6.1 Heater Not Working

[Rololux]

Could you please advise what the current battery display is? mine took a lot more than expected out of the leisure battery when running for 2 hours.

Battery is currently showing 7 bars. I also checked that it was not a battery issue by running the fridge.

 

[Jenny H]

I don't suppose anyone has seen a wiring diagram for the Auxiliary heater?

If the manual is correct, the auxiliary heater in instant heat mode is run off the starter battery & has been programmed to run for no more than 2 hours without the vehicle being started to save the battery being flattened. removing the fuses I guess just resets the timer?

It also says green flashing light on the remote = vehicle starter battery charge level too low.

Continuous heat mode - according to the manual, can only be used if the vehicle is stationary, if the van is moved it is switched off automatically.

Page 123 of the manual under "Switching the auxiliary Heater on and off using the remote control" says "The Auxiliary heater always starts using the last selected mode"

I'm wondering if continuous mode is off the leisure batteries & instant heat is off the starter battery?

It does also seem to suggest in the manual that Instant heat is from the Auxiliary heater & continuous heat is from the Auxiliary Air heater, a subtle difference.

When Ive got some time free I'll do some proper tests.

Im not at all happy with my Auxillary Heater but am trying to perservere as think its user error!
ive had my Coast 2 weeks but not driven anywhere in it due to lockdown & using my other car for work before selling.
i thought Id sussed it but today upon using the remote its flashing green so I assume from what youve said Andy the vehicle starter battery charge is too low so I need to take it for a drive.
its also been showing the "error" message on the control panel
i will take it out tomorrow in the hope this fixes it but feeling a bit overwhelmed by the heater & just hope it gets easier as I use it!

 

[AlisonF]

Im not at all happy with my Auxillary Heater but am trying to perservere as think its user error!
ive had my Coast 2 weeks but not driven anywhere in it due to lockdown & using my other car for work before selling.
i thought Id sussed it but today upon using the remote its flashing green so I assume from what youve said Andy the vehicle starter battery charge is too low so I need to take it for a drive.
its also been showing the "error" message on the control panel
i will take it out tomorrow in the hope this fixes it but feeling a bit overwhelmed by the heater & just hope it gets easier as I use it!

Can you put it on hook up to charge batteries?
The first thing I did was extend the time on the ‘heat immediately’ function to 120mins (did it whilst still at dealer for collection).
Also I turned the setting high - as it’s warmer now it may not kick in if temp is higher than thermostat?
How long was it flashing green for? Mine flashes and then stops as it connects and kicks in.

 

[Jenny H]

Can you put it on hook up to charge batteries?
The first thing I did was extend the time on the ‘heat immediately’ function to 120mins (did it whilst still at dealer for collection).
Also I turned the setting high - as it’s warmer now it may not kick in if temp is higher than thermostat?
How long was it flashing green for? Mine flashes and then stops as it connects and kicks in.

Thanks Alison yes I have now bought an Electric Hook Up Cable so could charge it tomorrow.
I havent put any times in the controls yet but will have a look at your suggestion.
I did have it working last weekend fine - it flashed several times then just turned off without the control panel icon coming on which I think would mean as above needs more battery power.
I think I need to get my head round what runs off what battery & the logic of it all so I can fully understand when problems like this occur!

 

[AlisonF]

Thanks Alison yes I have now bought an Electric Hook Up Cable so could charge it tomorrow.
I havent put any times in the controls yet but will have a look at your suggestion.
I did have it working last weekend fine - it flashed several times then just turned off without the control panel icon coming on which I think would mean as above needs more battery power.
I think I need to get my head round what runs off what battery & the logic of it all so I can fully understand when problems like this occur!

Could also be thermostat it set too low to come on. Hook up and getting to grips with the control panel should help (although I confess I’ve not done the latter yet...)

 

[Jenny H]

Could also be thermostat it set too low to come on. Hook up and getting to grips with the control panel should help (although I confess I’ve not done the latter yet...)

Thank you yes I will hook up tomorrow & try to stop being overwhelmed by it all!

 

[Stu@rt]

Hi Jenny, I'm chipping in here without any qualifications, as you know, we are still waiting for our Coast. Just guessing how anxious/overwhelmed/frustrated you must be feeling. Especially when you thought you had the heater "sussed' . Reading back through old 6.1 heater posts, I am wondering if you have been using the "heat immediately " function which has the time limit specified in the options (max 120mins, but could well be less by default, unless you have increased it). Previous posters have only manged to reset the time limit after taking the van for a drive. I'd be tempted to take her for a run tomorrow to reset the heat immediately time limit. Then set it to the max 120mins. Then use Heat Continuously in preference to Heat Immediately and avoid the time limits it imposes. Hope you and other forumites don't mind my unqualified injections and will bow to the judgement of those who know better. Hope you get sorted tomorrow. Good luck.

You have probably already watched this, but might be useful, if not.

 

[AlisonF]

Hi Jenny, I'm chipping in here without any qualifications, as you know, we are still waiting for our Coast. Just guessing how anxious/overwhelmed/frustrated you must be feeling. Especially when you thought you had the heater "sussed' . Reading back through old 6.1 heater posts, I am wondering if you have been using the "heat immediately " function which has the time limit specified in the options (max 120mins, but could well be less by default, unless you have increased it). Previous posters have only manged to reset the time limit after taking the van for a drive. I'd be tempted to take her for a run tomorrow to reset the heat immediately time limit. Then set it to the max 120mins. Then use Heat Continuously in preference to Heat Immediately and avoid the time limits it imposes. Hope you and other forumites don't mind my unqualified injections and will bow to the judgement of those who know better. Hope you get sorted tomorrow. Good luck.

I think most of us trying to solve the peculiarities of the T6.1 control panel are welcoming all suggestions (especially from anyone who has read all the other posts).

 

[Jenny H]

Hi Jenny, I'm chipping in here without any qualifications, as you know, we are still waiting for our Coast. Just guessing how anxious/overwhelmed/frustrated you must be feeling. Especially when you thought you had the heater "sussed' . Reading back through old 6.1 heater posts, I am wondering if you have been using the "heat immediately " function which has the time limit specified in the options (max 120mins, but could well be less by default, unless you have increased it). Previous posters have only manged to reset the time limit after taking the van for a drive. I'd be tempted to take her for a run tomorrow to reset the heat immediately time limit. Then set it to the max 120mins. Then use Heat Continuously in preference to Heat Immediately and avoid the time limits it imposes. Hope you and other forumites don't mind my unqualified injections and will bow to the judgement of those who know better. Hope you get sorted tomorrow. Good luck.

Of course your input is always very welcome, as you can tell Im not very technical minded so appreciate any help - I will take another look tomorrow as no wasnt aware there was a time limit & am now somewhat confused by what I may have been doing - Im going to take her for a drive, do the electric hook up, then have another look at your suggestion. It did worry me today when it kept saying Error as I really dont want to have to drive all that way back to the dealers. I will let you know how I get on - thank you Stuart

You have probably already watched this, but might be useful, if not.

Thanks Stuart yes Id already resorted to California Chris when I first couldnt get it sussed but he doesnt make any mention of the Error - I will have another watch as must admit I didnt pay too much attention to the time setting as thought Id always just use the remote control to switch on & off as & when needed - lots to learn!

 

[Stu@rt]

Of course your input is always very welcome, as you can tell Im not very technical minded so appreciate any help - I will take another look tomorrow as no wasnt aware there was a time limit & am now somewhat confused by what I may have been doing - Im going to take her for a drive, do the electric hook up, then have another look at your suggestion. It did worry me today when it kept saying Error as I really dont want to have to drive all that way back to the dealers. I will let you know how I get on - thank you Stuart

Other posts suggesting that when the run time is exceed, the panel reads "Please Wait", so I could well be barking up the wrong tree. You say your panel just says "Error" ?

This posts suggests that the default setting for the runtime limit could well be 30mins, so I hope its is just the case that you have exceeded the 30mins. Good luck

Auxiliary heater

Hi there I pleased to say I am the proud owner of a California TDI BMT ocean. I brought it just before Christmas so we have only used it for one overnight and lots of walks at weekends. The first time I used the Auxiliary heater it seemed to work fine but since then it just keeps going...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Kemper-van]

Of course your input is always very welcome, as you can tell Im not very technical minded so appreciate any help - I will take another look tomorrow as no wasnt aware there was a time limit & am now somewhat confused by what I may have been doing - Im going to take her for a drive, do the electric hook up, then have another look at your suggestion. It did worry me today when it kept saying Error as I really dont want to have to drive all that way back to the dealers. I will let you know how I get on - thank you Stuart

Just returned from our first trip with our new MY21 Beach. We experienced exactly the same: one of the kids got cold, so I heated the van with “heat immediately”. Then forgot about it while kids went to sleep (nice and warm). When wanted to gontonbed, i wanted to start the “heat continously” function.... but nothing!
we ran over the max time limit and I couldn’t get the heater to start up, despite full tank and already on hook-up for over 24h. Depending on ingnition on or off, it just didn’t do anything or simply showed ‘heater error’. I was really worried I had already broken the thing... but then after reading above: after a short drive it all works again!! Phieuw!
Just makes me wonder: why the 2 different settings? And the remote heater button only starts the ‘heat immediately’ if I’m not mistaken. So be careful with that too...

 

[Hamish S]

Wack the temperature up on the control panel to 7 or above I have found that putting it on about 3 or 4 mine seldom works.

 

[Jenny H]

Other posts suggesting that when the run time is exceed, the panel reads "Please Wait", so I could well be barking up the wrong tree. You say your panel just says "Error" ?

This posts suggests that the default setting for the runtime limit could well be 30mins, so I hope its is just the case that you have exceeded the 30mins. Good luck

Auxiliary heater

Hi there I pleased to say I am the proud owner of a California TDI BMT ocean. I brought it just before Christmas so we have only used it for one overnight and lots of walks at weekends. The first time I used the Auxiliary heater it seemed to work fine but since then it just keeps going...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Yes it did keep jamming on "please wait" too as well as "error" - I think you might have something there as I havent changed any times either - will check it all again tomorrow - got to be thankful that Im not freezing the night away in it!

Thank you Alison & Stuart, finally got a chance to get my head around the heater again having taken it out for a drive yesterday. I didnt realize under the Settings there was the running time option so have reset that to 120 minutes the maximum & having run the vehicle the heater is now working correctly again! So all user error as I thought but many thanks for your help.

 

[Kemper-van]

In my experience, when you ran over 120min with ‘heat immediately’ and then try to get the heater started again it depends on whether you have ignition on what the panel shows:
- no ignition on with the key -> it remains stuck on “please wait”
- with ignition turned on -> it displays “error”.

would of course have been better if the system just said “max time exceeded, go for a 15min drive to reset”.

 

[Ladymuck]

Alison F, w

Could also be thermostat it set too low to come on. Hook up and getting to grips with the control panel should help (although I confess I’ve not done the latter yet...)

Alison F what does it do if you hook up ? We've tried our heater and it seems to be a little intermittent, it stopped after 10 min but I think we had or set too low, then we could only get it to work if we put keys in the ignition? The leisure battery was pretty full and plenty of fuel, so wondering if on hook up it would work?

 

[AlisonF]

Alison F, w
Alison F what does it do if you hook up ? We've tried our heater and it seems to be a little intermittent, it stopped after 10 min but I think we had or set too low, then we could only get it to work if we put keys in the ignition? The leisure battery was pretty full and plenty of fuel, so wondering if on hook up it would work?

I was meaning if battery was too low. But if that’s not the issue then may be not. When you say pretty full, is that on Voltage? Which I believe is the best indicator?

 

[Jenny H]

Alison F, w
Alison F what does it do if you hook up ? We've tried our heater and it seems to be a little intermittent, it stopped after 10 min but I think we had or set too low, then we could only get it to work if we put keys in the ignition? The leisure battery was pretty full and plenty of fuel, so wondering if on hook up it would work?

Have you changed the running time option under "Settings" on the control panel from 30 minutes to 120 minutes - if youve been out sat in it & used up the 30minutes I found mine didnt work as also hadnt driven it.

 

[Ladymuck]

I think I changed the settings so it ran for longer but it was on heat continuously not immediately so that shouldn't affect it? Going to have another go at it this evening, sounds like they just get a bit of getting used to. Best get used to it now rather than 12th April when we are in a field in Cambridge !

 

[Ladymuck]

So just had a nice 60 mins in the van, switched on heat continuously and it was very toasty within a few minutes.. then I decided to turn the infotainment system on and listen to some tunes, turns out the van didn't like that and the heating went off, then 10 mins started up again ? So maybe it wasn't turning the radio on ?

Anyway, very enjoyable learning as I go along, had a lovely hour with a glass of prosecco in hand listening to, amongst others, Groove Armada The River, Bruce Spingsteen Glory Days and Bananarama Cruel Summer

 

[andyinluton]

It does appear that VW have made some sort of error with the T6.1 heater.
It’s understandable on the ordinary vans that don’t have a second battery that there is a time limit & the engine needs to be run to reset the timer, in order to stop the engine starter battery being flattened.
I wonder if this timer could be recoded to suit the Cali set up.

 

[66tim99]

In my experience, when you ran over 120min with ‘heat immediately’ and then try to get the heater started again it depends on whether you have ignition on what the panel shows:
- no ignition on with the key -> it remains stuck on “please wait”
- with ignition turned on -> it displays “error”.

would of course have been better if the system just said “max time exceeded, go for a 15min drive to reset”.

What if you can’t go for a drive? (Eg you’re on a campsite and it’s late) You can’t then use the heater?
Is the answer to always use the heat continuously setting?

 

[Wogga]

Wack the temperature up on the control panel to 7 or above I have found that putting it on about 3 or 4 mine seldom works.

Ditto for me on my MY21 6.1 Hamish, I have had no issues with the heating thankfully but find when on "heating continuously" it will only crack up around 6-7 when outside temp is in the low teens. "Heat immediately" has been excellent in winter to pre heat the van before setting off to take Mrs W to work, never failed touch wood.. On heating continuously I now set it off at level 9 and then once at temperature back it off to a nice level 6 or 7.

 

[Kemper-van]

What if you can’t go for a drive? (Eg you’re on a campsite and it’s late) You can’t then use the heater?
Is the answer to always use the heat continuously setting?

Yes, indeed.
That is what I would definitely recommend! We have been in that situation once, and that was a pretty chilly night!
Heat continuously also stops when you start driving, so this mode is for me definitively the best way to go for using parking heater.
Happy Easter!

 

[Wogga]

What if you can’t go for a drive? (Eg you’re on a campsite and it’s late) You can’t then use the heater?
Is the answer to always use the heat continuously setting?

Yes Tim, heat continuously is the goto setting, it operates on your temp setting just like a standard thermostat, it will switch on and off to maintain your setting. Heat immediately just heats up once then that's it, only good for an early morning pre heat prior to travelling, that is the setting operated by the remote. I am pretty sure the remote only activates "Heat immediately"

 

[Kemper-van]

I am pretty sure the remote only activates "Heat immediately"

indeed, correct.