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Retrofitting Ptc Heater To Mk2


tapiiri
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Hi!
I have succesfully retrofitted supplemental heater (ptc) to 2.0 tdci mk2 focus. I tried searching older posts but didn't find anything about retrofiting ptc, so here is some basic info about this mod.

What is ptc-heater?
-About 1kW electrical heater element

-Heats only interior, NOT engine
-Fitted on some diesels, mk2 onwards
-Located on heater assy, possible to install without removing dashboard

Operation:
-Temperature controller (manual or automatic) sends signal to GEM when max heat is requested
-If ambient temp is low and engine is cold, GEM commands PTC with PWM signal to operate. PTC has 3 resistor elements which are used all together or one at a time, depending on required heating power.

You can test GEM before even buying ptc element:

-Use Elmconfig to configure HEC and GEM to support PTC heater.

-Wait for a cold morning.

-Start engine and set heat to MAX. If ambient temperature is below 10 (at least in my case) and engine is cold, instrument panel should give you a message: Aux heater 100%. If you get that message, GEM supports PTC and all you need to do is install it.

Installation:

-Remove trim panel from footwell side.

-Remove bolts 6 and 7.

-If footwell light socket is installed, it has to be popped out or reinforcement element 8 won't have enough room to come out

-Carefully take reinforcement element out of the way

-Remove ptc heater cover retaining screws 10

-Dismantle ptc heater. Remove screws from the plastic cover, open cover and remove all the wires. Put cover back with few screws to cover electronics. This has to be done because element won't fit unless wires are removed or dashboard is removed.

-With a litlle force, bend the plastic panel in front of ptc installation hole and slide the element in place. Element has rubber nipples at the other end and heater assy has holes for them. Needs a little patience to get them right.

-When element is on its place, unscrew the cover and refit all wires.

-Reinstall reinforcement element and attach all wires.

-Reinstall trim panel

Done!

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post-33239-0-19888600-1379847445_thumb.j


It's actually quite efficient, warm air comes after about one minute after starting engine. Difference is huge, tdci is quite slow to warm up.

I don't see any reason why it could not be installed in petrol cars, all the important parts should be the same between diesel and petrol.

EDIT: More specific installation instructions and few pictures

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Do you have any pictures of this?

It sounds very good. I would like to investigate if this is also possible for my 1.6 Petrol MK2. As far as I can see the heater housing of Petrol and Diesel versions are identical. Possibly I have to retrofit the wiring but that is no problem for me.

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cant see the point of it on a petrol as it warms up within minutes even during the winter warm air is available quickly

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cant see the point of it on a petrol as it warms up within minutes even during the winter warm air is available quickly

My car is used regularly for short trips (home to work is only 4 KM). Most times the heater remains cold during these trips. Because of this I am planning to install an additional electric or Petrol powered heater to warm up the interior more quickly in winter time.

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My car is used regularly for short trips (home to work is only 4 KM). Most times the heater remains cold during these trips. Because of this I am planning to install an additional electric or Petrol powered heater to warm up the interior more quickly in winter time.

Actually I have both now.. 5,2kW diesel powered heater AND PTC heater.. Diesel heaters con is that it's quite slow after all. It takes few minutes to start and few more minutes to get to full power. It also transfers heat through coolant so it won't give much heat until the engine is also warm. It's great for preheating if you remember to take care of battery, it gets easily drained if trips are short all the time.

cant see the point of it on a petrol as it warms up within minutes even during the winter warm air is available quickly

It maybe that we are speaking a little different kind of winters, for example 2012 here was -38c. it would be nice to see a petrol Focus which "warms up in minutes" at -38c :)

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Very much interested in this mod, please put together a how to guide with as much pictures and videos as possible, i would like my engine to warm up quicker.

Interior heating isn't a problem warm air starts to blow pretty much right away

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Minus 10 to 15 and it did heat up quick but the ti vct uses a different system for fast warm ups at minus 38 i can see youre point

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Do you have any pictures of this?

petrol Focus never had PTC but it's possible to retrofit, see here: http://ffclub.ru/topic/288750/

You should consider installing more powerful alternator (105A -> 120A then modify VIDblock in PCM) and during 4km trip your battery won't charge much, so recharge at home

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petrol Focus never had PTC but it's possible to retrofit, see here: http://ffclub.ru/topic/288750/

You should consider installing more powerful alternator (105A -> 120A then modify VIDblock in PCM) and during 4km trip your battery won't charge much, so recharge at home

Actually GEM uses PTC only if there is enough reserve power in alternator. It won't affect battery charging at any level, voltage is kept over 14 at all times. I have 120A alternator and PTC is ran with only about 20-30% power (at idle) until glow plugs are turned off. Modern cars are very intelligent when it comes to battery charging, you can't use more power than the alternator can supply. Unless car has some DIY circuits which are not controlled by GEM..

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it depends - if you have deatc (automatic aircon), then it is smartly controlled

but with manual aircon, then PTC control is binary: on or off - only certain manual aircon panels can control (=have additional microswitch) PTC

ps.

it's hard to call Focus2 (10 years old design, counting from first C-Maxs from 2003) a modern car ;)

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it depends - if you have deatc (automatic aircon), then it is smartly controlled

but with manual aircon, then PTC control is binary: on or off - only certain manual aircon panels can control (=have additional microswitch) PTC

ps.

it's hard to call Focus2 (10 years old design, counting from first C-Maxs from 2003) a modern car ;)

You are right about calling Focus 2 a modern car.. :)
Below is a direct copy from PTC operation description in Etis:
When the passenger compartment temperature is set to HI at the climate control assembly or the heater control is set the highest level, the Electronic Automatic Temperature Control (EATC) transmits an “electric booster heater ON” request signal to the Generic Electronic Module (GEM) via the MS CAN bus. If a manual air conditioning system is installed, the signal is transmitted via a conventional cable connection.
The GEM switches on the electric booster heater depending on the following parameters:
Engine coolant temperature is below 60 °C.
Ambient air temperature is below 10 °C.
Sufficient generator capacity is available.
The electric booster heater consists of three individual heating elements, which are incorporated into a single housing.
The electronics of the electric booster heater controls three output stages dependent upon a pulse width modulation signal (PWM), which is generated by the GEM. The output stages switch the three heating elements of the electric booster heater ON or OFF individually, whereby the heating periods of the individual elements can overlap. Due to the variable switch-on duration, continuously variable temperature control is possible. The overall heating power of the three heating elements is linearly proportional to the PWM signal. If the PWM signal is below 10% or above 95%, the electric booster heater is not activated.
The electric booster heater is switched off when an engine coolant temperature of 70°C or an ambient air temperature of 20°C is exceeded.
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petrol Focus never had PTC but it's possible to retrofit, see here: http://ffclub.ru/topic/288750/

You should consider installing more powerful alternator (105A -> 120A then modify VIDblock in PCM) and during 4km trip your battery won't charge much, so recharge at home

My car already has a 120A alternator and a few Years ago I installed a 80 Ah battery.

Yesterday i checked the wiring and saw the wiring between de GEM module/fusebox and the PTC connector is already factory fitted. I also have the correct type of heater control panel with the additional microswitch. The only thing which is missing is the wiring between the fusebox in the engine bay and the PTC. i work for a company which repairs and rewinds electric motors and generators so it is no problem for me to install this wiring.

The only thing I need to complete this mod is the PTC heater itself and some wiring.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yesterday I succesfully retrofitted the PTC heater to my MK2 Petrol.

Most of the wiring was already factory fitted in my car so I only needed to fit the wiring between the PTC heater element and the fuse box in the engine bay. Unfortunately my heater control panel (which originally came from a 2010 Focus MK2.5 Diesel) was not suitable to control the PTC heater. To retrofit the PTC heater I needed the following parts:

* PTC heater element.

* Heater control panel which is suitable to control the PTC heater.

* 80A fuse.

* 10mm² wiring between the PTC heater and the fuse box in the engine bay.

As far as I could find the PTC heater was never installed on Dutch Focus MK2/MK2.5 versions. I searched several vehicles at a scrap yard but none of the MK2/MK2.5 Diesel versions was equipped with the PTC heater. Next I searched on eBay and found the needed parts at some Eastern European sellers. I bought the heater control panel and the PTC heater element from these sellers for a very good price.

After these parts were installed I made the 10mm² wiring between the PTC heater and the fuse box in the engine bay myself using some 10mm² cable and suitable cable lugs.

Finally I activated the PTC heater functions into the GEM module/fuse box and the instrument cluster. After a quick test the PTC heater seems to work very well. When the system is activated warm air comes out of the airvents almost immediately.

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Hi. Have you anybody retroffited ptc with manual AC? I retrofitted ptc(exactly by guide) but ptc doesnt work :-( . Always I saw ptc combined dual AC.

FF2, 1,6 tdci, 10/2007.

Thanx for reply.

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I retrofitted the PTC heater system to my Focus MK2 with manual A/C.

For the PTC heater system you will need a different type of heater control panel which has an additional microswitch (and some components) on the circuit board. The standard heater control panel does not have this microswitch.

The GEM module/fuse box also needs to be suitable for the PTC heater system and after installing the PTC heater system it needs to be activated into the GEM module and the instrument cluster.

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Yes yes, I know about the microswitch. I havenefficiency´t the circuit board with microswitch, but I have extra manual switch, whitch gives an information to the GEM. I have activated the ptc in GEM and also in instrument cluster. BUt I still have the fault B2976-0F :-( When the switch is switchen, On instrument cluster I see xy% of efficiency ptc but still havent warm air :-(

What do you mean "(and some components)"?

Sorry for my enghlish :oops:

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There are different ways of activation depending whether you have manual or automatic AC

If instrument cluster displays % then most likely you have activated as for auto AC

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Yes yes, I know about the microswitch. I havenefficiency´t the circuit board with microswitch, but I have extra manual switch, whitch gives an information to the GEM. I have activated the ptc in GEM and also in instrument cluster. BUt I still have the fault B2976-0F :-( When the switch is switchen, On instrument cluster I see xy% of efficiency ptc but still havent warm air :-(

What do you mean "(and some components)"?

Sorry for my enghlish :oops:

The circuit board of the heater control panel suitable for PTC heater has an adittional microswitch, some extra resistors and a transistor. It is not only the microswitch which is missing on the standard panel.

Does your GEM module actually send the PWM signal to the PTC heater? As far as I know some GEM modules with lower options are not suitable to control certain options because some parts/components on the circuit board are missing. I have got a MK2.5 GEM module in my car which supports all possible options. With this GEM module the PTC heater is fully functional. I tested the PTC heater also with my original MK2 GEM module which obviously does not support all options. This GEM module sends a signal to the instrument cluster but does not send the PWM signal to the PTC heater. The result is a message on the display of the instrument cluster about the PTC heater being active but the element not being activated by the GEM module.

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I think I have higher version of GEM, I have xxxx-xxxxx-DE version. Now I am hunting for the The circuit board(with some next components), because I am really frustrated yet(its the finally step what I think where is the the fault nad before ptc damaged) :(

BTW, today my car visited the service station(ford service) and they said, that in the datalogger the the signal is OK.

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  • 1 year later...

I am sorry for resurrecting such an old thread, but I have few questions.

I am considering retrofitting the PTC heater on my 2007 mk, manual A/C. What is this additional heater panel with microwitches you are talking about and how it looks like?

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There are a few different versions of the Focus MK2/MK2.5 heater control panel for manual A/C. On the outside all heater control panels look identical but inside there are technical differences. The versions which are suitable for the Fuel Fired Heater or PTC heater have a different circuit board with some additional components.

The heater control panel can be identified by the part number. This part number is located on a sticker at the top of the heater control panel. The following part numbers are suitable for the Fuel Fired Heater or PTC heater:

Green illumination:

3M5T-19980-BB

3M5T-19980-BC

3M5T-19980-BD

Red ellumination:

7M5T-19980-BA

7M5T-19980-BB

7M5T-19980-BC

The prices of a new heater control panel which is suitable for the Fuel Fired Heater or PTC heater vary between €225,- and €300,-. The version with green illumination is a bit cheaper than the version with red illumination. These heater control panels are a bit rare in Western European countries. These heater control panels are Occasionally offered on eBay. Mostly by eastern European sellers.

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Many thanks for that brilliant enlightening post JW1982.

Do I need to know anything specific that hasn't been mentioned in the guide from the previous page?

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JW1982, one more question? What is supposed to to do with the two cables ( thin ones ) that come from the radiator ( heater ) itself? I mean I have to feed them with 12V or I am wrong?

And when I find the correct heater panel, where I need to connect the cables from the heater on the new panel?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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