More Heater Questions

[Laurie]

I asked a couple of days ago what people thought could be wrong with my booster heater.

Having scoured through here I've read something about the pumps making a noise when the engine is turned off.

My car doesnt appear to make any noise at this point, could this be contributing to my heavy smoking problem?I'm thinking perhaps the pump is'nt circulating the coolant and because of this it overheats the booster heater causing it to cut out and flood with unburnt fuel when the heater does run?

 

My heater doesnt seem to run on a temperature basis more when it can be bothered!

 

Am I talking manure?

[gregers]

well mine was spooling up/down and i traced it to the run on pump not working,once i carried out the repair(in the faqs)everything seemed to sort itself out,but mine doersnt smoke so perhaps you do need to swot up a bit more,would be easy for me to say get a new plug fitted,it might not need 1,but judging by a lot of posts smoking does seem to say you need a new 1.

[Laurie]

well mine was spooling up/down and i traced it to the run on pump not working,once i carried out the repair(in the faqs)everything seemed to sort itself out,but mine doersnt smoke so perhaps you do need to swot up a bit more,would be easy for me to say get a new plug fitted,it might not need 1,but judging by a lot of posts smoking does seem to say you need a new 1.

 

 

I thought( i may be wrong) that if the heater got hot then the glo plug was working?

 

My glo plug was replaced perhaps as much as 2 yrs ago I'm reluctant to put a plug in just to be then told the units beyond use......

 

Would anyone know a cheaper source of booster heater than going to ford?

Ford want

[gregers]

laurie have you read up on the long thread about booster heaters?

alot of info is within that thread,

if the heater is getting hot and you can hear a jet engine noise then i would say its working,but you have said that its smoking.

 

i dont think that if your pump isnt working correctly it will make your booster heater smoke.

[Laurie]

laurie have you read up on the long thread about booster heaters?

alot of info is within that thread,

if the heater is getting hot and you can hear a jet engine noise then i would say its working,but you have said that its smoking.

 

i dont think that if your pump isnt working correctly it will make your booster heater smoke.

 

 

I did read through it but unfortunately it doesnt seem to match my fault particularly.

Mine works fine occasionally, then suddenly it'll purge and smoke really badly.

Then the next time its started it wont fire at all, on tuesday I lost my car in the smoke then its been ok until today when it started to do it again although not as bad.

 

Tonight it wont fire up at all and yet its definately cold enough, but tomorrow it will probably work again.....

Alex

[big_kev]

I wouldn't think that the smoking is down to the glowplug.

The glowplug is only operational for a few moments ( will try and remember how long this is ).

After this the heater runs without the glowplug.

 

 

Excessive smoke is a symptom of a fuel/air problem.

 

Could be the fuel pump is dodgy or the air intake is blocked.

 

Or the combustion chamber is coked up.

[Laurie]

I wouldn't think that the smoking is down to the glowplug.

The glowplug is only operational for a few moments ( will try and remember how long this is ).

After this the heater runs without the glowplug.

 

 

Excessive smoke is a symptom of a fuel/air problem.

 

Could be the fuel pump is dodgy or the air intake is blocked.

 

Or the combustion chamber is coked up.

 

 

Any ideas of solutions or ways to investigate these ideas 'big kev' ?

 

Alex

[big_kev]

When does the smoking occur if its still smoking 3 minutes after starting up ( assuming cold engine and outside temp low enough ) then it is definitely a fuel/air problem.

 

Check that the units exhaust isnt blocked or damaged ( ie not flattened or kinked ) would be the first step.

[Laurie]

When does the smoking occur if its still smoking 3 minutes after starting up ( assuming cold engine and outside temp low enough ) then it is definitely a fuel/air problem.

 

Check that the units exhaust isnt blocked or damaged ( ie not flattened or kinked ) would be the first step.

 

 

The exhaust seems fine, as for when it smokes it seems to be after the cars been running a while.

For example I drove a couple of miles tuesday turned it off to go to tesco, home (about 1 mile) then about 40 mins later back out to get my girls. On arrival at the childminders it smoked so bad....the most I've ever seen to be honest.

Today I did almost the same journeys , it smoked on initail start up but then it was fine however after I'd collected my girls it started puffing idling in traffic.Tonight when I was listening for the pumpI started it and the heater didnt fire at all.

?

 

Thanks,

Alex

[richyrich]

I had exactly the same symptoms. Replaced knackered run on pump(brushes wear down to nothing) situated top right hand engine compartment, then as I still got loads of smoke I replaced the exhaust (about 30 squid from VW) and it cured the problem instantly.

 

 

Richyrich

[Munter]

I would still replace the glow plug. It only takes a couple of hours and once you have it stripped you can check and clean the combustion chamber too. Cheaper than buying a new unit.