Aux Heater Questions

[flames7607]

Hi All,

 

Sorry, but it's ANOTHER post about the Aux heater . . . . . 

 

Ford Galaxy 1.9 zetec 2003

 

I've spent many hours reading through the many posts on the heater.

 

Question 1.

I know my run on pump needs replacing (only comes on when pushed towards the bulkhead) new pump ordered.

 

Using Vag Com, I have got the fault code 01410 -  Heater Over-Temp  06-00 -  Signal too High

 

Is this because the water is not flowing through the heater ? I have watched the temperatures on the inlet and outlet pipes via Vag Com, and there is very little difference between them, I guess because the water is not flowing. 

 

When I clear the code it doesn't seem to come back, and the heater fires up as normal, albeit there is no flow of coolant through the heater.

 

Question 2. 

Smoke, lots of smoke ! !  white in colour and smelling of diesel - I'm thinking the glowplug is not getting hot enough quickly enough ? The smoke will eventually clear after several minutes, and the heater does seem to fire up. However, whilst trawling through the many posts on the subject, some people think that the smoke is due to moisture ?

 

Any help greatly appreciated

 

Flames

[flames7607]

In addition to the above, the temp gauge on the dash does not rise above 70, even after driving around for an hour (winter time) I'm guessing that this is because it's not benefiting from the heat from the aux heater because the water is not being pumped ?

[gregers]

welcome to the forum,ist thing i would do is repair the run on pump info in the faqs this may help your problem with the heater?but ive a feeling if its smoking then a new glow plug is needed.iirc if the heater does shut down fully it will need vag com to remove the fault code,so it may be better to fix the problems before it does.

[antzatgalaxy]

Hi, may as well replace run on pump if you've ordered it, but I managed to replace the brushes in mine with a set of ebay for peanuts. The dimensions of brushes and the repair is given in the FAQ. As you have to remove the pump anyway, it's not much further work.

 

I'm pretty sure there is flow through the aux heater without the run on pump and that the Aux heater it is capable of regulating the temperature (flame), hence any reduced coolant flow would not matter - Happy to be corrected, but pretty sure it would work even if run on pump were completely removed (bypassed with a bit of copper tube). I'm saying this as during the period my run on pump wasn't working, I'm sure the aux heater carried on working.

 

The White smoke is unburnt diesel, but it needs heating to produce this. You say the error codes doesn't return after clearing, but clearly it must at some point, or you don't have a problem with the code (historic?). Does the code return some time after running?

 

Normally white smoke is associated with a flame out error code, which happens when the glow plug starts to fail. Glow plug fails to maintain ignition, fuel continues to be pumped in, aux heater shuts down with flame out error. I believe it takes three flame out errors before it shuts the aux heater down for good until code is cleared. Of course next time it ignites, there is excess diesel in the flame chamber (hence white smoke). To much of this and the whole unit eventually bungs up and will need a good clean out when you replace the glow plug. Replacing the glow plug is not such an easy job....

 

However, even without the Aux heater, the engine temperature will raise to normal temperature (needle straight up) within about 20 minutes if driving around, even in winter - (probably not if just left idling). So you may have further investigations ahead.... 

 

When you say the Aux heater fires up as normal, is the exhaust from the aux heater really hot? Might the lack of temperature difference between inlet and outlet pipes actually be because the Aux heater is not heating the coolant, rather than no flow?

[flames7607]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to do more testing with Vag Com today and post the results and readings. The error code sometimes appears when I scan. I clear it, and the heater starts up, and, after cruising around like a Red Arrow trailing smoke, things "seem" normal (jet engine noise, hot exhaust, clicking from dosing pump. Then, a few days later, if I scan, the code will be back.

 

If I recall, the inlet and outlet coolant temps have similar values, and they steadily increase up to 90-100 degrees. This takes less than 5 minutes. The chamber temp climbs to the high 200's and then seems to shut down, and both the inlet and outlet temps drop. I have tried at this point to scan for an error code to explain why it shut down but there is none, even if I turn the engine off and on again. 

 

The thing that surprised me is that the difference in temp between inlet and outlet is so small, hence me diagnosing the run on pump failure (pump not drawing in cold coolant from engine.)

 

Does anyone know if the coolant drawn/pumped into the heater comes from the engine block or from the radiator side of the thermostat ? If I didn't have a aux heater I would assume my low engine temp is caused either by a faulty gague/sender, or the thermostat it stuck open. When sitting with the engine running for 10 minutes and testing the heater, the engine temp on Vag Com never rose above 50 degrees.

 

Cheers

[xavier]

I'm sure I posted some details when I repaired the aux pump in my old gal. I used some brushes bought from ebay, cost about 4 pounds I think, but I did get 5 sets! Quite useful actually as the first time I tried to cut them to size I messed up. The old pump can be repaired cheaply if you just spend some time on it. I recommend using cocktail sticks rather than thread to keep the springs out the way when re-assembling the unit.

 

One advantage you will find from doing the pump is your cabin will heat up a lot quicker, even without the aux heater working. An hour will reduce to 10 mins or so.

 

When removing the pump, a tool to remove the spring clips is of great benefit. Also you will find the hoses tight on it. Try not to spay coolant in your eyes as I did when it finally came loose!

 

To me it sounds as if your aux heater is working, and may be similar to mine. First up, they don't like getting switched on for short bursts, ideally you want it on for 20-30 minutes at a time. Second issue I had is I found the heater worked perfectly when the car was full to half full of diesel. When the level went below half-way I found the heater performed poorly, and I believed the smoke was caused by fuel starvation rather than due to an issue with the glowplug.

[xavier]

On the subject of inlet and outlet temps, when my unit was working correctly there was a 20 or so degree change between inlet and outlet temps IIRC.

[flames7607]

Thanks Xavier, hopefully when it's fixed things will be a little warmer in the cabin.

 

Cheers