Advice on an Eberspacher problem

[dmurray]

Hello there fellow sailors. I'm in the process of fitting a second hand (ebay) Eberspacher to my boat. I've been doing really well, but I've got stuck on one question ............

The heater was working fine -- blasting out heat when it was tested in my garage last week, but now its in the boat it just blows cold air. The problem seems to be the fuel pump which just clicked a few times -- not enough to pump the air out of the supply pipe, and then stopped. On subsequent start ups it did the same for a few shots and now it doesn't click at all. The unit just blows cold air and then stops in its own time.

The battery voltage is good and the glow plug seems to be working, as the voltage drops significantly on start up. I suspect that the fuel pump is faulty, but does anyone know how to test it?

Advice welcome as its still quite chilly up here!

 

[Colin_S]

Welcome to the forum.

Try the search button above. Eberspacher will return some 600 results - one's bound to answer your question. Be sure to set the search period longer than the default 1 week.

 

[TheBoatman]

I had this exactly the same problem when I first installed one. It sounds like the control unit has got out of step with the heater. The local dealer told me to kill the power after every attempted start up? On about the 6-7th try it sorted it self out and started to run.
BUT beware after 10 or so attempts it will lock out and needs to be reset by a dealer.
I tried to check the pump by putting voltage across it but it would only click once then refused to click again, the dealer told me that the main control box keeps reversing the polarity to make the pump work.
Hope this helps?
Peter.

 

[dmurray]

Thanks Colin and Peter. I have searched the extensive archive -- what a great source of information! And what an great source of discussion these little ebers really are!

I'll try powering off completely a few times -- hopefully that might just do it. For anyone else who may offer advice, I have stripped down the pump and cleaned out the little filter, and I think the voltage was OK. It may be a couple of days before I get back out to the boat, but I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

Dave

 

[alex_rogers]

The control unit doesn't reverse the polarity to the pump, it just switches it on and off repeatedly. If you make up a jumper lead direct from a 12V source, you can simply make and break the connection and with each cycle it will pump a small quantity of fuel. If the fuel line is quite long, it can take quite a while to bleed it through.

Are you using the correct fuel line? The real stuff has a very small internal diameter and with a bigger diameter, the pump won't have the capacity to lift the fuel through any significant height difference.

 

[jimbouy]

Having just had mine up and running on the bench I hope all will be Ok when I find time to get it in the boat.

My suggestions would be.

1) Prime the pump by making up some flying leads and pulsing 12v to the pump... just make and break quick connections to the battery. Polarity is not an issue. Disconnect the fuel pipe from the heater and keep pulsing until little squirts of diesel come thru.

2) Now the Eber is in the boat you probably have longer battery leads.... are they capable of delivering the high amperage the eber needs on start up.

3) The dreaded, you've exceeded the number of false start ups and the machine needs resetting. I was surprised how long it takes to start up and am glad i waited a couple of minutes.

Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know.


Jimbouy

 

[dmurray]

Thanks for those further suggestions. I have been back to the boat tonight and tried another few start-ups with no success. So now the battery is back on charge and I'll try the "make and break" priming if that doesn't do the trick.
Many thanks for the advice -- very impressed by this forum. I wish I'd found it a few months ago.

Cheers Dave.

 

[dmurray]

I have now tried the pulsing trick but the little pump refuses to tick. This despite the obvious delivery of current to the terminals as they sparked. I.e. it was connecting/short circuiting through the pump. I suspect that I may have to fork out for a new pump (circa £165). Unless anyone has any other ideas??

Cheers

 

[hlb]

Re:Ah But!!

Mine went belly up last week. I've literally spent thousands on it. This time it looks like it was just a filter blocked. But had to be sent back to be reactivated or whatever and code unblocked by eberwanker agent before it would work again. Seems they plug them into confuser thingy or else it dont work. Mines maybe 1989 vintage, Though like the brush, five new heads and three new handles. Coal or gas seems a lot more reliable!!