Aux Heater ?

[Gadgetoid]

My air intake pipe ends just inside the sill - I guess it's a cheap way of ensuring that no grit or water gets in without going to the bother and expense of fitting a proper air filter

[Masked Marauder]

Mine is a 1989 model and has a solid intake pipe.

[neil]

Spoke to Fords today, only sell the air intake pipe with the exhaust pipe -

[Guest vr6galaxy]

This any good for you?

[neil]

VR6Galaxy - it certainly is.......thank you :D :D :o

[Guest blatters]

Dear All,

 

Aux / Booster heater just packed up.

 

Unit tries to fire up just after starting car and there is a modest amount of blue/grey smoke with a smell. Then all shuts down. I think I can hear the ticker early on (metering pump?).

 

I'm assuming it is the glow plug. The whole unit was replaced under warranty just 18mths ago. Warranty now run out. Surely I should get more life from this or is it because I live in Scotland and the unit works a lot more than in The South?

 

Anyway, here are my questions:

 

- apart from a large can of WD40, are there any parts I need other than the glow plug?

- is it simply best to order the glow plug from a VW dealer rather than my local Ford dealer?

- some of you say that the thing fires up without any VAG COM reset. Since I've not got a VAG COM is this true or is it necessary to reset with VAG COM?

- I'm a handy guy who's plumbed the house and rewired it fully. Not got huge experience with car mechanics but this seems a limited job just affecting the heater unit and not a complex engine job. Is it within my grasp? Pictures don't look too bad.

[gregers]

blatters just a thought as it was replaced under warrenty ford obviously know there was a fault,how about giving them a ring and explaining that a part thats been replaced has packed up and surly it should last longer,worth a punt in my book,

 

regards gregers

[Guest blatters]

gregers,

 

I agree. It is worth a punt. But the dealer will probably be of little use. Do you think I should call Ford UK then?

 

Blatters

[Guest nikvenn]

It is certainly worth talking to Ford UK we got an instrument cluster replaced foc 1 year out of warranty (long story) :( .

 

is this true or is it necessary to reset with VAG COM

 

Ours had been u/s for 12 months - mechanic told us that glowpug was open circuit (he was checking for another problem but had a look as a favour) I put in a new glowplug and it fired up right away. Don't know if it would from a 'Flame out' error though.

 

If you get no joy from Ford it is worth having a go yourself - if the unit is only 18 months old then you shouldn't have too many stuck bolt/screw problems. I don't do much in the car maintenance dept but I managed it in under an hour :D

[Scorpiorefugee]

On the face of it, I must be the lucky one. My ancient and much used/abused Gal has an aux heater which seems to be doing it's job magnificently. It fires up without any noticable smoke and whines gently to itself for many a long mile keeping me snug ang warm with the temperature set at less than half, even in sub-zero temperatures. My problem is to find a way of stopping the d#####d thing. :)

 

I've just replaced the coolant temperature sender which had been telling the control system that the engine was too hot and hence stopping the glow plugs working so I assume that it is OK. That being the case, I cannot see any reason for keeping the Aux heater on for a full 3 hour drive when it is obviously not needed. I reckon that it is costing an extra 4/5 MPG and that is just plain wasteful apart from helping to melt the ice caps as well as the glue holding my shoes together. :D

 

I read in an earlier post that the operation was controlled by a 'stat on the heater itself.

 

Can anyone give me a quick location point for this please?

 

Also, I'm considering fitting a switch so that I can control the thing manually.

 

Has anyone tried this or have any thoughts on possible problems?

 

Ron.

[Jeff115]

Ron,

Assuming that your Gals coolant is reaching 88 then 90 degrees the coolant temperature sender inside the booster heater should signal the booster to go into Low operation mode(@88d) then off (@90d).

 

If the ambient outsdie temperature is very cold that may not happen on a long trip as air cold/cool air passage through the matrices (radiator and front and auxilliary heaters, assuming that they're on) will cool the coolant continuously.

 

However the temperature sensor inside the booster could be faulty/blocked.

 

MM's helpful D5w pdf on page 15 of this topic, see Ebersp

[Masked Marauder]

My server is down, it will be back up and running sometime over the next few days.

[marinabrid]

AUX HEATER GLOWPLUGS FOR SALE ---- CHEAP,, WITH FREE GIFT.

 

 

 

My Webshop

[JToh]

Blatters

 

Sounds like a nightmare! I recently had my booster heater (complete unit and not just the glow plug cos Ford doesn't just do the glow plug) replaced under warranty which seems to have sorted the white smoke problem as well as (strangely) my previous on-going gripe with the "Alternator Workshop" message.

 

But still not 100% sure whether the new unit is working as it should as I haven't heard the jet engine noise for a while!

 

You should be able to get some goodwill gesture from Ford UK, as when I spoke to them, they were acutely aware of the heater problem!

 

Good luck!

 

JT

[mumof4]

your shop Martin???

[mumof4]

Like the flashing breast lights!! :lol:

[Scorpiorefugee]

Jeff,

 

Thanks for the info. It confirms my own reasoning but, without any reference to known or design criteria, it's difficult to make sense of things. Your info helps a lot and it sound as though everything is as it should be. I cannot comment on the coolant temperature as my gauge only shows Hot/Normal/Cold and it normally sits slap in the middle.

 

It looks as if I must put up with it.

 

Do you have any thoughts on putting a switch in the thermostat wiring to force it to switch off on long journeys? It's not so much the fuel but if it's running 8 - 10 hours some days it's going to wear itself out - bit like me really. :lol:

 

I think it would be easiest to access the 'stat on the wiper assy.

 

Ron.

[Jeff115]

Ron,

I see that MM's server is back on line - the D5W.pdf document should give you a good idea of how the booster works and diagrams, pictures and disassembly instructions - see Page 22 for description of coolant temperature sensor inside the heater and how to check. In the .pdf the booster is controlled by a timer/switch so it is possible.

 

In my Galaxy the booster is controlled by the ambient temperature sensor located in the plenum chamber on the wiper arm assy(near-side, roughly behind the battery - do Search and you'll find pics). I'm sure that you could insert a switch in this circuit but why not try and check/replace the coolant temperature sensor which seems to be causing your booster to not to stop when coolant temp reaches 90 degrees?

 

From you description it sounds like your coolant temperature is reaching normal operating 90 degrees temperature i.e.

it normally sits slap in the middle.

so this again points to a faulty coolant temp sensor in the booster heater.

Regards,

Jeff.

[Scorpiorefugee]

Fan - tas - tic!

 

Thanks Jeff & MM.

 

I suppose I should have found that but I get a bit word blind after reading a few dozen posts.

 

It's a pity we can't find a way of extracting the important/key bits of all this and popping it into a new section with a mutually agreed structured titling system to make searching easier or more productive. I see that it would not be easy but have you had a look at www.fordscorpio.co.uk? There is a full time and active moderator there and the accumulated information is very easy to access. Unfortunately, someone has to be prepared to do it, but it should be posible for anyone who recieves useful information to post a summary of the solution into a dedicated section. I daresay that someone has already looked at this but it would need some management and I, for one, am grateful for what we have anyway.

 

Thanks again,

 

Ron.

[Gadgetoid]

How nice of you to volunteer :lol:

[Guest gooners77]

Bear with me, i'm both new to this forum and Galaxy 1.9 TDi

But!!!

Surely there's something wrong with the booster heater(Aux Heater) when white /grey smoke billows from the n/s/p area , on --- start up - idling at traffic lights- and continues after switching off?

I can't believe that this is normal - even if the ambient temperature was below 5c.

Took it to Fords. They found no smoke- so they could see no fault.(ambient temp that day was above 11c.)

Car still has 8 months warranty left, but if i leave it till the winter, when problem will return, the warranty will have expired!

Can anyone advise please.

[NikpV]

disconnect temp sensor, reverse up to door of dealership, start it up, open door and after five minutes ask them if its ok. :blink: :lol: :lol:

 

 

ps temp sensor is clipped to wiper linkage on left hand side IIRC

 

PPs its not normal

[Dave-G]

disconnect temp sensor, reverse up to door of dealership, start it up, open door and after five minutes ask them if its ok. :) :lol: :lol:

 

 

ps temp sensor is clipped to wiper linkage on left hand side IIRC

 

PPs its not normal

 

 

:16: :lol: :lol: Absolute class reply :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

Martin - I gave up try to find your glowplug after wading through four pages of stuff I didn't want :lol:

so I'm off to the main dealer to order it now, I'll get it tomorrow morning.

 

Well, ford dont list it in their dealerships spares breakdown - The current VW price is

[Dave-G]

Job done - it was burning off the WD40 I'd liberally sprayed around within a minute of start up, following a few tense seconds of white smoke. Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread - Ivor your photo's were a clinching factor in the decision to attempt the fix :unsure:

 

It nearly turned to tragedy as I'd used the first T20 torx bit that came to hand - and found that it wasn't made as well as it should be. I subsequently found one with better defined teeth and Bobs your cousins father. :(

 

Being as I'd accessed the temperature sensor I also changed the pollen filter. Almost gave up on that. :lol:

[Guest happyman]

Hi Mike,

Just read you artical on the rear heater glow plug. Brilliant and helpful thanks... I sadly could not see the pictures as they wouldn't download. Could you possibly sent them to me? ian.sharp8@btinternet.com.

 

Only this morning whilst taking the wife to Morrisons, I had to pull over because the smoke coming from the heater was terrible. I felt a complete idiot when a man came running from a commercial building asking if I needed a fire-engine. Amazingly, another man arrived who actually works for SEAT as a machanic and informed me of the heater glow-plug. He later phoned me with a price of