Eberspacher D4 keeps switching off

[stu9000]

Hi
Just spent a cold night on board having failed to get the heater to run properly.
Eberspacher D4.
I thought it was a low voltage issue but now not so sure.

It starts ok, begins to roar, pump ticking away happily.
Then after a few minutes it slows down and then stops pumping/heating.
It does not attempt to self restart.

It is getting fuel.
The fan is working.
There are no obstructions.
Im getting 12.8v at the heater.
It does drop on start up no where near the auto cut off point of 10.5 v

Weird thing is this happened on my last visit so I hopped into the marina and it worked fine when connected to shore power.
But if I am getting 12.8 it cant be a low voltage issue.

I serviced it in the autumn so I do not think it is a coked up burn chamber or glow pin.

My controller looks like this:

Yes I have checked the temp is set to a high level.

Maybe it thinks it is overheating....?

I am close to binning the damned thing and buying a chinaspacher but thought I better do some due diligence first.

Thanks

 

[Momac]

.......... it worked fine when connected to shore power.

Perhaps your battery is past its best?

 

[Concerto]

I agree the battery is most likely, but it could be summer diesel that is waxing up in the cold weather.

 

[Boater Sam]

Battery not keeping up.

 

[laika]

Flame sensor coked up?

 

[stuartwineberg]

My new planar is very sensitive to restrictions to the inflow of air. Has anything changed in the vicinity of the air intake- if its in a locker open it and see if that helps.

 

[yotter]

It might be worth monitoring voltage while the heater goes through its cycle, preferably at the unit, to insure that is not dipping below the cut-out voltage. Especially if the batteries are suspect, not saying that they are.

 

[stu9000]

It might be worth monitoring voltage while the heater goes through its cycle, preferably at the unit, to insure that is not dipping below the cut-out voltage. Especially if the batteries are suspect, not saying that they are.

Thanks all for the suggestions.
I did check the voltage at the heater while running.
It did not dip lower than 11.5v and was usually above 12v.

I did wonder if one of the batteries in my leisure bank was going off.
I have a 4 x 110ah bank.
As a group they hold their voltage fine.
If one had gone bad maybe the output would drop but the readings dont support this.
I ran the engine to charge them and even though this increased the voltage I was still having the shut down issues.

Nothing has changed in terms of air intake our outflow.

Flame sensor is worth looking at.
It is clearly shutting itself down for some reason.
Ill look at the manual again.

I am also going through the
Eberspacher
website which suggests it could be indicative of an ECU failure.

Could be old fuel (its fed from the main tank) but i do add conditioner and the tank has been full over winter.
It was clean of debris when I checked it last season.

I think I will try research how to disconnect the temp sensor to see if that is causing shut down.
I will also investigate the flame sensor.

If that does not fix it I think it might be time to move on.

 

[Daverw]

Your controller can I think display the relevant fault codes that is shutting it down, ours shows the last 3 codes, try holding temp up and down at the same time I think for 3 seconds, it also can reset them.

 

[Pye_End]

Check the fuel filter at the pump.

Could well be ECU from the sound of it.

 

[TSB240]

I had exactly that recently with a webasto. Check for water in fuel by removing fuel pipe at heater and pumping into clear container .
I removed over a litre of water which got in tank via a badly sealed deck filler.
Its easy to spot as water and red separate out....

 

[Daverw]

If you look a5 the error code you will have a lot less guessing, link below to them

Eberspacher and Espar heater fault and diagnostic codes and blink code
also some more with info on controller
Controllers 1

 

[stu9000]

Your controller can I think display the relevant fault codes that is shutting it down, ours shows the last 3 codes, try holding temp up and down at the same time I think for 3 seconds, it also can reset them.

I didn't see any fault codes but did not realise I have to press a button to view them. Thanks

 

[stu9000]

Ok,
Following up on your tips, and looking at the Eberspacher website, this is the battle plan:

• Remove fuel line between pump and heater and pump into container to check quality and flow rate
• Remove fuel filter at the pump to check for debris
• Check fault codes - mine is the 801 control panel (long press on the on/off key to see error codes)
• Investigate flame sensor (removal, heat up on hob, check resistance and compare to graph in workshop manual)

If I had not done so already I would also be checking the battery voltage at the battery and at the wire just before it goes into the heater.
I don't think the glow plug is knackered or dirty and I don't think it is a sooty burn chamber but I will double check this if the above does not solve the issue.

Worst case scenario it could be the ECU.
Even that might not be a show stopper as this video suggests a cheap china item could be used rather than the £££ Espar version.

It is tempting to buy a china sourced heater.
Lots of good reviews.
But if I can get the Eberspaecher working the build quality is almost certainly much better so worth a try.

Thanks all

S

 

[Bobc]

Hi
Just spent a cold night on board having failed to get the heater to run properly.
Eberspacher D4.
I thought it was a low voltage issue but now not so sure.

It starts ok, begins to roar, pump ticking away happily.
Then after a few minutes it slows down and then stops pumping/heating.
It does not attempt to self restart.

It is getting fuel.
The fan is working.
There are no obstructions.
Im getting 12.8v at the heater.
It does drop on start up no where near the auto cut off point of 10.5 v

Weird thing is this happened on my last visit so I hopped into the marina and it worked fine when connected to shore power.
But if I am getting 12.8 it cant be a low voltage issue.

I serviced it in the autumn so I do not think it is a coked up burn chamber or glow pin.

My controller looks like this:

Yes I have checked the temp is set to a high level.

Maybe it thinks it is overheating....?

I am close to binning the damned thing and buying a chinaspacher but thought I better do some due diligence first.

Thanks

My D4 kept doing that, so I binned it a got a Chinaspacher. No problems since.

 

[stu9000]

My D4 kept doing that, so I binned it a got a Chinaspacher. No problems since.

Which one did u go for?

 

[mikegunn]

Seems like an electrical supply problem. If you're seeing sub 12V at the heater unit, it'll object. A quick fix is to run additional supply cable in parallel to existing supply, Even use jump leads to prove a point! These units are very voltage sensitive, particularly during the start sequence when current demand can be quite high.

Mike

 

[Bobc]

Which one did u go for?

Just an un-branded 8Kw one. It was about £90 and was a direct swap for the D4 (all port sizes the same and fits on the same bracket).

 

[stu9000]

Seems like an electrical supply problem. If you're seeing sub 12V at the heater unit, it'll object. A quick fix is to run additional supply cable in parallel to existing supply, Even use jump leads to prove a point! These units are very voltage sensitive, particularly during the start sequence when current demand can be quite high.

Mike

Thanks but that's what has got me scratching my head. The only time it dipped below 12v was when the glow plug was heating up. It got past that point without issue and only started to power down a few minutes later. It was doing this even with engine running.

 

[stu9000]

Just an un-branded 8Kw one. It was about £90 and was a direct swap for the D4 (all port sizes the same and fits on the same bracket).

Yep. Might just do the same. I like the challenge of fixing stuff and saving £ but I have a feeling the gremlins are not going to scare off with one trip to the boat. If I swop in a China version I can bench test the eber and fix / sell at my leisure.

Ta