I have a Fiat Bravo 1.9 TD 75HP an it comes with a heating element on top of
the diesel filter.
I would like to know whether this element is constantly heating the diesel or is it controlled by a thermostat?
It has two electrical connections (2x2 wires).

I've been told this is controlled by thermostat/timer but can anyone tell me at what temperature or after how long the heating stops?
And is it possible to override this, i mean keep the heating element on?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

on the 100td i had there was no heater you describe, perhaps the wires are for the water sensor, as water in diesel collects in the filter. anyone else care to expand?

Not 100% sure, but it heats the filter the same time it heats the glow plugs.
When the temp. drops under certain point diesel fuel releases paraffin that blocks the fuel lines.

sven

No point in having overly hot diesel.

IF it's a heater, it will only come on if the temperature is low enough to cause waxing of the fuel. When the temp. is low enough, stationary diesel waxes and wont flow, but once the engine starts and the fuel starts to move through the system, it won't wax. (Unless you are in the Arctic or somewhere equally cold!) All diesel contains anti-freeze from about Oct to March in this country, but the odd very low temperature could cause slight waxing.

In the 'olden' days of the 50's and 60's, a common sight was the trucker with a fire under his fuel pump and lines, after parking at 'digs' overnight!

There is a point if you want to use fuel with a higher viscosity.

Can you fry chips in it?

Like Grandad wrote, it only heats up before you start your car under low outside temp.
It works before you start the engine and cuts off afterward.
The filter looks like this and the (6) is the heating element.
Also ppl used to put pots whit boiling water under the filters or put some petrol in the diesel fuel so they can get it running at low temps.

sven

Thanks for the drawing. It looks indeed like this except that my heating element has two connections. So there must be a thermostat somewhere. Does somebody know where this is located and how to(temporary) bypass it? Like Tom noticed i'm experimenting with vegetable oil, and i would like to decrease the viscosity of my fuel.
Interesting site: http://www.fmso.de/

Sometimes i already have. (fried chips in it)

http://www.fmso.de/

It seems that i'll be needing glasses. I had a closer look and there is indeed only one connection on the heating element. This must be the power then. The second connector is plugged in to item number 5. So my guess is that this part (5) is the thermostat.
Any other opinions?

not sure but wasnt it only the JTD's that had the heated fuel element, not the TD100 and TD75's???

1 filter
2 screw holder
3 O sealers
4 seal for the termo sensor
5 termo sensor
6 heating component
7 draining screw

All is translated from german, so some things may have different names in UK
The Nr. 5 & 6 doesent say which engine has it, only if it exist

Sven

Even if you had the diesel heater on full time, I don't think it's powerful enough for what you're planning. The fuel flows too fast.

I e-mailed Fiat to find out whether their cars can run on bio-diesel and they only recommend a 5% mix!

@ Grandad:
I do realise that this will only cause a slight increase of the temperature but even the small improvements might help.
Biodiesel is not the same as ppo (pure plant oil). Bio diesel is agressive towards the seals, ppo (pure or mixed with diesel) isn't.
The only problem you can have is that the dieselpump can't handle the higher viscosity of the ppo.
It seems that the Bosch dieselpumps can handle this but the pumps from Lucas are more vulnerable. Have a look at: http://f27.parsimony.net/forum67204/index.htm
(this is the English section of http://www.fmso.de/)
The Bravo/a's 75HP have a Bosch pump
The Bravo/a's 100HP have a Lucas pump
I don't know about the JTD's but it is known that the common rail diesels are more picky about their fuel.
I've been driving with a mix of ppo (coleseed) and diesel for some time now without any problems but i would like to be prepared for when the outside temperature starts to drop.
Even the oil that we used for frying fries goes into the tank of my car.

Thanks for the info.

Presumably all declared to Mr Customs? Watch out at MOT time. Difficult to ignore an exhaust that smells like the chippy!

What does MOT time mean?
( I do not live in the UK ). Maybe we have something similar maybe we don't

from where are you ?

sven

I'm from Flanders. Just cross the channel and you're there.