Blue Smoke when car off, using auxiliary heater

[zisdorf]

Hello,

While parked and off, our van emitted a big puff of blue smoke coming out of its underside. What could this possibly be? Should we be scared?

Here's the situation:

• We are wild camping for a week in about 2 - 10 degree weather, with the auxiliary heater on most of the time we are in the car at a temperature selection of 1-3. We also have the fridge on non-stop.
• We have driven between 20 minutes and 3 hours each day - the batteries seem to be doing fine.
• The van had not been turned on for about 20 hours
• My wife was in the van at the time with both fridge and heater on
• She heard some weird noises (at first she thought it was birds or squirrels around the van, but in hindsight neither of us have seen any animals near by, and we have a dog who would have likely barked if there was anything worth smelling).
• She looked outside and saw a big puff of blue smoke coming out of the underside of the van.
• She ran outside, couldn't see anything....
• Back inside, she saw a little bit more out the side window
• She immediately turned off the fridge and heater
• And then no more blue smoke at all

Note, this question is not the same as the following post which asks about blue smoke while driving. Our blue smoke was NOT while driving.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/blue-smoke-from-under-cali.9152/

Help!!

Thank for your input

 

[AlanC]

No don't be scared.

I don't think that is anything to do with the fridge. That is electrical with a compressor and has no outside ventilation, as far as I am aware.

In my view it is more likely to be something to do with the auxiliary (parking) heater you had running at the same time. That takes fuel from the diesel tank to generate the heat the fan pushes out. It is possible that the diesel fuel is not being burnt properly and therefore emitting the smoke out of it's own exhaust which is under the van.

I think the heater may need to be serviced. A local Eberspächer dealer should be able to help.


Alan

 

[Hotel California]

....coolant heater for the engine kicks in automaticly when themps drop under a certain degree...don't know the exact degree , but it could have been that.

 

[WelshGas]

....coolant heater for the engine kicks in automaticly when themps drop under a certain degree...don't know the exact degree , but it could have been that.

5c is the trigger temperature, but it will only work when the engine is started.

I think this is the Parking Heater and as the vehicle is 5+ years old then it might need looking at. As @AlanC said, a local Eberspacher agent would probably be a better bet than your VW Dealership.

 

[MattBW]

Blue smoke on an engine is usually a sign of wear and you generally should not see blue smoke. On a webasto its probably not so serious but it may be a sign it needs servicing., could be blockage, incorrect fuelling or air levels. Could however just be that it hasn't ran in a while, if its blue each time however something not quite right.

 

[flying banana]

all webasto and eberspacher heaters emit smoke on run up and run down. often smells like a 70s Ice cream van. it's normal. only a problem if the smoke doesn't clear.

 

[ToulonTom]

I had this for the first time this week - blue smoke after a short drive on a cold day. Got under the van and found the source was the webasto exhaust. I'm assuming that living near the sea in Cornwall means it rarely gets below 5 deg which explains why I haven't seen it before, rather than a problem of heater degradation. Well, I'm hoping it's that anyway..

 

[flying banana]

living near the sea is irrelevant. the webasto kicks in at a temperature.. think it's 5 degrees. no way of testing the thing so how do we know it works? good question. if it doesn't fire up you would never know.

 

[CampervanTime]

Next we will be getting laws about having to have a DPF, EGR, Adblue and catalytic converter all on our two heater exhausts - coolant and cabin!!

 

[Bellcrew]

Next we will be getting laws about having to have a DPF, EGR, Adblue and catalytic converter all on our two heater exhausts - coolant and cabin!!

Wood burners/open fires. gas boilers, hobs etc as well, taxes to follow.