xavier

Oh, and fuse 12 worked. First time I counted I missed the empty first bank and ended up pulling 13 rather than 12.

what's the first one for though! Something to do with timing but what?!

Found myself with nothing on TV and looking for car related stuff on youtube. Came across this, and baffled what it's actually diagnosing / repairing. then found this awesome aux / booster heater glow plug replacement vid

I'm lookin but not seein. Maybe I've been struck blind!

Thanks for the investigation all. Had I just seen it on my laptop and not seen it happen at work, or on the ipad I would have thought my machine. I too will keep an eye out, I tend to use firefox so next time I'm in looking at the site from work I'll log the http data from the browser.

I seems to bounce through something called 4 url for short (?), I've seen it happen at work too (thankfully to nothing so graphic though!) and we're really up with the security stuff there. I've not really noticed it with the laptop but I think that's cos I'm in the site rather than getting redirected to it. It was only when I was leaving for work I remembered the cloud of smoke 2 days before and thought to check the fuse. To which I'm none the wiser! Other than it's not 12 because the heater still came on!

Bit of a weird one this, can't imagine it's just me as I get it on a number of devices. When entering this site via a search engine, first time in I get directed to a 3rd party site. Does it happen to anyone else? Got into trouble with the wife this morning as the redirect "site" was of an adult nature, where the "welcome" page was a full frontal naked female. Last thing I expected when searching for the fuse to pull to disable my aux heater. Nearly sprayed my breakfast cuppa all over the kitchen table!

He could also try removing the radio, when I didn't have one for an MGF I just bought, I took it back to the garage for them to get the code (along with a few other things). Apparently they removed the radio and the code was written on a piece of paper taped to the back of the unit!

fingers crossed you've got a fix. Please report back after a couple of weeks if it's a fix!

If you're heater isn't working too well check your auxiliary pump is working, if not you should find replacing the brushes in it a lot easier than doing the thermostat, and you don't have to drain the coolant system down.

There's a thread on fixing the aux heater pump in the FAQ. I ordered some carbon brushes (from amazon I think) for a couple of quid. I used the cocktail stick method rather than the cotton thread one.

This happened to me recently and I was bricking it thinking it was the head gasket or other problem. Turned out it wasn't. First, before you worry about anything else, check the heater control unit is working. Symptoms of it not working are : AC light not lighting up, changing the blower direction knob and it makes no difference, or when it's dark and you switch on your lights, the heater controls don't light up. The blower speed is on a separate circuit, so it will work even if the rest of the unit is dead. If the control unit is working, refer to Chris's list above. It would be useful to know if the engine is hot and you're still getting cold air, or if you've not waited that long. I found mine took an age to blow warm air before I fixed the auxiliary pump, and I'd only get warm air after the engine was hot.

Before tackling the booster heater I fixed the run on / auxiliary pump. It alone actually made a noticeable difference to the heater performance, I could start to feel warm (well, not cold!) air coming through the airvents after a couple of minutes whereas before I had to wait until the engine was nearly at temperature. With a working booster heater I can have the heater on full blast and the engine will still keep warming up.

Wow, I wasn't even aware mine had one! Though that kinda explains what that little dial on the dashboard is beside the headlight switch. Probably shouldn't fiddle with it when I'm feeling bored then!

Fan was fine this morning, not so fine this evening. Maybe time I fix the old heater that's in a box in the garage, I do have a glow plug for it. Chris, can 01414 cover a number of different fan faults (I've seen "implausible signal" mentioned somewhere with 01414) or is it always open circuit?

Few flame outs from mine today, was below 1/2 way so filled her up. Back to running fine. Have a theory that it's either not priming quickly enough when lower on fuel or the pick-up's higher in the tank for the heater. One thing I did notice a new error code I've not seen before, 1414. The fan is noisy and could probably do with a clean / lubrication. Given the temps involved I'm thinking either spray high temp grease, or silicone spray. Any suggestions. Likely to not be done until spring unless said heater "packs in".

I had problems with mine when it was under 1/2 a tank. Fill her up and see if that helps. Run on pump definately is working? Sharan's bigger than a passat and has the rear blower, heaters worth it when it's working (mine is, though is noisy when the fan slows down for the low temp setting.

I'm truly speechless. It's a good job I can still type.

Useful to know. My battery struggled last winter, however I bought I decent battery charger and give it a good charge, made the world of difference.

Is the garage using a VW type code scanner or just a "do all makes" one? The drivers door red LED light should indicate what the immobiliser is doing, is it lit / flashing when you try and start the car?

In VCDS if you go into the block logging, can you see "useful" information, like heater temp (block 2 I think), block 1 shows what is "on" and what's "off". I've seen these been completely disconnected before, hence the questions.

Could the bulb have been removed? Are any of the other electrics playing up?

daddy - there's a good vid on youtube about servicing the heater, have a look if you haven't already. howz - can vcds connect to the control unit successfully?

thread was a right pain, I ended up going down the toothpick route.

for easy read an hour drilling the old one out! a bit of heat on the ring then it should slip on, then tap on the rest of the way with a hammer