T6 Beach Air Heater rarely starts

[kave]

I think I have a problem with my Air Heater in my beach.
This evening I have a full leisure battery, diesel is 70% full, I start the heater with the remote. The display lights up with my set settings, full power and 30 mins runtime.
The fan starts blowing cold air. After 3 minutes the display shuts off and the fan stops.
The procedure is repeated three times and then heat starts coming and it stays on for 30 minutes.

The same have happened many times now, only once it has started right away.
I guess it is a warranty problem so I will pay the dealer a visit next week.

 

[Hotel California]

Have you ever seen the lesure battery lower than full?
Could be your lesure battery is low but the display says other....maybe a electrical problem.
How high did you set the heater compared with the effective themp. in the Cali.?
Don't know the Beach display that good so just thinking out loud....

 

[WelshGas]

I think I have a problem with my Air Heater in my beach.
This evening I have a full leisure battery, diesel is 70% full, I start the heater with the remote. The display lights up with my set settings, full power and 30 mins runtime.
The fan starts blowing cold air. After 3 minutes the display shuts off and the fan stops.
The procedure is repeated three times and then heat starts coming and it stays on for 30 minutes.

The same have happened many times now, only once it has started right away.
I guess it is a warranty problem so I will pay the dealer a visit next week.

How are you measuring the Leisure Battery charge?

 

[kave]

I have been charging the lesire battery at home for 24 hours and been driving for many hours since then without any load on leisure battery. I also have a small voltmeter saying 12.7V.
When I say procedure above I mean manual activation by remote or control panel and shut off after 3 minutes of cold air. I then activate it again and it might go on properly or just turn off again. This is repeated and eventually heater goes on properly.

 

[Hotel California]

So mesured AT the battery itself?
Not those cheap voltmeter things you plug in the 12v socket..

Did you try it out with the engine running?

If you say it works afther a second attemp , it does work .
Something wrong with the thermostaat

 

[kave]

Have you ever seen the lesure battery lower than full?
Could be your lesure battery is low but the display says other....maybe a electrical problem.
How high did you set the heater compared with the effective themp. in the Cali.?
Don't know the Beach display that good so just thinking out loud....

Well, voltmeter says 12.7.
Heater set to full power. Van is 2.5 months old and have had this behavior since new.

 

[kave]

So mesured AT the battery itself?
Not those cheap voltmeter things you plug in the 12v socket..

That is the one, but I have tried them before and it shows the same as my proper voltmeter.

 

[Hotel California]

Ok , but still in these situ you need to start off beeing 100% sur the batt is ok .
So mesure AT the batt poles with a propper voltmeter

 

[kave]

Ok, but if the problem is the battery why does it start after two to three tries?

 

[Hotel California]

Don't know , could be anything : lose wires , faulty conctacts,...
Just go to the dealer if you can't figure it out yourself , afther all it is under warrenty.

 

[kave]

I have been using it every day now and it works perfectly every time. Probably it just needed to be used a few times.

 

[MattBW]

Yes sounds like it just needed a good run. I set mine to come on once a week on a timer to ensure it's running properly but I think its recommended only once a month (even in summer).

 

[jts46]

Always run my heater, air con, fridge, roof up and down and water tap once a month every month.

 

[Sp0_0k]

Not those cheap voltmeter things you plug in the 12v socket..

Common. 2-5% inaccuracy. Still you get a clear charge level even with cheap ones.

 

[jts46]

Had to put mine up to position 10 today for it to start. Am in SW France

 

[rod_vw]

Ok, but if the problem is the battery why does it start after two to three tries?

Exactly! It's not a battery problem.

My guess is that it is a fuel supply problem, it sounds as if the pump is taking a few attempts to get fuel through to the heater. The system is performing normally, does its diagnostics, begins the start up process with glow plug on and pump ticking. If the flame does not ignite and heat the chamber within a certain time the unit shuts down. After a pause it tries again. In your instance it ignites on the third attempt when presumably the fuel gets through to the heater burner chamber.
As someone else says it's a dealer problem but don't hold your breath at them having enough knowledge to fix it. If you get the opportunity to persuade the dealer to send the vehicle to a Webasto specialist (assuming that yours is a Webasto not an Eberspacher) then do so.

Rod

 

[SlidePods]

I agree with rod here. It sounds unlikely to be an electrical problem and more likely to be a fuel dosing problem. A dealer will be able to sort it. Make sure you use a big vw commercial lifestyle center though as smaller dealers will be stumped by it. If you do manage to get vw to pay for it to be sent to a webasto specialist they will need to have a full copy of vcds (vw diagnostic software) and know how to use it as vw (unhelpfully) reprogram the heaters so webasto diagnostic software is useless on them.
Best of luck resolving the issue