Auxiliary Heater Error

[snowquick12]

Hello,

After about a month of using my 2022 VW California T6.1 Ocean, yesterday night I was trying to use my heater with no luck unfortunately.

Using the heat immediately function makes the control panel freeze and only reset if I take off the heater’s fuse (if I take out the other 4 fuses nothing happens)

Using the heat continuously function turn on a symbol-yellow light like it works, says please wait, then it turns off and the heater doesn’t work.

Both options eventually don’t turn on the heater…

Pressing the Operating mode button shows an “Error: auxiliary heater” message but the control panel does not freeze.

Pressing the Settings button does the same as the previous one, it shows an “Error: auxiliary heater” message but the control panel does not freeze.

Searched quite a bit on the forum here yesterday night while I was freezing haha, and honestly it did help me a lot troubleshooting, isolating the problem and restarting the control panel but not more than that.

It seems like people went to the official VW with no luck at all, just wasting time by replacing it part by part…

What should I do next?

Thanks!

 

[yossarian]

 

[snowquick12]

Thank you yossarian, but it seems like he doesn’t mention any errors/troubleshoot in his video…

 

[P600BOO]

Turn off ignition, pull the 5amp fuse under the passengers seat and wait about 10secs and put it back in. Then take for a short drive and when you get back press heat continuously and it should start to work.

 

[yossarian]

The most common problem with the t6.1 heater is using the "heat immediately" function or remote for 120 minutes.

Avoid the heat immediately function until you understand the video.

Heater won’t respond and just has spinning wheel of doom on control panel.

hello So if I try and turn on the internal Aux heater I get a spinning wheel of doom. Controls panel unresponsive. Stays that way until I restart the car. Normally resets its self if it turn engine / everything off and leave for a while. Heater also does not work. Did work using the key fob...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[snowquick12]

Thanks P600BOO, I tried it yesterday night and this morning as well, this is what is happening:

I press “Heat continuously”, then I press “Activate”, it lit up the yellow heater logo while I need to choose the heating level, the. I hit the OK button, it shows “Please wait…” message and the. Nothing happens and the yellow logo turns off.

Also tried opening the door so I will make sure it will be cold enough inside, nothing…

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Rhubarb]

I’ve got exactly the same problem with my ‘24 Beach. I’ve done the fuse pulling too to reset the panel, given it a short drive, ensured the diesel is sufficient etc. I’m also stuck as to what to do next. My nearest VW Commercial Van dealer isn’t a California specialist but I guess they might be worth a call when I’ve got some time in working hours.

 

[The Little Red Cali]

Thanks P600BOO, I tried it yesterday night and this morning as well, this is what is happening:

I press “Heat continuously”, then I press “Activate”, it lit up the yellow heater logo while I need to choose the heating level, the. I hit the OK button, it shows “Please wait…” message and the. Nothing happens and the yellow logo turns off.

Also tried opening the door so I will make sure it will be cold enough inside, nothing…

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

View attachment 122092

Exact same thing happened to mine. Have you tried turning on the ignition first. Worked for me and has worked normally ever since.

 

[P600BOO]

Some say pull the 4 x 25am fuses in the fuse box near the steering wheel. I tried that but the control panel did not reset. I then pulled the 5amp under the passenger seat and waited approx 30 seconds. This reset the control panel and I could then lower my poptop but when I tried the heating it locked up again. Pulled the 5amp fuse again and this time I could hear the heating fan blasting away. Put the fuse back in and the fan stopped. Went for a 2 to 3 mile drive and then parked up and the control panel was working and the heating worked on heat continuously.
Not tried heat immediately.

 

[snowquick12]

Okay, since yesterday I was trying few good variants of that, with different sequences:
- Vehicle is On, take 5amp out then take out 4x25amps, wait, try the heater.
- Vehicle is On, take the 4x25amps out then take out 5amp, wait, try the heater.
- Vehicle is Off, take 5amp out then take out 4x25amps wait, wait, turn on the vehicle, try the heater.
- Vehicle is Off, take the 4x25amps out then take out 5amp, wait, turn on the vehicle, try the heater.

Various waiting times, various driving times in between, doors open, doors cold, during night when it was 0 degrees Celsius out, during the day when it was over 10 degrees C...

All produced the same result:
I press “Heat continuously”, then I press “Activate”, it lit up the yellow heater logo while I need to choose the heating level, the. I hit the OK button, it shows “Please wait…” message and the. Nothing happens and the yellow logo turns off.

What would you do next?

Thanks!

 

[yossarian]

What would you do next?

• OBD scan.
• Update profile to avoid confusing advice.

 

[snowquick12]

• OBD scan.
• Update profile to avoid confusing advice.

Cool, just did both!

Zero messages on OBD scan…

I really don’t know what else to do? Any ideas? At least I hope this long thread will help someone in the future…

 

[yossarian]

The heater is control unit 0B. Did your OBD setup definitely scan this control unit?

 

[yossarian]

It sounds like a problem with recent software since your is brand new...

 

[yossarian]

The actual heater fuse should be SH4. 20A. The ones you've mentioned are:

4 x 25A near steering wheel - J608 special vehicle control unit
5A under the seat - control panel
20A under the seat - Aux heater (fuse SH4 if I can find a diagram)

Another option is to disconnect and reconnect all 3 batteries (I'd just do the negative terminals). You'll get multiple errors and warnings which should clear if you go for a short drive.

Other considerations are battery voltage and diesel level.

Edit: SH4 is 4th from the left if you face the rear of the vehicle.

 

[snowquick12]

The actual heater fuse should be SH4. 20A. The ones you've mentioned are:

4 x 25A near steering wheel - J608 special vehicle control unit
5A under the seat - control panel
20A under the seat - Aux heater (fuse SH4 if I can find a diagram)

Another option is to disconnect and reconnect all 3 batteries (I'd just do the negative terminals). You'll get multiple errors and warnings which should clear if you go for a short drive.

Other considerations are battery voltage and diesel level.

Edit: SH4 is 4th from the left if you face the rear of the vehicle.

Hi,

I am not sure what is the control unit 0B you are referring to (I searched online and here and could not find anything) I only have a simple OBDII reader and as I wrote I did not see any errors.

Attached a picture of the fuse box beneath the driver seat.

 

[Paolo69]

In my t6.1 build feb24 is the same. After some hours with key off (typically early morning) I have to insert key and rotate first step (engine not running). Otherwise it happens as you. I don't understand after how many hours key off this happen.
Last morning I was in upper bed and was annoying so I used immediately heating, but I don't know if is still true that after one usage you have to move the car before using immediately heating again.
Maybe better switching on heating countinuously before bed with temperature 1 and then raising up in the morning

 

[pluc99]

You can use heat immediately several consecutive times up to an accumulated total of 120 minutes, but you are correct, it is better to use the continuous modality for overnight camping.

 

[Roger Boeken]

Exact same thing happened to mine. Have you tried turning on the ignition first. Worked for me and has worked normally ever since.

Had the same issue few times but without error message, just heater not starting. Ignition as you describe solves problem for me too.

 

[snowquick12]

Hi all, so finally the issue is solved, the VW shop proposed to replace the aux battery, although I didn’t thought it will solve the issue it actually did (honestly I am no sure if they replaced only one or both), anyway- it actually works perfect now…