Kenlowe Hotstart

[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.

[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

[steve_earwig]

...twenty quid...

Jammy git 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...

[mjb]

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

[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

[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...