Aux Heater

[pete white]

had a bump in the sharan couple of months ago, so it went to the dealers for repair to bonnet and bumper. when it came back to me there was a dent in the sill next to where the aux heater sits. reported it to them and they accepted liability (caused by the jig apparently). Anyway when i got it back again aux heater is not working properly and temp is taking forever to get up. The heater comes on for about 30 seconds and then stops, the exhaust gets warm, theres no smoke (used to get quite a bit before) every now and again i can hear it coming on but only in short bursts. I also noticed that coolant level was down about half a litre which has never happened before. Dealers changed air con rad and a ac pipe could this have anything to do with the loss of coolant or is it completely separate. I told dealers and they said they would have a look at it, but when i took it to them they didn't know what a aux heater was or what it did. they said they used a slide hammer to pull the dent out. i dont know how they use one could this have damaged any pipes to the aux heater which were directly behind the dent. I am more worried about loss of coolant than aux heater now as i read some posts about the head going and costing thousands. Calling on all u experts out there, and i know there are plenty to ease my mind . thanks

[NikpV]

The heater comes on for about 30 seconds and then stops, the exhaust gets warm, theres no smoke (used to get quite a bit before) every now and again i can hear it coming on but only in short bursts

 

could there be an airlock in the coolant pipes to the heater - comes on heats up - doesn't get cool so it switches off due to overtemp - cycle continues ?

[pete white]

thanks you could be right, i'll get it checked out