Burning smell inside cabin after defrosting windscreen

[Frank Mc]

Hi all

I have a 2017 Ocean T6 with I’ve owned from new.

I had the camper parked outside the house for a couple of hours during the cold spell and when I went to bring back into my garage I turned on the blow heaters to defrost the windows.

No issue so far, drove around the block to park in the garage and when I switched off and took keys out of ignition I got a burning smell and a noise I’ve never heard of before.

I opened the engine bonnet and couldn’t smell it from engine bay, only from inside and noise coming from passenger wheel arch.

It sounded like the night heater noise but defo was not the night heater as that’s on the driver side and it was turned off at the control panel.

Very wierd.

The noise or smell has not happened again.

I went to dealer and met with blank face as to what it could be…. They are looking for €190 just to look at it and from their reaction I think the €190 will be wasted.

A friend who had a transporter said it could be the heating matrix and possibly plugs that heat the coolant may have burned out(causing the burning smell)

Any ideas or experience would be grateful received.

Thanks in advance

 

[pchmlk]

Was it under 5 degrees?
If so, I bet it was your coolant heater. Mine smells a bit like the jet fuel exhaust smell you get at an airport, quite nice. You hear it wind down when you turn the engine off. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Frank Mc]

Thank you for the response

It was around 1 degree and windscreen was frozen….

Excuse my ignorance given I’ve owned the camper 7 years haha

But what is a coolant heater compared to night heater and usual air blowers??

The night heater has a slight fuel smell off it alright !!

 

[pchmlk]

No worries. The coolant heater is another small diesel heater that warms the coolant from the moment you start the engine to bring it up to temp quicker, for emissions reasons really.
You should notice on a frosty morning that the heater starts blowing warm air quicker than when it’s milder. This is the heater doing its thing.

 

[Frank Mc]

No worries. The coolant heater is another small diesel heater that warms the coolant from the moment you start the engine to bring it up to temp quicker, for emissions reasons really.
You should notice on a frosty morning that the heater starts blowing warm air quicker than when it’s milder. This is the heater doing its thing.

Thank you for the advice, this was definitely a burning smell rather than a fuel smell but my concerns have been eased somewhat.

Thanks again

 

[Kingfisher]

Thank you for the advice, this was definitely a burning smell rather than a fuel smell but my concerns have been eased somewhat.

The sound that you heard outside the van was definitely the coolant heater. It starts automatically after the engine has started. If you turn off the engine after only a few minutes, the coolant heater will continue running for some time.

The vans produce many different smells. The parking heater to my nose is more the 'fresh, unburnt diesel' smell, same as at the petrol station. The DFP regeneration produces some kind of 'extremely hot metal' smell, if that description makes sense. The coolant heater, for me, is somewhat in between.

Did you have an acrid burning smell that was only inside the van, coming out of the vents, and absolutely nowhere outside? That could be the failing / burning out of the air quality sensor for the climatronic system, located in the cabin air intake. This sensor can fail by drawing a current high enough to melt or burn its housing. The fuse for the sensor then fails, ending the burn. On the T6 I don't know which fuse it is to check. On the T5.1 the same fuse would inhibit the air conditioner from working, so you'd no longer be able to turn on the AC switch light.

 

[Frank Mc]

Thank you Kingfisher
Your spot on in your descriptions.

The acrid burning smell was only in the cabin and my friend said the same about the sensors burning out however everything still seems to be working fine and A/C light still comes on.

But I suppose it may not be working and havn’t driven in cold damp conditions where you would know only the A/C would clear the windows so maybe that’s my next move but heat is defo still working.

Thanks again for all your info and advice

 

[Kingfisher]

This thread may be informative: https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/air-quality-sensor-2012-cali-se.36039/

For me (on a 2010 T5.1), the A/C light was the give-away of the broken fuse. I've read other stories where people were referring to the engine cooling fan also coming on full blast all the time. I cannot remember whether that was the same for me. Of course, it's entirely possible that your sensor failed into an open-circuit mode before the fuse blew. Then only the sensor itself would be affected.

If you have no further complaints right now and everything is working as it should, then a possible course of action would be to wait until the next service and then ask the dealer to check the error logs related to the climatronic. All the air quality sensor does is the automatic switching of the recirculation mode, so you won't be missing much.
Or if you're feeling adventurous: the sensor is located (or was on the T5.1) in the box under the bonnet, right under the windscreen, right hand side. You could have a look, I guess there will be a youtube video somewhere showing the access.

 

[Frank Mc]

Thanks so much, it’s due service in April so may wait alright as all seems to be working ok

Local VW dealer wants €190 just to to look at it !!

Many thanks