps * 14 volts = 1400 watts. For comparison, most household space heaters are 1500 watts. We get enough heat from the electric element to take the edge off until the engine warms up. 

I find it works decent in conjunction with the heated seats and a fan setting of 4 on half floor half defrost mode. If it is not more than -10F outside the engine warms up in about 5 minutes of highway driving and puts out enough heat I find myself turning it down a few notches.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I've been told it's 300w


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

money_man said:


> I've been told it's 300w


I think I have heard that somewhere before as well. 
If so that is about 21 amps, plus the power needed to run the rest of the car.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

We have a 130a alt don't we?


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

140 Amp alternator I believe.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

So no worries about the power being consumed 


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## gyrfalcon (Dec 27, 2013)

TDCruze said:


> I find it works decent in conjunction with the heated seats and a fan setting of 4 on half floor half defrost mode. If it is not more than -10F outside the engine warms up in about 5 minutes of highway driving and puts out enough heat I find myself turning it down a few notches.


When it's -10F out it takes a lot longer than 5 minutes of freeway driving for my Cruze to heat up. I don't think the electric heater is doing anything much in my car if it's functioning.

The heated seats definitely work. I'm not impressed with the electric heat system since I can't even detect it's working.

I've thought about putting a large chunk of cardboard over the radiator since it seems like 30 miles before the heat does anything on the bitter cold days.


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

gyrfalcon said:


> When it's -10F out it takes a lot longer than 5 minutes of freeway driving for my Cruze to heat up. I don't think the electric heater is doing anything much in my car if it's functioning.
> 
> The heated seats definitely work. I'm not impressed with the electric heat system since I can't even detect it's working.
> 
> I've thought about putting a large chunk of cardboard over the radiator since it seems like 30 miles before the heat does anything on the bitter cold days.


I should clarify that the engine is up to full temp in about 5 minutes on the highway. This also included being plugged in prior and a couple minutes of idling. It takes a few more minutes before I find it warm enough that I turn down the heat. I also usually drive with my coat on so that makes a difference. 

We have had a few -20F mornings and I notice that the engine does not actually reach "normal" temp at all during my 25 minute commute, but the heat still seems to be good after about 7-8 minutes. I don't turn it down on these days, but I am still getting a good amount of heat. 

I have also considered installing a winter front over the opening in the grille, but it is not easily accessed and so far it seems to be doing OK without it. 

I am not sure where the heating element relay is, but you could find it and test the resistance of the element to make sure it is good.


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

As for the tiny 300 watt electric heating element, it really has almost no effect on heating. It may help with a faster defrost as stated before within a few degrees below freezing, but that is about it. Once the coolant is up to temperature you get closer to 7500 watts of heat output, that is a far cry from the 300 watts of the electric heater. When its below freezing you wont even feel the difference, because the wind chill caused from the blower moving the air is more than the air is even heated.


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## Su8pack1 (Apr 17, 2014)

I forgot all about the electric heat. I'll have to try it and see.


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## vwgtiglx (Jun 13, 2013)

I've thought about putting a large chunk of cardboard over the radiator since it seems like 30 miles before the heat does anything on the bitter cold days.[/QUOTE]

I did the cardboard in front of the radiator with my 1977 VW Rabbit diesel. It did help but I don't think it is needed on my Cruze.


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## 1877 iris ave (Sep 23, 2011)

I have been experimenting with the electric heater and found that if you turn the fan to the lowest setting and the heat to max ( to turn on the electric heat) then drive about one mile and then turn the heat to the third or fourth lowest setting the air comes out quite warm. This gives the element in the electric heater time to warm up before passing a lot of air through it.


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## 68554 (Oct 6, 2014)

Hey TDCruze,

I am in Ottawa and found that during this week of cold weather the car started great every-time (plugged in) but never generated any real heat. With the aux heat on, fan at 3 or 4 and direction split floor/wind-shield the temp was decent enough to clear the wind-shield but on a couple of the real cold days I didn't get any real heat. 

The temp gauge never got past the 1/4 warm mark and when I got off the highway after 10 minutes of 100km speed I could actually see the temp drop as I waited at the off ramp for the light to change. It was like this for 2 days when we had the -30C temps.

Now that the outside temp is back around -10C to -15C the Cruze has no issue with generating heat like crazy but those really cold days the car wouldn't even clear the side windows. Maybe the thermostat is hosed at temps of -20C & lower.

Your thoughts since this is my first diesel ride?


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

stuckoncanada said:


> Hey TDCruze,
> 
> I am in Ottawa and found that during this week of cold weather the car started great every-time (plugged in) but never generated any real heat. With the aux heat on, fan at 3 or 4 and direction split floor/wind-shield the temp was decent enough to clear the wind-shield but on a couple of the real cold days I didn't get any real heat.
> 
> ...


I cheat in the morning with the warm up as my car sits in a heated garage at 10C/50F, but it is outside all day at work and even on the coldest days plugged in it has started fine. 

I usually run with my heat at 4 split defrost and floor. At night when its -30C/-22F and below I have had to go to 6 to keep side windows somewhat defrosted as it builds up during the drive. At -30C/-22F and below on the highway I was not getting to normal temperature, usually between the 1/4 and 1/2 on the temp gauge. Normal temp on my car seems to be one tick mark below 1/2. I have a short stint through town half way to work work and I do notice the temp gauge drops after slowing down when that cold outside. The heat output still seems to be good though. 

These engines just don't make lots of waste heat and at those temperatures there is not much left to spare. I ended up fitting a piece of Coroplast to the upper grille to help speed up warm up times and keep more heat in the engine. It does noticeably help speed up the warm up time. I still found at -35C/-31F I did not quite get to temp after a 20 minute drive.


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## jalaner (Dec 28, 2013)

The CTD engine heats up slowly because diesels produce less waste heat than gas engines. This is a major reason diesels are inherently more efficient. The heavy cast iron block also heats more slowly because of its greater mass. The electric heat and standard heat works great for the mild to moderate cold in SC.


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## nascarnate326 (Jun 9, 2014)

We love the electric heat. Typically we turn the seats on max and the heater to setting 1 or 2. Ours takes about 30 seconds before it starts blowing noticeably warm heat, we can completely tell when its on. If you turn the heat down one notch after 30 seconds of using it you can install tell it blows lukewarm then cold air. GM made a good decision by putting it in there, us people stuck in the snow parts of the country really appreciate it. 

Our gas cruze takes FOREVER to warm up, but it has better heat once its warm.


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## plasticplant (Mar 26, 2013)

I still find that using the electric heat adds considerably more warm up time for the engine, meaning lower MPG and longer wait time for the "real heat". And to me, its "heat" output is so low (not much good when its below 5-10F degrees) that it's really not worth using it for those reasons mentioned above . It's really a catch 22.


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## TheDog (Mar 27, 2014)

Everybody seems to have different ideas on this but my approach has always been to move as little air as possible until the engine warms up. So I turn the temp knob all the way to hot (to engage the electric heater) and drive gently for the first 5 minutes or until the temp guage moves well off the coldest mark then adjust fan as needed. My thinking is that when there is very little heat available (electric plus maybe a tiny bit of warm coolant) there is no benefit to moving a hurricane of cold outside (or recirc) air around. I also limit warm up time on the car to the time it takes to scrape the windows if necessary. Diesels don't really get that much warming up accomplished idling and I hate getting 0 MPG for longer than necessary. I have found the Cruze Diesel heat to be quite acceptable down to 0F or so and much better than my 2004 Jetta TDI was.


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## TheDog (Mar 27, 2014)

How could running an electric element (which if anything increases load on the engine) slow down the warming up process? It isn't as if the electric element redirects some of the diesel or even the torque before it can pass through your engine.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

TheDog said:


> How could running an electric element (which if anything increases load on the engine) slow down the warming up process? It isn't as if the electric element redirects some of the diesel or even the torque before it can pass through your engine.


Pulls air through the water to air heater core as well, which takes heat away from engine coolant.


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## TheDog (Mar 27, 2014)

That reply makes no sense to me. Air going through the water to air heater core is about having the heat on at all, not any different having the electric element on. True, running the car with the heat knob turned completely to cold would allow the heater core to be bypassed but I don't think anybody is suggesting that they do that in cold weather.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

?

It's still pulling heat of out of the coolant even though the electric heater is on too.

Yes, if you were to leave all heat off entirely, the engine would warm up faster.


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## kboat (Jan 1, 2015)

Is there an indicator light on the dash or screen to know that the aux heat is on?


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

kboat said:


> Is there an indicator light on the dash or screen to know that the aux heat is on?


No, there is no indication.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

It does only run the aux heater when the heat dial is turned all the way to max though. Turn it down one notch and it kicks off. 

Coincidentally, the lowest notch on the cool side shuts the recirculate damper when the AC compressor is running - a "max cool" function if you will.


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## Pleiades (Jan 8, 2015)

Good info guys. I read my manual but never picked up on any of this.


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## 567Chief (Feb 25, 2013)

I have read over this thread and unless I've missed it, I do not see any mention of the electric heat automatically turning off once the motor reaches a specified temperature. I hate to think the wear and tear on the electric heater is dependent on me remembering to turn it back a notch. Does anyone have knowledge on this?


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## script101 (Sep 3, 2014)

For my part, the CTD isn't a Quebec Winter car ! At temperatures between -20 and -40 CELSIUS, the heater don't help at all and if i have any frosted window or mist/steam inside, it can keep me idling for 15-20 minutes... Big downside... Also, i think it is that, that make it drink a lot of DEF (5000KM and third fill-up).


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