Aux Heater and Fridge Failure

slowcoach65 · Sep 15, 2012

Dear All,

Picked up my new VW California SE 140 DSG. Very impressed with the vehicle but feeling disappointed with the electrics. Neither the aux heater or fridge work. If I switch on the heater, it makes, what I believe to be all the normal noises including ticking, but blows cold air only and then switches itself off after 10 mins. If I switch on the fridge, the icon on the control panel lights up, I hear a click but within a few seconds it switches off.

The above occurs on batteries, with or without the engine running and on hook-up. The battery charge indicator is 100%. Interestingly, when I try the heater the amps are all over the place.

It is going to the dealer on Monday but I think any steer at this stage would be useful. I have checked the fridge fuse, that's OK. Could this really be a problem with the earth shunt? In a brand new Cali? I can help feeling the common link will be the leisure battery(ies) but I'm not sure if the heater and fridge share the same battery

Any help/reassurance gratefully received. I really want this van to live up to my expectations and look forward to joining the Cali community

Cheers,

Andy

Stu · Sep 15, 2012

Might be worth a reset of the control panel although I can't remover how to do it and I'm in a field!!

slowcoach65 · Sep 15, 2012

Hi Stu,

Good idea....but didn't work. To reset the control unit, the manual says to hold the bottom right button down for 5 secs; but, I think all it does is clear any warnings being displayed at the time. Hope it's a nice field you're in

Cheers,

Andy

california180 · Sep 15, 2012

Hi Andy, I can't help much either as I'm also in a field but I think to reset you need to press the control knob and bottom right button together fo 5 seconds!

Chris

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slowcoach65 · Sep 15, 2012

Hi Chris,

Just given that a go too....didn't work. I got into the "hidden menu" that way but resisted going into the Diagnostics option as a post I saw earlier today suggested that this would delete the error codes when I exited the menu; I don't want to loose any clues for the technicians on Monday.

Thanks for the suggestion, fields are obviously popular this weekend

Cheers,

Andy

NZgypsy · Sep 15, 2012

My 2009 cali has the same problem withthe aux heater (fridge works though). Its been in and out of VW Wellington about half a dozen times. They have run diagnostics, replaced both leisure batteries and checked various things. Still not fixed. VW trickle charged the batteries and said that after repeated cycling the heater on and off that thy can't find a problem. They said something about these new maintenance free AGM batteries possibly not charging properly from the alternator and are looking into this.

After a day or two though, the heater doesn't start for me when on batteries only (panel showing 100%). Heater works when the engine is started or when the van is plugged into the mains.

Frustrating. The van is still at VW (been a week now).

Any one else with heater issues?

andys495 · Sep 15, 2012

Had to reset my control panel also the other day. And yes it is the bottom right button for 5 seconds, yes it clears the error but with my issue the error did prevent the heater from working. However in your case it appears a bit more complex then an error!

slowcoach65 · Sep 17, 2012

The fun continues. Took the Cali in this morning. Had a call from VW. Master switch in the cupboard was switched off! Now switched on and still problems with fridge and heater. Also, grey-water tank level indicator not indicating and airbag has an error.

My 5 day old Cali is at the dealers overnight. Sense of humour draining. The only up-side is that the dealers have been excellent in their helpfulness and empathy, long may it continue.

Updates to follow.

Andy :sad

Stu · Sep 17, 2012

Is this a brand new vehicle?? If so then surely these things should be checked at PDI so the garage should be helpful and empathetic.

joeaguilar · Sep 18, 2012

Hi, this was my recent experience which may help shed some light on your problem!
This summer we drove to Italy and whilst off grid for a couple of days, we ran the fridge etc.. however after 2.5 days in, the fridge cut-out. I looked at the battery level and it was quite low, so, being quite hot I was quite keen to get the fridge going. I paid for hook-up at a site and after some 20mins the mains hookup icon on the control panel disspeared - hey thought dodgy connection (bear with me this is kind of linked) took plug out, plugged in again, lasted another half hour - so this went on for a number of hours. I noticed that after some time the battery level never moved higher than minimum! After losing the fridge through too many cut outs, I thought - start engine for 5 mins. After this the battery level indicated 100% - thought that's strange? Ran fridge which lasted all of 5 mins and cut-out again. Battery still indicated 100%! Fed up we decided to do some sightseeing and at the same time take the opportunity to charge the battery via the alternator with the fridge switched off. After our longish trip, we came back to site with nearly 100% battery - switched fridge on, and hey presto! all worked fine - hooked up to mains and all fine with none of the previous hook-up problems.
My conclusion: Large loads like fridges don't work properly when the battery is through the really deep discharge cycle. The batteries need a really good charge with all loads off. Its all to do with the voltage I believe. In respect of the heater, I know that this does not work below a set voltage think this was around 10.8v - so when it is charging (i.e. on mains hook up) not sure if the voltage would go above 10.8v initially until somewhere nearer full charge (13.6v) had been achieved. Worth a try, but am happy to expand on any of the above. So hope this hasn't been too much of a ramble and is of some use.
Joe

calikev · Sep 18, 2012

Thanks joe great post very imformative :thumb

slowcoach65 · Sep 18, 2012

OK, here's todays update.

Master switch on, fridge fuse replaced, airbag connector reconnected and water level meter functioning normally (never was broke) and all is well in the world, both the heater and fridge are working and the airbag error has gone - well they have been for the last 6 hours, I will let you know if we have any problems after our first weekend away.

Spoke to the Master Engineer at the dealers today, very helpful and informative. It did pass its PDI before handover. He has spoken to VW who have recommended replacing the fridge but we will keep this on hold for now.

Thanks for all you comments/advice - I'm learning every day

Andy

slowcoach65 · Sep 23, 2012

Final update, just got back from our first weekend.....everything worked

Andy

SteveW · Sep 23, 2012

slowcoach65 said:
Final update, just got back from our first weekend.....everything worked

Andy

Great news :thumb

fingers crossed all sorted. :barmy

NZgypsy · Sep 28, 2012

NZgypsy said:
My 2009 cali has the same problem withthe aux heater (fridge works though). Its been in and out of VW Wellington about half a dozen times. They have run diagnostics, replaced both leisure batteries and checked various things. Still not fixed. VW trickle charged the batteries and said that after repeated cycling the heater on and off that thy can't find a problem. They said something about these new maintenance free AGM batteries possibly not charging properly from the alternator and are looking into this.

After a day or two though, the heater doesn't start for me when on batteries only (panel showing 100%). Heater works when the engine is started or when the van is plugged into the mains.

Frustrating. The van is still at VW (been a week now).

Any one else with heater issues?

An update: after several visits with the van to VW over the last few months, replaced leasure batteries, the van being with VW again this time for 3 weeks with lots of diagnostics tests run, many calls between VW Wellington and the VW regional centres in Sinapore and Germany, VW have confirmed that I do indeed have an earth shunt problem and are airfreighting parts from Germany.

Kind of frustrating as I printed off the earth shunt fix document from this site and gave this to them when I first took the van in months ago. I even pointed them to this site. Never mind, being sorted now.

Having said that VW Wellington have been good to deal with, they can only act (as this was a warrenty claim) on instructions they receive from VW regionally.
A slight issue with a scratched front bumper since its been with them (that they are sorting), and hopefully I get the van back in time to head away for the NZ school holidays. Happy times.

Andy · Sep 28, 2012

Good to hear they are getting it sorted at last, despite the long wait.

John · Sep 30, 2012

Glad its sorted.

Have fun in the holidays. :thumb

John

philcod · Oct 3, 2012

Our fridge stopped working in France following a blown fuse on the lighting circuit - I can't imagine why!!! I pressed every button I could think of in every possible combination but no fridge!! Tried the dealers by Email - who talked to VW - but no fixes suggested. The one thing we didn't do - because we were camped up every time we tried anything, with the roof up - was to simply turn off the the control panel and turn it back on again. When we finally did this, on a break on the journey between sites, the fridge fired up and has continued to work perfectly since. A huge relief at the time as the noisy, totally useless cool box we bought from leclerc to get us by was driving us mad!!!!