Tick Tick Under Paseenger Floor

[Guest LA2003]

This is to reactivate a topic from the old forum.

 

Many Diesel Galaxy's appear to show a ticking noise under the passenger floor in cold weather. The noise usually kicks in a few seconds after ignition and lasts for about 5-10 minutes.

 

The consensus from the old forum was that this is normal and due to a supplementary diesel-fired heater for the rear passenger climate control, which kicks in only when the outside temperature is below 5C and/or the cooling water temperature is below 85C.

 

I brought the car to the dealer for an inspection and they confirmed the above. The ticking noise is from a solenoid valve that admits the (small) amount of diesel fuel to the supplementary heater.

[rwtomkins]

i think it's true to say that this annoying clicking noise can last a lot longer than 5-10mins - in fact, as long as the outside temperature remains below 5 degrees C, it stays on forever, driving noise-sensitive people like me completely nuts. if anyone knows of a cure (short of having my ears surgically removed) i'd be very pleased to hear it

[grifjl]

Just bought a new Sharan and have the same problem. VW are saying they are not aware of the issue.

 

The heater is working and noise occurs intermittently when outside temp is below 10C.Surely there is something wrong with the valve if some make a noise and others do not?

 

Would appreciate some more info as you refer to the previous message board and I wonder what was written there?

 

Crux of the matter is that I have it booked in for them to look at in early April...

[Guest Vialli]

Thank goodness I found this forum. Owned an Alhambra TDI from '97 to present (with no problem) and switched to a brand new Galaxy TDI last week....and I get this problem exactly as described. In the morning 1 min after starting a tapping starts, the freqency of which varies but is independant of the engine speed.

 

10-15 mins later it stops and never re-occurs for the rest of the day. Thought at first it was coming from the engine bay but after after looking under the hood realised it was coming from somewhere underneath the Gear stick.

 

My car is brand new, 300 miles on the clock , Ford CANNOT be serious surely ! Its completely unacceptable in a car of any age, has anyone got a sensible reponse out of Ford for this problem ?

[grifjl]

Wife just took car in to VW and the ticking noise stopped as she drove up. They have no idea what it is. Amazing, a forum on the net has all the details and the mechanics have 'never heard of such a problem'.

 

The old forum has plenty on this topic and it does seem as though this is a natural thing to happen, in fact the ticking noise means the solenoid feedind diesel to the rear heater is working!!!

 

Would have thought they would have tried to damp the noise a bit though. I'm going to book it in, under warranty, and demand that the noise be dampened.

 

This is a great site, really put my mind at ease when I read similar problems/issues coming up.

[grifjl]

Took car in to garage. 2 days in there and the end result is that the technician thinks it is the aux heater and we MAY have a problem in the winter. Well thanks a lot!!!!!!

 

Basically I guess there is no problem having read the previous forum posts. But, I guess now I have that in wiritng I can go back whenver I want in the future.

[rwtomkins]

yes, i had the same experience at the dealer - they seem completely oblivious to the problem and anyway there's nothing they could do about it even if they wanted to because its obviously a design fault. like grifjl says, ford can't be serious. one day i'll get around to writing to them about it - but probably not until next winter, when the mornings turn cold and the clicking starts driving me nuts again...

 

by the way, anyone tuning in to this problem for the first time should definitely read the posts on the old website (same headline) for a full explanation. at least it's a comfort to know all TDI owners have the same problem