Eberspacher D1L compact

E

eddystone

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Aug 2013
Messages
1,936
Location
North West Devon
Visit site
Not been turned on for probably 18 months but previously worked OK. Tried last night as staying the night on boat. Both pilot lights come and fan starts and gradually increases speed however no ticking and burner doesn’t fire. There appears to be fuel in the line - while the boat was out of the water did need to tighten up the nut on the diesel tank take off as it was weaping but can’t see that would lead to air in the system.
Following the troubleshooting diagram suggests replacing the control unit but I wondered if there is something simple I’ve overlooked - I’ve turned it on and off multiple times.
TBF it hasn’t had any servicing in the 10 years I’ve owned the boat and it is over20 years old. Any ideas on someone in Plymouth area who can repair these things?
 
eddystone said:
Not been turned on for probably 18 months but previously worked OK. Tried last night as staying the night on boat. Both pilot lights come and fan starts and gradually increases speed however no ticking and burner doesn’t fire. There appears to be fuel in the line - while the boat was out of the water did need to tighten up the nut on the diesel tank take off as it was weaping but can’t see that would lead to air in the system.
Following the troubleshooting diagram suggests replacing the control unit but I wondered if there is something simple I’ve overlooked - I’ve turned it on and off multiple times.
TBF it hasn’t had any servicing in the 10 years I’ve owned the boat and it is over20 years old. Any ideas on someone in Plymouth area who can repair these things?
Click to expand...
The cost of repairing might be cost-prohibitive although on eBay there are a few companies offering a fault finding service. You may want to consider putting the old one on eBay as spares or repair (where they seem to fetch reasonable money) replacing the unit with one of the cheap Chinese heaters, using the existing fuel pump and pipework.
Edit, hopefully, you'll get someone here to help you get it going.
 
Last edited:
eddystone said:
Batteries showing 12.54v which is about 85%
Click to expand...
What matters is the voltage at the heater unit, not at the battery. A frequent cause of failure during the start cycle is a reduction in voltage when the glow plug kicks in. The control unit senses a drop in voltage and goes into shut-down mode, which includes running the fan on for a couple of minutes as a precautionary venting procedure. I would suggest checking that every connection from battery through to heater is free from unwanted resistance caused by corrosion or poor crimping. Particularly the in-line fuse holder,

MIke
 
You wondered if there is something simple, so apologies if these are too simple:
If it starts with the engine running, but not on just the battery, you may have a loose connection or bad joint somewhere in your wiring. If it's situated above the fuel tank diesel level, then any leak, however small, will suck air. Given that you haven't run it for a while, think of a small piece of diesel bug in either the 2mm fuel line or in the tiny fuel filter.
Good luck!
 
If you have plenty of power the. It could be the fuel pump sticking ,give it a tap whilst its trying to start,or pulse it with 12v and see if it clicks.
 
I tried with the engine battery selected and the engine running at about 1600 revs and no joy. Is the fuel pump the bit just above the fuel tank which has a couple of wires coming out of it? Wondering whether it's possible to bleed this?
 
eddystone said:
I tried with the engine battery selected and the engine running at about 1600 revs and no joy. Is the fuel pump the bit just above the fuel tank which has a couple of wires coming out of it? Wondering whether it's possible to bleed this?
Click to expand...
With reference to my post #6, before randomly checking things like the fuel pump you should first determine that you are getting an adequate supply of electricity through to the heater unit. Running the engine doesn't necessarily gaurantee that either, if there is exccessive resistance in the wiring between battery and unit. I would suggest that you identify the electrical feed (+ & -) connections on the heater unit and connect a meter (set to DC Volts) to those terminals. Then, switch the heater on and monitor the voltage. The meter should show the battery's voltage, as initially the only current drawn will be that demanded by the fan motor on its low speed venting cycle. When the fan speed increases and the glo plug and fuel pump kick in you will probably see a slight voltage drop, but it should be no more than 0.2 V. If the heater unit is happy to continue, you will hear the fuel pump's clicking noise. If however you see the voltage fall below about 12.3V (refer to spec' sheet for designed threshold) the heater will switch off both glo plug and fuel pump but will still leave the fan running for a couple of minutes to vent the system. If that is the case, review every inch of feed wires and connections between the battery and heater. Don't forget to check the return (negative) route either.
Only when you have completely eliminated the electrical supply from being the cause should you look elsewhere.
Incidentally, i have seen some original heater installations with woefully inadequate wiring supplies, building in future problems.

Mike
 
mikegunn said:
With reference to my post #6, before randomly checking things like the fuel pump you should first determine that you are getting an adequate supply of electricity through to the heater unit. Running the engine doesn't necessarily gaurantee that either, if there is exccessive resistance in the wiring between battery and unit. I would suggest that you identify the electrical feed (+ & -) connections on the heater unit and connect a meter (set to DC Volts) to those terminals. Then, switch the heater on and monitor the voltage. The meter should show the battery's voltage, as initially the only current drawn will be that demanded by the fan motor on its low speed venting cycle. When the fan speed increases and the glo plug and fuel pump kick in you will probably see a slight voltage drop, but it should be no more than 0.2 V. If the heater unit is happy to continue, you will hear the fuel pump's clicking noise. If however you see the voltage fall below about 12.3V (refer to spec' sheet for designed threshold) the heater will switch off both glo plug and fuel pump but will still leave the fan running for a couple of minutes to vent the system. If that is the case, review every inch of feed wires and connections between the battery and heater. Don't forget to check the return (negative) route either.
Only when you have completely eliminated the electrical supply from being the cause should you look elsewhere.
Incidentally, i have seen some original heater installations with woefully inadequate wiring supplies, building in future problems.

Mike
Click to expand...
I'll try that or more likely get someone younger and flexible enough to reach the terminals on the unit.
 
Our D3LC is around 20 years old and has never been serviced. Apart from needing to replace the glow plug once, all start problems over the years have been with corroded terminals on the wiring loom. Any professional repair work is likely to cost more than installing a new Chinese one although my choice would be Planar.
 
peteK said:
If you have plenty of power the. It could be the fuel pump sticking ,give it a tap whilst its trying to start,or pulse it with 12v and see if it clicks.
Click to expand...
The absence of fuel pump ticking suggests this is the first thing to check given the rest is making appropriate noises. If not successful I'd get rougher with it, remove it and give the insides a blast with carb cleaner or similar aggressive solvent then rap either end on a lump of wood to loosen the shuttle.
eddystone said:
I tried with the engine battery selected and the engine running at about 1600 revs and no joy. Is the fuel pump the bit just above the fuel tank which has a couple of wires coming out of it? Wondering whether it's possible to bleed this?
Click to expand...
The pump on these things is just a solenoid shuttle, the ticking you hear is the shuttle going back and forth; if there's no tick there's no pumping, bleeding won't help.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top