Night heater diesel smell now

[burko73]

Hi

Have a 2010 Cali. I'm away at the mo and have the heater on. There's a distinct smell of diesel fumes in the van. I've used the Cali about 40 nights since I've had it this yr and I have had the heater on all night in the past with no diesel smells that i can recall.

We've sat in the van all day in the winter with the heater running and no diesel smell and we've had it on low all night before with the roof up and no smell before.

Have a list of issues to get checked out before warranty expires:

Corroded roof panel at front
Sliding door window blind sticky and rough to use.
Rear high level brake light popped out and doesn't fit flush
Steering click/ clunk at low speed
Upstairs roof shutter/ blind opens on its own accord.

Anyone also had any probs with diesel heater? I thought that the inlet to the van was totally separated from the heating cycle outside the van ie there is a heat exchanger? Can this fail and leak fumes into the van?

R

 

[Andresz]

Hello
The heater air inlet is inside the van on the driver's step (in RHD), so the air flow circuit is closed inside.

Normally the fumes go outside, close to the van, so outside the smell is inevitable. ( I was always wondering at the camping, if this may affect people in nearby tents...).
If the smell gets inside the van I would rather blame a specific atmospheric situation, like no breeze or wind at all, or accidental air flow to your open window or pop-up roof.
Regards
Andrzej

 

[Stu]

We had this when we first used our heater and following that bought a Carbon Monoxide alarm.

 

[burko73]

We had a co alarm in our old van as I put the propex heater is myself. Thought the Cali ought to be bombproof but guess you can't take a chance with co. but surely if there was a risk va would put a co alarm in?

Might have just been a still night and we opened the door at the wrong time jusg after start up and recirculated some diesel smell.

 

[Paul gourong]

Hi there i have a 2013 California and I have been using the night heater and found there to be a smell of diesel . Because it's still under warranty I took it back and they replaced the heater but it's still the same . I just wanted to know if you ever managed to get yours sorted ?
Thanks Paul

 

[s2bear]

My heater’s diesel fumes are so bad they catch the throat, cause nausea and headaches. It’s like this in every door/roof scenario. It used to be the plastic smell at first because it was new but we don’t get that any more - it’s pure fumes. Tried it this morning with all doors and windows closed. Lasted under 5 mins - Still pretty bad so going back as it’s unusable.

Couple of questions.
1. Has anyone else experienced this, had a fault identified and remedied?

2. Is there a device available to detect fumes? (I already have a CO detector and it hasn’t gone off)
Thanks s2


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[Alan Andrews]

We also get a wiff of diesel heater fumes occasionally when the roof is up.

I think it is probably a result of the fumes being exhausted under the van and creeping up the side. And if the wind is in the right(wrong) direction then they can get through the canvas.

We also have a roof cover that goes on if rain or cold expected, so can see that the fumes may get trapped.

A short while ago, I saw that someone had extended the heater exhaust pipe so that the fumes were being vented at the rear of the van. They reported that this cured the problem.

When it gets warmer, I'll get underneath the van and see what I can do. It should not be a difficult job!

 

[Keith Smith]

We had a 2016 Ocean from new and the heater was so smelly we couldn't use it when we were anywhere near the van. We even got a complaint whilst it was running in a pub car park while we had a meal in the pub. We took it back to VW and then a specialist installer and they both said it was "normal" and not faulty. We then got a new Ocean April 2019 and this heater smells a lot less than the previous one, still not great but but we could probably use it if we were desperate. The exhaust for the heater comes out right in the middle of the van I can't understand why they didn't fit an exhaust to the rear.

 

[Loz]

The exhaust for the heater comes out right in the middle of the van I can't understand why they didn't fit an exhaust to the rear.

A long pipe would increase the backpressure and the heater probably wouldn't work.

I would check the hot surfaces of the heater for contamination, like underseal etc.

 

[blondebier]

We had a 2016 Ocean from new and the heater was so smelly we couldn't use it when we were anywhere near the van. We even got a complaint whilst it was running in a pub car park while we had a meal in the pub. We took it back to VW and then a specialist installer and they both said it was "normal" and not faulty. We then got a new Ocean April 2019 and this heater smells a lot less than the previous one, still not great but but we could probably use it if we were desperate. The exhaust for the heater comes out right in the middle of the van I can't understand why they didn't fit an exhaust to the rear.

Snap. In our first T6 (2016) the smell was pretty unbearable. We didn't want to sleep with it on.
Our second T6(2018) is much better and we hardly smell it. There's a little whiff but nothing that would cause us much concern. We've slept many nights with it on low and the smell doesn't get worse.

S2bear, I'd ask your dealer to check it. If it's giving you headaches then something must be wrong.

 

[s2bear]

Mine stinks of fumes when everything is closed. I turned it off in Sept when camping because it smelled but gave it the benefit of the doubt because the roof was up. If it’s catching my throat/nostrils it can’t be good and seems this isn’t an isolated occurrence. Taking it for testing. Will post findings.


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[rod_vw]

By law there must be drip-out vents in the floor of all campers with gas appliances installed. That may be the source of smells coming in.

 

[Hotel California]

Extending the exhaust pipe is something better not to be done .
Those who saying the experience smell : on a new verhicle it's normal to have more smell . They always fume and smell when stating up .
The most important thing is to run those heater frequent and on high setting . Always using low setting is like driving a diesel car on low revs causing diesel particulars building up in the exhaust . You need to give it blast once a while .
Not many VW dealers will do maintnance on the aux heater , you better have it done by a specialist . You find those heaters in boats , lorry's , cranes , ....

 

[WelshGas]

Except on Startup when we get the occasional whiff completely odourless but then I do use it a lot and run it monthly on Level 7 for an hour.

 

[s2bear]

By law there must be drip-out vents in the floor of all campers with gas appliances installed. That may be the source of smells coming in.

Ah I should have said, mine is an ‘18 MY BEACH so no dropouts.


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[s2bear]

Except on Startup when we get the occasional whiff completely odourless but then I do use it a lot and run it monthly on Level 7 for an hour.

Mine has probably never run above 3 and this happens on level 1&2. Interesting what you say though - I’m going to run it on Max with CO alarm inside and see what happens.


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[s2bear]

Extending the exhaust pipe is something better not to be done .
Those who saying the experience smell : on a new verhicle it's normal to have more smell . They always fume and smell when stating up .
The most important thing is to run those heater frequent and on high setting . Always using low setting is like driving a diesel car on low revs causing diesel particulars building up in the exhaust . You need to give it blast once a while .
Not many VW dealers will do maintnance on the aux heater , you better have it done by a specialist . You find those heaters in boats , lorry's , cranes , ....

Thanks. Going to give it a blast.
Look out for me on the ‘Darwin Awards’!


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[Sp0_0k]

Extending the exhaust pipe is something better not to be done .
Those who saying the experience smell : on a new verhicle it's normal to have more smell . They always fume and smell when stating up .
The most important thing is to run those heater frequent and on high setting . Always using low setting is like driving a diesel car on low revs causing diesel particulars building up in the exhaust . You need to give it blast once a while .
Not many VW dealers will do maintnance on the aux heater , you better have it done by a specialist . You find those heaters in boats , lorry's , cranes , ....

Doesn't heater give's itself a "blast" when starting? It runs pretty high power around 5 mins

 

[Hotel California]

I mean , when you only use the heater on 1-3 it's not that good . You need to set it high when starting up and then lower the setting to the themparatur you disire.
There's also a diffrerence in the sound of the fan and the sound of the heater , the fan might sound like a blast

 

[rod_vw]

I am assuming that the version of Eberspacher (and most probably Webasto) fitted to VWs as factory fitments have very comprehensive diagnostic capabilities within the ECU of the heater.
I was never aware how comprehensive this was until I had an Eberspacher go faulty under warranty. I removed it myself and took it back to Bowers at Stoke-on-Trent where it came from. There they plugged it into their diagnostics and confirmed a blower motor failure which was changed for me within three hours and ready to re-fit to the camper. In the process I was able to see the print out that they had obtained from the unit which showed a considerable amount of statistics including running hours in both heating and ventilating modes etc.
Maybe if the OP does prove the fault down to the heater he can take it to a specialist and get them to diagnose the possible problem.
I doubt that any VW dealership is able to look this deeply into these units.

 

[Bstop]

Sniff the hot air from the heater outlets if there is a diesel smell check the two 60mm flexible air ducts connected to the heater body under the van. If either of these are loose or damaged they could suck fumes into the van. Also check that the plastic heater body casing is not damaged. Any cracks or holes in this will also cause fumes to be drawn into the van.

 

[Bstop]

If there is no diesel smell coming from the heater air outlets then the fumes are entering from outside the van. This would indicate that the heater is okay and it is probably weather conditions causing the problem as previously mentioned.

 

[MattBW]

I have only once smelt fumes and it was my sliding door not closed properly on a still day and it was coming up through the tiny gap at the bottom. That said it is a seal that keeps the fuel burn separate from the air being heated. Very unlikely to fail but always worth knowing for sure.

The heater can smell a bit hot from new or if not used for a while, which can worry folks.

A CO alarm is a sure fire way to have peace of mind if you still aren't sure.