Diesel heater intermittent start-up failure

[MyrtleMoo]

Hi all,

I tried searching and found one thread with a similar problem but no conclusion: https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/diesel-heater-problem.47405/

Occasionally, on our MY22 T6.1 Ocean, the diesel heater will silently fail to start. I'm curious if this is a known problem or a "normal" gremlin, or if it's something I should chase with VW while still in warranty. I'm not sure how useful a VW dealership would be investigating it because it only happens now and then (maybe 3 or 4 times in a year of use) and I can't reproduce it on demand.

Here's what I've figured out so far:
* If I try continuous heating (my normal mode of use), it will light up the orange heater indicator and display "please wait". After maybe 20-25 seconds it'll just silently switch the indicator back off, no apparent sound or action at all from the heater itself. Repeating this a couple of times gets the same effect.
* If I try heat immediately, it will do the same except this time it gets stuck in a loop continuously cycling to "Please Wait" and giving you no opportunity to abort it (and meaning you can't use the control panel to lower the roof!!). The only way to get out of the loop is to pop a fuse or press and hold the "off" button on the heater remote.
* In one instance, driving away and trying again at the next campsite has worked fine. In another instance, just leaving it a minute and trying again has worked.
* Batteries have always been full, tank always plenty fuel, and it's also happened while on hook-up.
* No error message or anything displayed, only the "please wait"
* It's happened even when the heater has been used perfectly fine the night before, and also when the heater has not been used for a few weeks.
* The heater has worked perfectly fine many other times and does tend to get a run at least once a month, though this last time it happened it hadn't been used for maybe 3 weeks and will have been starting fully cold.

Anyone got any light they can shed? Anyone had a good experience dealing with similar intermittent issues with VW garages? I'm up in Newcastle and the few encounters I've had with Lookers VW up here haven't filled me with a huge amount of confidence that they know much about the cali. Or is it all nothing to worry about and it does this now and again?

 

[Mehdime]

We have an MY22 T6.1 as well. Have used it extensively all year round and used the diesel heater a lot. Yes, sometimes the heater tries to start for about 30 seconds as you describe and then silently switches off.

I’ve never thought much of it. Just assumed a safety mechanism kicked in and switched it off because it couldn’t get a good burn. Just like sometimes, switching on a gas hob just doesn’t work for no apparent reason.

Always works fine after trying for a couple of times. There’s one time when it just wouldn’t start. I had to switch on the engine and switch it back off again before the diesel heater would start. It may have been placebo however. Entirely possible that the heater deciding to start had nothing to do with running the engine for a few seconds (I just figured that they both work with diesel coming from the same place so might as well give it a shot).

 

[Mansfieldman750]

I’ve had similar but didn’t even have to start the engine. After the heater did the silent switch off twice, I put the key in ignition and turned the key like you would do when putting the roof up, switched off and removed key.
Next try the heater fired up normally.

 

[MyrtleMoo]

Thanks both, I'll have to give the key in the ignition a try next time it happens and see if that makes any difference or if it is just a placebo.

There's plenty of little intermittent bugs I've noticed with the Cali since owning it, could just be another one of those not-particularly-serious quirks. I've had the fridge switch itself off once (I suspected a software update), the fridge not start after using the schedule-start timer, the navigation system/display just decide to not start once (again, software update suspected) and the roof to warn me it wasn't closed when starting up the engine again after having driven five minutes from the campsite to the petrol station (it certainly appeared closed, and trying to "re-close" it didn't appear to do anything but the error went away). All little oddities that have only happened the once.

 

[Mehdime]

Thanks both, I'll have to give the key in the ignition a try next time it happens and see if that makes any difference or if it is just a placebo.

There's plenty of little intermittent bugs I've noticed with the Cali since owning it, could just be another one of those not-particularly-serious quirks. I've had the fridge switch itself off once (I suspected a software update), the fridge not start after using the schedule-start timer, the navigation system/display just decide to not start once (again, software update suspected) and the roof to warn me it wasn't closed when starting up the engine again after having driven five minutes from the campsite to the petrol station (it certainly appeared closed, and trying to "re-close" it didn't appear to do anything but the error went away). All little oddities that have only happened the once.

The fridge randomly switching off is a known issue (in the sense that you’ll find quite a few other people mentioning it). Happened to me maybe 3 times in the last 2.5 years. Very annoying for sure but I don’t believe there’s a fix for it. And it’s impossible to reproduce so hard to troubleshoot.

Haven’t experienced the other issues.