I found some info about how my engine uses its glow plugs: the on time depends on the temperature of the coolant.
| Temp. (*C) | Time (s) |
| -30 | 16 |
| -10 | 5 |
| 0 | 0.5 |
| 10 | 0.25 |
| 18 | 0 |
| 40 | 0 |
Would it be worth while to somehow extend the on time, so that even when it's relatively warm outside, they still pre-heat the cylinder for at least 5-10s? Or would the drain on the battery be greater than the gains from having warmer cylinders?
Going along that line of reasoning, if a block heater and/or coolant heater were wired to run off of the electrical system for, say, 5 minutes after a cold start, then would the extra load on the alternator be greater than the benefits of shorter warm up time? I know, I know: the best is a plug-in block heater, but there are situations when you either don't have an outlet handy or don't have the time to plug in.
__________________
e·co·mod·ding: the art of turning vehicles into what they should be
What matters is
where you're going, not
how fast.
"... we humans tend to screw up everything that's good enough as it is...or everything that we're attracted to, we love to go and defile it." - Chris Cornell
[Old] Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread