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DIY PTC (Auxiliary) Heater Install

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI
ok i always save my autoscans so i can refer back, or revert to earlier coding.

Found this from 12/22/13:

Address 7D: Aux. Heat Labels: 1K0-963-235.lbl
Part No SW: 1K0 963 235 E HW: 1K0 963 235 E
Component: PTC-Element 0404
Revision: 00800000 Serial number:
Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000
VCID: 2D51EEC2B48272760F5-8078

1 Fault Found:
01299 - Diagnostic Interface for Data Bus (J533)
005 - No or Incorrect Basic Setting / Adaptation

So, I have been there. For at least one of your codes. I will try and figure out wtf i did.

Did you figure out what you had done to resolve this code? Like you said I assume mine is probably defective. Seems like there is a whole forum about these cores over on a TDI forum:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=381518

Sounds like some people have had luck re-soldering some of the resisters on the circuit board are poorly connected to the board? I'm no electrician but I do have a solder gun. Not sure how involved this repair might be. Anyone able to shed some light on this? I'm not familiar at all with resisters, Ohms, etc to determine if this might be my culprit.
 

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI


From what I understand the resistors (yellow squares) are what people have re-soldered and had solid results. I'm not sure what the resistance is of these to determine if they're not burnt out.

I assume that you could unscrew the 4 screws on this board, flip this over and check all solder for the resistors after checking them with a multimeter.
 
can't recall what i did to resolve that code, sorry.

Those look like mini-melf resistors. They're not through-hole parts, though they look like through-hole resistors. It's basically an axial resistor that never had leads welded on. They are surface mounted.

If you have a good soldering iron, you should be able to apply some flux and re-flow the solder joints one at a time without much difficulty. just don't get anything so hot that it starts to slide off of the board.

contrary to popular belief, you do that by having a soldering iron that is hot enough that you don't have to hold it in place for a minute to get the solder to melt.

those jerks at the tdiclub deleted my account because my diesel has indirect injection.

oh, and burnt resistors will look physically burnt.
 

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI
Yea that's what I was thinking. It looks pretty tight at the end of those resistors but sounds like you must be able to get the iron and solder in there. Do you know what type of solder to use? I'm just learning on youtube.
 

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI
Finally had the time to change out the faulty auxiliary heater for the replacement I was sent. Scanned for any faults and didn't find any for the auxiliary heater! I could definitely feel the heat right away. Here are some screen shots.

First image is just before idle dropped from 1,100 rpms to 750 rpms. It was hovering around a 1000W.


A few minutes later output dropped to the ~700W range. Sounds like this is normal.


I'll see what the results look like tomorrow morning from a cold start to see how long the cabin takes to warm up.

At least now I have a back up PTC heater which I'll try to re-solder the resistors and two additional water heater cores at my disposal. :lol:
 

LateAPXR

Ready to race!
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
That is awesome.

I'm willing to bet someone would your leftover PTC heater from you if it was ready to install and came with directions.
 

JetTurbo

geezer
Location
South Florida, USA
Car(s)
2018 GTi Autobahn 6M
Finally had the time to change out the faulty auxiliary heater for the replacement I was sent. Scanned for any faults and didn't find any for the auxiliary heater! I could definitely feel the heat right away. ...
I'll see what the results look like tomorrow morning from a cold start to see how long the cabin takes to warm up.

At least now I have a back up PTC heater which I'll try to re-solder the resistors and two additional water heater cores at my disposal. :lol:

Congratulations :clap: your persistance is admirable. :bow:
Good luck in the morning :thumbsup:
 

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI
Here is the log on the way in to work this morning. Some things to note that are affecting this log:

  • Temperature outside was ~20F outside so I wasn't fighting below 0 temps (for now)

  • Traffic was bad so interior temp wasn't able to heat up as fast

Sorry in advance (colors are hard to distinguish on key as font is also small)


All of that said, comparing the outlet temperature from this morning to a few weeks ago the slope of this morning is quite a bit steeper than the previous log. Overall car seems to warm up much faster.

It seems like the amps going to the heater weren't that high. I contribute the amperage drops either to turning my xenons on (.5 min in) or the slow speed from traffic so I wasn't generating that much output from the alternator. There was an increase in amperage around 11 minutes and I recall turning off my headlights. I assume those activities would correspond with each other.

All in all happy I put up with the incorrect parts for a few weeks while I got everything figured out. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a little extra heat right away. Heated seats wouldn't be a bad option either but I have yet to find anyone selling the heated seat elements.
 
Last edited:
Yeah if things aren't seriously iced over, I don't even bother putting on my coat anymore.
 

nightlyraider

New member
Location
MPLS
natalie, how much total investment was the aux heater? couple hours or easier than that to install?

if i keep my car i want to do this + the rcd510. did you upgrade other speaker components as well? did sound improve?

minnesota has had horrible winter this year.
 

Natalie

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
2007 GTI
natalie, how much total investment was the aux heater? couple hours or easier than that to install?

if i keep my car i want to do this + the rcd510. did you upgrade other speaker components as well? did sound improve?

minnesota has had horrible winter this year.

Total investment for my heater core install:
Aux heater core $110 (included shipping)
Hammer crimp tool from Amazon $19
10ft awg wire and heat shrink for wire $13 from Home Depot
4 Copper lugs $10
Repair wire, 100A fuse, and connector $15
T-tap connectors $3
Misc bolts, washers and other hardware $5

~Total: $175

For my trouble I also have 2 extra water cores and 1 semi-functional aux heater core. So if I sold those maybe my costs could be below $100.

I say you could probably do the install for less. I used the 100A fuse, connector to heater core and repair wire from VW but you could probably use other parts and be a little cheaper there. As Timpanogos Slim pointed out you can find a lot of these aux cores on car-part.com you just have to really talk to someone or pay close attention to the description. As I found out even after talking to some people they still didn't get the parts right but I got some free parts out of the deal and my money back.

As far as labor for the install, I would say it could be done in 2-3hrs if you're familiar with removing the panels needed to get to the area. I had all of my wires cut, my lugs on, repair wire and connectors installed so for me it was more of a matter of removing the plastic panels to get to the install itself. Then it was running some wires. I also did the install all by myself. Installing the replacement the 2nd time was a lot easier. One other tip I would have the heater controls turned all the way to the hot side. If not the blend doors on the Climatic has an actuator type arm that can get in the way of installing the aux core. It's really not that difficult. Read all of these posts a few times and ask questions if you get lost.

For the RCD-510 there was some minor coding with my vagcom, an upgraded canbus ($100-$140) and I used the Kufatec wiring harness ($70). I don't think the sound is any different but I still have the stock speakers on my GTI.
 
if i did it again i might spring for the tdi-spec panel for the side of the heater box, but i didn't have the right tools with me. forgot to bring the dremel & saw blade wheels to my friend's garage.

I also might spring for an inline fuse holder. Might do that anyway.

I spent $100ish, but i got lucky. They also sent me a water core with my electric core for good measure. They sure must be reliable because there is 0 demand for them.
 

vangelov

New member
Location
Varna, Bulgaria
which heater?

Hi to everyone! I finally took the chance to register in your lovely forum after so many years reading all the great info you guys sharing. However, I ended up having a little dilemma. My wife's car is produced 07.2008. MKV 1.4 80BHP 110A alternator. Since here in Bulgaria once in a bluemoon we do actually have pretty freezing times I had decided to retrofit aux heater as a better option vs. heated seats e.g. much easier install and less$$$. So I was hoping someone can give me a professional advise as I am not sure which of the heaters should I use : 1K0963235F or 1K0963235E. Your advice will be greatly appreciated!

Ivo
 
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