Best and easiest way to save gas and engine - well known in Finland
 

Hi,

First time poster here..
I bought a used 2000 diesel Ford Focus in Finland. It has an engine warmer called Webasto (look it up in Google). The system is ingenious; it has a timer and you can warm up the car with its own fuel. It uses the car battery a bit - mainly to run the fan but most of the work is done is by the fuel itself. Of course it uses some (very little) fuel to warm up the engine but it saves the engine a lot since it is warm, also the inside of the car is warm when you get in. This is a great invention when you cannot park your car in a garage and when it is cold or wet outside. Anyone else have experience/heard of the gadget? It is very popular in Finland at least..

It looks very nice. It should be considering it would cost more than my car is worth. It looks like they will send you anti idling stickers.

The point is that it is NOT idling - it makes a humming noise and very little pollution. I forget the exact amount of fuel it takes when it warms up the engine but it saves much more when you drive since you car will use a lot less diesel when running warm than cold.. Not to mention the reduction in engine wear and tear.. and I like the comfort of a warm car when it is 20 below :)

I agree. It would be great. It's just not practical for me. I also don't ever have to deal with temps that low.

I just read about something similar for big trucks. uses under .05 gph to keep the engine coolant warm vs idling at 10-20x the fuel consumption

Most Americans don't have this sort of mindset. Think of the crusty old guy who owns a diesel pickup. They were taught, "never turn it off, it's bad for the engine." They perpetuate that, and we end up wasting 2 billion gallons of fuel a year. They end up working more to power their vehicles, etc.

I have a friend who used to commute over an hour without traffic every day, usually up to 4 hours in traffic every day. She figured out the time she'd spend in traffic, how much money it cost to do so, and how much she worked to pay tax on the money to just earn up the gas, etc.

She then figured how much she would make if she stayed home and ran a day care facility, and lo and behold, she could, instead of commuting, stay home, do something she liked more, and have children TOO - with the same amount of money left. She quit.

Americans work extra so they can pay more taxes, borrow more money, pay more interest, just so they can buy that one thing that costs them money instead of figuring what makes them happy and chasing THAT.

There used to be a gas station that advertised "more miles per dollar" instead of more miles per gallon. If we figure our habits and act accordingly, getting the most miles for our money is good. What good is it to put gasoline on a credit card that costs us 30% interest? Hopefully my point starts to show here.

This is a great idea and we need to change the thinking of those around us.

What I don't understand is that why don't manufactures develop more fuel/engine saving devices and offer them to people. This webasto saves the engine so much that maybe manufacturers are concerned that they won't be able to sell so many new cars since the engines would last almost forever..

How many Webasto's does Webasto's sell? Looks like it's a niche market, so they are probably better off marketing and selling it through their dealers as most wouldn't want to pay extra for something they don't see as very necessary to their choice.

On one hand, for the price it would have to save an awful lot of fuel, between warming up and it's inefficiencies and the cost to purchase it. It would be a lot cheaper to get a electrical plug in, from a extension cord.

On the other hand, it sure would be convenient and if you had a diesel you were idling just to stay warm, it might pay for itself a lot quicker.

Is their a DIY version available?

Yeah, $1800? Big chunk of change. If we're talking a high rate of consumption of .5 gph, that's still 1000+ hours of idling, or almost 42 constant days.