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Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:57 am
by wasp
Hi ppl
Has anyone fitted a kenlowe hotstart or similar to a 406? if so wheres the best place to fit it? and do they work well?
ive just bought one off preloved for twenty quid and thought id give it a try ,the guy i bought it off said it worked great when removed from his range rover 2 yrs ago but is there anyway i can test the thing before fitting it?, .it has intructions which are not vehicle specific and are as clear as mud.
it has a pump ,a heatingcylinder, cables and hoses.

Re: Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:59 am
by Welly
I'm not keen on the way they will warm up the cylinder block and head but then your oil's freezing cold - bit of an odd mix I'd say. Mind you the oil cooler will also work in reverse until the oil temp overtakes the water so I guess you'd just have to take it easy for the first few miles like normal.

Still don't know how they plumb-in though :?

Re: Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:38 am
by steve_earwig
wasp wrote:...twenty quid...
Jammy git :frown: When I was looking at them they were almost 300 :( They're supposed to plumb into the heater feed hose, which rather involves some cutting and joining. I've not heard of anyone fitting them to a 406 or any HDi but I think it'll be a case of fitting it where you can. I think testing it before hand would be a very good idea, I found someone via Google who said Kenlowe did a repair kit if it leaks. Not sure what testing would involve, perhaps feed & return hoses in a bucket of water...

Re: Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:08 am
by mjb
Welly wrote:I'm not keen on the way they will warm up the cylinder block and head but then your oil's freezing cold - bit of an odd mix I'd say.
That's how my V6 goes... takes roughly 2-3x as long for the oil temp needle to lift off the rest than it does the coolant to get up to temperature

Re: Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:13 pm
by Welly
This is where many people rag their engines when they see it's 'up to temperature' on the gauge but the oil is probably only 40-50 deg C and not capable of doing it's job fully yet.

It takes 5 miles of motorway use/speed to get the oil to working temperature or at least an hour of local driving :|

Re: Kenlowe Hotstart

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:09 pm
by steve_earwig
Just a thought but if it's cold enough to use the Hotstart then you're not likely to thrash it. Unless you want to make friends with a tree...