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Camping heater not working

IanE

IanE

VIP Member
Messages
697
Location
Kendal
Vehicle
T5 SE 180
I don't think this particular type of malfunction had been discussed?

I first noticed it over Christmas, when thankfully we were plugged in and had a fan heater - the heater icon on the control panel was blinking on and off. The heater would not come on when that button was pressed. On going into the heater menu on the control panel I arrived at the following message;

Aux heat status - error no programme

When I had the van serviced by the local VW garage at Grange just before Christmas, the technician noted that the cover to the van heater on the underside of the van was damaged and so it was replaced. I can't say whether the heater malfunction coincided with that. I didn't try to use the heater until as above and hadn't noticed the blinking icon, though it could have been blinking from then, or indeed before then as I hadn't used the heater for some time.

I spoke to the technician concerned yesterday and the van is booked in for next Monday. He said he thought he recalled correcting a relevant fault (i guess through VAGCOM?).

I just wondered what the more technically inclined of us might think - am I in for a ginormous bill?!

Cheers

Ian

IMG_9402.JPG
 
I don't think this particular type of malfunction had been discussed?

I first noticed it over Christmas, when thankfully we were plugged in and had a fan heater - the heater icon on the control panel was blinking on and off. The heater would not come on when that button was pressed. On going into the heater menu on the control panel I arrived at the following message;

Aux heat status - error no programme

When I had the van serviced by the local VW garage at Grange just before Christmas, the technician noted that the cover to the van heater on the underside of the van was damaged and so it was replaced. I can't say whether the heater malfunction coincided with that. I didn't try to use the heater until as above and hadn't noticed the blinking icon, though it could have been blinking from then, or indeed before then as I hadn't used the heater for some time.

I spoke to the technician concerned yesterday and the van is booked in for next Monday. He said he thought he recalled correcting a relevant fault (i guess through VAGCOM?).

I just wondered what the more technically inclined of us might think - am I in for a ginormous bill?!

Cheers

Ian

View attachment 18336
Try the following first.
1. Switch Off the Control Panel using the L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On using L lower button.

2. Press And hold R lower button and press Control Knob. A hidden menu will be shown Scroll to Volkswagon Diagnostic. Any Fault codes shown. Write down codes then scroll to Reset and clear codes.
 
What a wonderful forum! Thanks both - I'll try and report back


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Wow! I just turned the control unit off and on again as WG described above and hey presto ! The heater is clicking away in a most reassuring fashion - many thanks WG - I'll take great pleasure in cancelling my visit to the dealers!

Wouldn't it be nice if the VW technician could have offered the same advice!


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Wow! I just turned the control unit off and on again as WG described above and hey presto ! The heater is clicking away in a most reassuring fashion - many thanks WG - I'll take great pleasure in cancelling my visit to the dealers!

Wouldn't it be nice if the VW technician could have offered the same advice!

Hi Ian
It is in the manual but it's not something you readily ascribe to failing heating, I know I wouldn't. Hence where the more experience members shine.
It's the old switch it off and on again ;)

Wonder how much that would have cost at the dealers?

...message ends...
 
Wow! I just turned the control unit off and on again as WG described above and hey presto ! The heater is clicking away in a most reassuring fashion - many thanks WG - I'll take great pleasure in cancelling my visit to the dealers!

Wouldn't it be nice if the VW technician could have offered the same advice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wouldn't have been able to charge for a Diagnostic - about £75 +/-:headbang
 
I know this is an older thread but I just wanted to say thank you to WelshGas. After finally having my roof corrosion repaired a few months ago, we're getting the van ready to go away over Easter. We had to get it professionally cleaned as the filthy kids have trashed the seats with all manner of fluids!

Anyway, the point is i went to put the heater on to help dry it out and it kept saying 'Heating Not Possible". It was working fine before. The desk-bound muppet at VW heritage commercial in Bristol was as useful as always - i asked if he could ask a tech guy if they could suggest anything and he said i'd need to book it in and the bodyshop wouldn't have done anything inside anyway but they clearly had as the display was set differently.

I tried the reset mentioned above - their were no error codes at all - switched the display off and back on again and to my utter relief, the heater is working fine! I wonder what the body shop did to bugger it up!

So thanks again to the helpful people on this forum - saved me a visit to my garage (not Heritage!) and a cold Easter !
 
Try the following first.
1. Switch Off the Control Panel using the L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On using L lower button.

2. Press And hold R lower button and press Control Knob. A hidden menu will be shown Scroll to Volkswagon Diagnostic. Any Fault codes shown. Write down codes then scroll to Reset and clear codes.

@WelshGas - can you do this with the roof open? My heating wouldn't work last night. I did step one and got the message "roof open". So I didn't do step two (taking "roof open" to be a warning to the hard of understanding not to be so silly as to attempt a switch off with the metal out of the hole). I slept in a cold van instead!

I'll drop the roof this morning when I've had a brew etc. and do steps 1 and 2 but was just interested if I could've done it with it open?
 
@WelshGas - can you do this with the roof open? My heating wouldn't work last night. I did step one and got the message "roof open". So I didn't do step two (taking "roof open" to be a warning to the hard of understanding not to be so silly as to attempt a switch off with the metal out of the hole). I slept in a cold van instead!

I'll drop the roof this morning when I've had a brew etc. and do steps 1 and 2 but was just interested if I could've done it with it open?
I don't think you can, unfortunately.
 
I know this is an older thread but I just wanted to say thank you to WelshGas. After finally having my roof corrosion repaired a few months ago, we're getting the van ready to go away over Easter. We had to get it professionally cleaned as the filthy kids have trashed the seats with all manner of fluids!

Anyway, the point is i went to put the heater on to help dry it out and it kept saying 'Heating Not Possible". It was working fine before. The desk-bound muppet at VW heritage commercial in Bristol was as useful as always - i asked if he could ask a tech guy if they could suggest anything and he said i'd need to book it in and the bodyshop wouldn't have done anything inside anyway but they clearly had as the display was set differently.

I tried the reset mentioned above - their were no error codes at all - switched the display off and back on again and to my utter relief, the heater is working fine! I wonder what the body shop did to bugger it up!

So thanks again to the helpful people on this forum - saved me a visit to my garage (not Heritage!) and a cold Easter !

Probably disconnected it while they fixed the roof and then turned on the ignition to move the van around. Turning the ignition on with anything disconnected will often mess things up and need a reset.
 
Try the following first.
1. Switch Off the Control Panel using the L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On using L lower button.

2. Press And hold R lower button and press Control Knob. A hidden menu will be shown Scroll to Volkswagon Diagnostic. Any Fault codes shown. Write down codes then scroll to Reset and clear codes.
I just had my first service (£40 labour and a free wash....quite reasonable I thought) Packing for a holiday, checked the controll panel and the heater light is flashing....NOOO, it's a days trip to the VW garage.
Checked the forum, did the reset above, all fine
I LOVE YOU WELSH GAS....in a VW California sort of way...THANKS ...AGAIN.
 
Try the following first.
1. Switch Off the Control Panel using the L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On using L lower button.

2. Press And hold R lower button and press Control Knob. A hidden menu will be shown Scroll to Volkswagon Diagnostic. Any Fault codes shown. Write down codes then scroll to Reset and clear codes.
Thank you so much! Brilliant advice and coupled with the other forum contributor, to close roof..hey presto..heating worked!! Thank you all so much! X
 
Just got mine back from roof repair and heater not working. Showing “heater not available” tried control panel reset and VW diagnosis through hidden menu but no errors.

Booked back into dealer next week
 
Hi All,

Just want to add my comments to this useful thread from earlier in the year.

We have had our new California Ocean “Foxy” for a month now. On our second trip last week to the Mendips we wanted to use the Auxiliary Heater for the first time as the temperature dropped. But switching it on from the panel we just got the message “Heating not Possible”, we tried everything and could not get the heater to fire up at all. Referred to this thread, did the reset (as WelshGas) and checked the diagnostics but no error messages !!.

Spoke to our dealership and all they want to do is book it in and do a diagnostic check, saying it might need some work on the heater itself !!. No attempt to give you a quick re-set !!

Having looked at this thread again today I have followed the re-set again, this time with the roof down as a couple of people mentioned ... still no messages on the diagnostic check ... but back to the panel and “hey presto” the Auxiliary Heater fired into life to them set the level from 06 !!. Tried it out up to level 10 and all lovely and warm very quickly.

Great advice from all you guys on here and I hope my addition helps any other members with similar problems.

Thanks .. Martyn
 
Yep - had to close to roof. As soon as I did that, step 1 (i.e. rebooting the central control unit) was enough to cure the heater.

THANKS!!
I've just had similar issue of flashing heater icon ...and was able to reset it using bottom R button ...whilst the roof was open.
WelshGas ...great information you are provided.
Thank you!
 
Yep - had to close to roof. As soon as I did that, step 1 (i.e. rebooting the central control unit) was enough to cure the heater.

THANKS!!
I've just had similar issue of flashing heater icon ...and was able to reset it using bottom R button ...whilst the roof was open.
WelshGas ...great information you are provided.
Thank you
 
Try the following first.
1. Switch Off the Control Panel using the L lower button. Wait 30 secs and Switch On using L lower button.

2. Press And hold R lower button and press Control Knob. A hidden menu will be shown Scroll to Volkswagon Diagnostic. Any Fault codes shown. Write down codes then scroll to Reset and clear codes.
Hi ever had this when wanting to reset the panel ? T5 cali the heater just blows cold air… fridge works fine… plenty of diesel..electric roof up and working… batteries at 90%!!!? Mystery

23507389-A091-4D46-AACA-B0A9B08A961B.jpeg
 
Hi ever had this when wanting to reset the panel ? T5 cali the heater just blows cold air… fridge works fine… plenty of diesel..electric roof up and working… batteries at 90%!!!? Mystery

View attachment 100067
Never seen that. Any VW Diagnostic Codes? If Yes, Delete.
 

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