Aux Heater

[Guest cosmos]

:lol:

I've read a few notices on the forum about aux heaters.

I have an 02 Galaxy ghia 1.9TD and I've started getting the problems associated with the aux heater faults. Smelly Gas and jet engine noises.

Does this actually mean the heater is bust or is there some tweaking I can do to fix ?

If its bust is it easy to refit and do you need to buy the heater direct from Fords ?

Any idea of the cost of the part and what Fords will ask for fitting ?

Car was 3 years old at beginning of April and I didn't purchase any extended warranty so would this still be covered under warranty ?

This appears to be a comon fault and as such what is Fords stance ? Will they replace free of charge if I have a full Fords service history.

I think I have just become the most recent member of the auxilliar heaters club..

[NikpV]

Talking to a ford mechanic last week he reckons that they have changed the glowplug because the original spec one wasn't hot enough, had my gal in for a 50k service and he checked the fault code as 'glowplug open circuit'. I've got a replacement (from Han motors in Birmingham who have soome on the shelf now) I just need to fit it. I dropped the heater off last week but couldn't find the correct torx (in my shed) to remove the black covers and so in fading light I refitted the heater - will have another go tomorrow.

 

Ps Mechanic from ford says you can get the glowplug from them !

[GSMGuy]

Have a look at THIS THREAD I posted some info, and you'll note that you can do the job without disconnecting the heater from the car..

 

Mike

[NikpV]

Cheers Mike, I was looking at your info (and source for glowplug) when I did it. Unfortunately it took longer than your 10 mins - it took a while to figure out how to remove it in low light conditions and the bracket at the front end stayed firmly attched to the car even with both bolts removed - eventually I worked out that the cage needed to be tight (so I put the nuts back on) and leant on it a bit before the bracket gave way. I removed the air intake (if thats what it is next to exhaust) and disconnected the plug but did not remove fuel pipe. Does it just pull off??

[GSMGuy]

Yep, fuel pipe pulls off - it's a tight fit getting it back on though, and I'd give it all a soak with WD40 the night before!

 

Mike

[Guest cosmos]

Thanks to Mike for that very useful bit of advice on the glow plug. I must have a very friendly Ford dealer because this was virtually the first thing out of his mouth.

Just to add to that last posting by removing the fuel pipe sounds a bit twitchy. Sounds like a silly question but how can you stop the fuel from draining when it is removed ?

Also I have this issue with "pinking" when I accelerate but not at idling. Could this be related to the aux heater problem. I asked Fords on my 2nd service to check but they just didn't check. Only done 17k miles. Used by the missus for school runs. Thanks.

[NikpV]

Oh Bugger - 45mins to change glowplug - old glowplug looked pristine and covered with diesel unfortunately the old one worked fine on a 8A powersupply. Only hope is that the connection was poor - almost fell off when glowplug removed. Given the fault code was 'glowplug openn circuit' where do I go from here ????

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Have you checked that there is power to the glowplug, AND that the earth bonding is OK?

[NikpV]

Nope, was trying to locate the temp sensor to short out but even if I'd found it the engine was probably still too warm fior the heater to start firing. Can't think how to troubleshoot given the conditions required for ignition.

[NikpV]

Well lo and behold I moved the gal out of the way of my car this morning and turned off the ignition - 'whats that sound' sure enough the aux heater was working beautiffuly - no smoke - gentle humming sound and a trace of smell warm pipes and mini exhaust

 

YIPPEE

 

Thanks for everyones help on the aux heater problem - so Ive got a spare glowplug

[Jeff115]

...  Only hope is that the connection was poor - almost fell off when glowplug removed.  Given the fault code was 'glowplug openn circuit' where do I go from here ????...

Nikpv,

Can I take it that when you fixed the poor connection to the aux. heater glow plug you fixed the problem with the 'open circuit' DTC?

J.

[NikpV]

When I was removing connection from the glowplug it took less than half a turn of the nut to come off, I didn't really register this at the time it was only upon reassembly with the new plug (identical thread length) I reaslised that a good 5mm of thread was visible when the nut was tight. Even with this poor contact I would have thought enough current would get through the plug for the fault code not to read as 'Open circuit' since there was some contact.

Jim the mechanic I spoke to said he had cleared the fault on thursday but that he thought that it would need clearing again after correction - contrary to the info posted on this site, I must have been pretty close to to the 5 times then lockout attempts by Monday morning although it occurs to me that not all fault codes would have this lockout built in since in this case repeated retrys would have little in the way of safety implications 9i await correction) There was only a smear of fresh diesel on the glowplug - presumably from the few starting attempts since thursday.

 

?DTC?

[Jeff115]

Jim the mechanic I spoke to said he had cleared the fault on thursday but that he thought that it would need clearing again after correction - contrary to the info posted on this site, I must have been pretty close to to the 5 times then lockout attempts by Monday morning although it occurs to me that not all fault codes would have this lockout built in since in this case repeated retrys would have little in the way of safety implications 9i await correction) ...

 

?DTC?

Glow plug, open circuit should raise 'Diagnostic Trouble Code' or Fault Code 01491 on VAG 1551 or VAG-COM.

 

Regards,

J.

[NikpV]

DTC - Ah Cheers - would like to by a Vag-com but SWMBO would whinge - especially now the aux heater works <_>

[Jeff115]

I get that too but there's always some 'technical' excuse <_<

 

ATB,

Jeff.

[GSMGuy]

The glowplug has a strange connector, whereby both the pos and neg terminals are linked bty a ceramic isolator, so if the 8mm nut securing the connector works loose, the plug will lose both pos AND neg, rather than the normal scenario where a glowplug would be grounded via the body.

 

IMHO this could lead to intermittent faults of open circuit, and after 5 of these the heater would not try and fore up again until the fault is cleared... So although the plug may be fine, a loose connection could still cause mayhem...

 

I was (sort of) lucky - when tested my glowplug was actually open corcuit...

 

Mike