Smoke from Aux Heater Exhaust- Plumes of it!

[Open_road!]

....So the Cali will be booked back in next week...

Within 20 seconds of the heating being switched on on level 1, black smoke just pours out from the underside of the vehicle. Its quite spectacular!! Its still under warranty, but I wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

 

[Seaview]

By the sounds of it you need to go to your dealer.

 

[T6 CFO]

Sounds like diesel smoke so probably something very alarming but hopefully just a seal or gasket gone. Off to the dealer ASAP


Mike

 

[WelshGas]

....So the Cali will be booked back in next week...

Within 20 seconds of the heating being switched on on level 1, black smoke just pours out from the underside of the vehicle. Its quite spectacular!! Its still under warranty, but I wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

No reports of anything similar on the Forum.

 

[flying banana]

we have auxiliary heaters where I work both webasto and eberspacher. I became quite an expert. black smoke is incomplete combustion. can be caused by a number of things. low voltage. meaning the motor runs too slow giving poor combustion fan airflow. try hook up. a blocked or badly adjusted air intake. fuel atomiser nozzle or burner Matt failure. try hook up and run it on full power to see if it clears . they sometimes do. if there's been a few failed start attempts failing to detect a burn then fuel builds up in the combustion chamber and smokes like hell on start up. don't be alarmed. put it on hook up and full power and check the air intake under the van if you can. it may blow clear after about 10 minutes of it's flying Scotsman impression. good luck

 

[Open_road!]

WelshGas I didn’t think there was - Thanks Flying Banana! That’s very useful- one thing I thought is that I completely refilled the tank since this started with premium diesel (not from a supermarket pump)..... would the change in fuel make any difference?- the tank was almost dry and I refilled to the brim. The van is still under warranty so I think I will just book it in and bear your advice in mind fb. I will use the unscheduled booking to give them a ‘nudge’ as to when my roof repair might be scheduled for!

 

[Open_road!]

There was irony in that above last sentence.........

 

[flying banana]

WelshGas I didn’t think there was - Thanks Flying Banana! That’s very useful- one thing I thought is that I completely refilled the tank since this started with premium diesel (not from a supermarket pump)..... would the change in fuel make any difference?- the tank was almost dry and I refilled to the brim. The van is still under warranty so I think I will just book it in and bear your advice in mind fb. I will use the unscheduled booking to give them a ‘nudge’ as to when my roof repair might be scheduled for!

let us know the outcome. as for the diesel being premium or not I doubt the heater will know the difference.

 

[Richard]

Our Webasto heater (and previously used Eberspachers) will usually produce a lot of smoke after being used for the first time after a long period of non use, I would suggest allowing the heater to continue to fire up, starting the engine to give it some more volts/amps, run the heater for a while then try firing it up again the next day again with the engine running, if the problem persists on the next several fire ups then you need a technician to check it out. The (admittedly initially alarming!) smoke has always not happened again with our diesel heaters so hopefully your heater will be fine as well.

 

[WelshGas]

If you look at the Eberspacher Handbook it recommends running the heater at least monthly for at least 30 minutes for Long Life and reduced problems. VW don't tell you that little gem.