Heater Normal air vents.Engine Block Heater. Front Van

[Little owl1963]

In all my tests not once have I had rear on at all , as only me driving in front cab .
I empersize , only at front iv been using , not with rear as well .

I cannot do any further tests at moment I'm stuck volkswagen swansway had my van coming up to 3 weeks now .

Rear stage will be next phase .

At moment volks are telling me no heat meant be coming out bottom of bench seat ,near sliding door . Stated both vents 1 bottom bench seat is Air intake vent only , the same as other one in rear boot .




Said only works on a beach version ?
Not on mine , which I think is non sense .

Can cali ocean owners please confirm , just let me no does heat blow out bottom bench seat out of yours ?? Yes or no ??

Let's not move onto rear just yet too much , as will confuse the thread .

 

[TripleBee]

If you want to warm up the California, you will have to put on the rear heater too.
Otherwise, you only have the front vents to get warm air out, but it has to heat up an immense volume of cold air.
My airco setup is auto on, 22°C., sync on.
Sync will mean you want 22°C. at the rear too, making the van warm up quicker, because you heat up the rear volume of air too.
The vent near the base of the rear seat is the foot vent for the rear compartiment of the airco system.
The 2 black vents on the B-pillar are only for the aux air heater.

 

[Little owl1963]

I only want front cab HOT blowing by my feet upwards .
Not bothered about rear .

My tests are with no air con , no rear , no sync , an no auto just standard heater I want hot .

I think even if put sync on , rear would only come on if rear button activated ??

If just Sync button pressed alone only front will sync??

Will fully test when get van back

 

[andyinluton]

The vent by the rear bench is for the rear heating - if rear is turned off you won't get anything out there so VW are correct.

If sync button pressed it sets rear to do the same as the front.

 

[Little owl1963]

No volkwagen not said rear is off , an neither did I.
They have point blank said , that off or on nothing comes out that vent .

So with temps due to drop below 7degrees we need do tests on times , an if heater actually does heat up quicker below 7 degrees if so .
How quicker ? An if makes difference at all ?

 

[ArunAlec]

Let's go round again, turn back the hands of time
That could be a song

Reckon a call to Hannah Fry & Brian Cox might be worth a go! If they can’t crack nobody can,

 

[Little owl1963]

Reckon a call to Hannah Fry & Brian Cox might be worth a go! If they can’t crack nobody can,

We're at ? What company ?

 

[WelshGas]

Reckon a call to Hannah Fry & Brian Cox might be worth a go! If they can’t crack nobody can,

Now you’ll have to explain who they are. Best of Luck.

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

Now you’ll have to explain who they are. Best of Luck.

They are the VW super techs at breeze in poole

 

[pjm-84]

Now you’ll have to explain who they are. Best of Luck.

LMAO.....

Everyone knows Brian Cox...assuming its thee Brian Cox

 

[pjm-84]

All I know is mine works until it didn't, which is a common problem, which I fixed, and now it works.

If its really cold I put on the night heater.

20min warm up when cold, under normal driving.

 

[WelshGas]

LMAO.....

Everyone knows Brian Cox...assuming its thee Brian Cox

Apparently not. See above.

 

[ArunAlec]

We're at ? What company ?

They are a couple of non VW Professors, it was a tongue in cheek comment!
On a serious note, I share your frustration with the owners manual, it’s not very user friendly….. would benefit from including a few diagrams to illustrate the complexities.

 

[Drpps]

Enjoyed this thread!
I have never seen that tick box you have shown discussed before but it does look like an option to turn off the ‘automatic’ coolant heater for the engine. (The one that helps the engine coolant to warm up faster in cold weather (below 6 deg ambient) and so supplying warm coolant to the heater matrix faster and thence to the cabin when driving.)
My 5.1 ‘Ocean’ with 3 zone climate (front R, right left, rear cabin) spends most of its days in auto + air con on the climate and just works.
In the summer I have warm air to the vents in 5 minutes as the engine is warm by then.
In Spring if it is 7-8 degrees it may not be up to operating temperature Before 20-25 minutes.
In winter below 6 degrees it takes about 10 minutes to get warm because of the automatic-auxillary-coolant-heater.



Can you locate this sticker on fuse box under left hand seat or the front page of the owners manual? It gives the factory options. You type all of the codes in small font below ‘4’ into an online decoder and it will explain what they all are and may help to see if you have unusual optional extra. https://m.oemvwshop.com/pr-code-decoder/

The short answer is assuming the outside temperature is 15 degrees or so and you are not coasting downhill for the first 25 minutes of every drive then that sounds like too long to get warm even for an efficient diesel engine.
Possible causes include: the engine thermostat is stuck partly open; the water( coolant) pump is failing; there is air in the coolant system; the air distribution flaps in the climate control are stuck or broken; the thermostat on climate control has failed ( which would explain hot air only on max and not at other temperatures, but not it being slow to reach engine operating temperature)
A number of those are testable with VCDS. That doesn’t sound like something you would be familiar with, but the dealer should have tested them.

Good luck.

 

[Little owl1963]

Gosh the heating system is complicated in the california , if anyone understands it fully and 100% , vilkswagen are after a Master Tech .
Will have look at above thanks .

I will do further tests once get van back , an winter sets in , that's if dont freeze death first

 

[Little owl1963]

Andy your Post 129

Understood if press Sync it sets the rear the same temp .
But must be way to turn rear of and just sync the front only ??

So if front cab rear button not pressed ,
Surely it won't sync the rear ??

Sure volkswagen said if turn of rear from , living area high level. Control , rear will never come on ?

Even if press Sync at front or rear at front ??

Volkswagen do not understand this system fully an methodical , they cannot give me answers .
They do not no what heaters I got in there ?

I'm asking them to confirm to me , exact number of heaters I have by Email

 

[Little owl1963]

Only sure way understand this system is to get person over from Germany who designed all the heaters , an give open day , hands on in showroom as how the system is supposed to operate correctly .

If you call different swansway garages across country each one will give different account of how the system works??

Even better if was described in the Manual

 

[Little owl1963]

Enjoyed this thread!
I have never seen that tick box you have shown discussed before but it does look like an option to turn off the ‘automatic’ coolant heater for the engine. (The one that helps the engine coolant to warm up faster in cold weather (below 6 deg ambient) and so supplying warm coolant to the heater matrix faster and thence to the cabin when driving.)
My 5.1 ‘Ocean’ with 3 zone climate (front R, right left, rear cabin) spends most of its days in auto + air con on the climate and just works.
In the summer I have warm air to the vents in 5 minutes as the engine is warm by then.
In Spring if it is 7-8 degrees it may not be up to operating temperature Before 20-25 minutes.
In winter below 6 degrees it takes about 10 minutes to get warm because of the automatic-auxillary-coolant-heater.

View attachment 129742

Can you locate this sticker on fuse box under left hand seat or the front page of the owners manual? It gives the factory options. You type all of the codes in small font below ‘4’ into an online decoder and it will explain what they all are and may help to see if you have unusual optional extra. https://m.oemvwshop.com/pr-code-decoder/

The short answer is assuming the outside temperature is 15 degrees or so and you are not coasting downhill for the first 25 minutes of every drive then that sounds like too long to get warm even for an efficient diesel engine.
Possible causes include: the engine thermostat is stuck partly open; the water( coolant) pump is failing; there is air in the coolant system; the air distribution flaps in the climate control are stuck or broken; the thermostat on climate control has failed ( which would explain hot air only on max and not at other temperatures, but not it being slow to reach engine operating temperature)
A number of those are testable with VCDS. That doesn’t sound like something you would be familiar with, but the dealer should have tested them.

Good luck.

Thanks for informative info Dprs .
You say you have cali T5.1 2014 ?

ANd yours only takes 5 mins to warm up. Outside temp 16 degrees .

As far as can work out the T6.1 Is said to be a more ecominmical engine ??
An it's said because of this takes longer to get to 90 degrees .

What engine is in yours ?
Mine is Turbo Diseal with intercooler
2.0 litre Tdi
150 hp
As far as know that engine in mine , if I'm wrong can someone inform me .

So what Engine is in your T5.1 ?

 

[KGCali]

Just read the whole of this huge thread that has drifted everywhere on the Cali heating system but no one has mentioned the heater temperature sensors....

If there is only hot air with the heater on Max and no heat at other temperatures it's likely to be the heater sensors - read the threads in my earlier post ...

Post in thread 'Heater Cold One Side - SOLVED' https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/heater-cold-one-side-solved.40139/post-679166

 

[pjm-84]

You did well to read the whole thread....I couldn't. If that's the gist then I agree its a sensor issue.

Blowing heat and engine up to temparture are two different items. The VW has always been painfully slow but then again its a diesel.

 

[TripleBee]

You did well to read the whole thread....I couldn't. If that's the gist then I agree its a sensor issue.

Blowing heat and engine up to temparture are two different items. The VW has always been painfully slow but then again its a diesel.

My Golf 2 petrol got hot in less than 2 minutes.
My diesels take (took) a whole lot longer.
The more economical the engine, the longer it takes to heat up "naturally".
If your petrol or diesel engine heats up very quickly, without extra help, you pay a lot of fuel just for the heat alone.
The longer it takes to heat up (under normal circumstances) the engine, the less you pay in fuel for the heat, but more for the actual driving.
Your choice.

 

[KGCali]

My Golf 2 petrol got hot in less than 2 minutes.
My diesels take (took) a whole lot longer.
The more economical the engine, the longer it takes to heat up "naturally".
If your petrol or diesel engine heats up very quickly, without extra help, you pay a lot of fuel just for the heat alone.
The longer it takes to heat up (under normal circumstances) the engine, the less you pay in fuel for the heat, but more for the actual driving.
Your choice.

Agreed it takes a diesel longer to heat up but @Little owl1963 has stated a few times ...
'to get red hot air has be 27 degrees plus on control knob , just thought should be lower than that to get hot air'
So I think it's a temperature sensor error fault behind the dash, there are two sensors per side and if one is faulty then you can only get hot air when the heater is on the Max position as the van ignores the sensor readings on Max and allows the full engine heat through the vents, I had this on my T5.1 and changing the temperature sensor resolved the issue, It's easy to check the sensors with an OBD reader or VCDS or any garage diagnostic system so perhaps @Little owl1963 should mention this to VW if his van is still with them.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Reckon a call to Hannah Fry & Brian Cox might be worth a go! If they can’t crack nobody can,

You can D:Ream that things can only get better.

 

[JuanVecino2023]

Just as a final note, replacing the piping for the AC refrigerant to the rear condenser just cost me nearly 1000€. This is a van that started life as a demo vehicle for an official VW agency in Germany. The tubing was disintegrating. That’s why the video I posted was actually about removing the whole rear AC/heating system from the van, not something I contemplate, but you have to be willing to spend money on these vans as they age, as they are built for new owners with money and are cheap, unlike VWs of other eras. Just try waving a closed bottle of water over the seat fabric and watch the water stains appear…long time owners know what I mean. Nevertheless, I will continue to maintain it, as the new car based Multivan California is a nightmare of poor design choices dictated by budget restrictions, and gives a new level of meaning to the word cheap when referring to VW products.

If I blink and my eyes are vaguely moist, those seats mark.

It’s quite an art form to select such a perfectly unsuitable fabric for the task of campervanning!

 

[andyinluton]

Been studying this heater takes around 10 miles for engine to reach 90 degrees .
The heater increments are low then 16 degrees right up to 29 degrees then to high setting which is 30 degrees max .
Even on 27 degrees is just about warm /hot .

Why do you have to put this heater up so high, to get hot air out air vents ???
And takes at least half hour to get to temp !!!

In the interests of scientific research I've spent an hour in a traffic jam playing with the heater controls.

The conclusion -

In "auto" the temperature of the air coming out of the vents in each zone varies according to the difference between the temperature set and the ambient temperature. ie set desired temperature to 22 if the van is currently freezing it pumps out really hot air, if the van is already at 20 it pushed out a gentle stream of slightly warmer air.

Turn off auto & the air coming out the vents is the temperature set on the dial irrespective of the ambient temperature. 27 gets you really hot air, 20 gets you air at 20 degrees.