Eberspacher dies after 3-min start-up period...

Martin_J said:
dt4134 - Yes, excessive voltage drop would cause insufficient heat to be given by the glow plug to start the flame.. I would be surprised if the unit managed to get to 3 minutes though if the flame had not lit. Usually flame fail is detected well before that. However - we did ask if any heat was felt at either the outlets or at the exhaust..
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Agreed. But the symptoms of mine were that it would start and would produce heat but just wouldn't continue. I tracked it down to a blade fuse that wasn't correctly positioned in the fuse holder and had formed a poor connection.

I've a battery monitor so can see the current draw for the heater. It is surprising how much current the Eberspaecher draws after it has started. It might peak at 8-10A when starting or stopping but still takes 7A when operating normally.

Anyway, just throwing it in to the list of things to be looked at. It doesn't take long to measure the voltage at the unit and determine whether it is a factor or not.
 
There's more!!!

This little PDF for the D3Lcc shows exactly what happens at the 90sec+90sec (3 minutes) stage....
www.espar.com/documents/D3LCc.pdf


If you are both going to take it to pieces and decoke it.. buy a kit of gaskets first (think there are two) and a fluffy polo shaped seal... and a gauze (that needs to go in the right way round i.e. not blocking the small hole in the side of where the gauze fits.

Great instruction here.. very similar to yours I would guess...
http://vwkombi.com/how-to-guides/eberspacher-servicing/

Apparently paraffin is good to run through it occasionally to clear it out.. I've just run mine on paraffin this weekend. Good luck.. any questions, just ask.
 
Alex has the Eberspacher out on the saloon table next to me as we speak.

Glow plug looks fine as expected.

However, Alex has noticed that the safety thermal cut-out switch is permanently depressed - it won't spring back up. Could this be causing the problem? Is it repairable, or does it need to be replaced, and if so, where can it be acquired from ASAP?
 
jellyellie said:
However, Alex has noticed that the safety thermal cut-out switch is permanently depressed - it won't spring back up.
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I seem to recall that the thermal cutout should be depressed - it only pops up when the heater overheats. It's then got to be pressed down to reset it.
 
pvb said:
I seem to recall that the thermal cutout should be depressed - it only pops up when the heater overheats. It's then got to be pressed down to reset it.
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Thanks, have spoken to someone else who says the same - something to do with a bi-metal strip apparently.

OK, so we have had much fun testing the glow plug, thermal cut-out switch and temperature switch with a simple light bulb circuit (a multi-meter is on my Christmas list!). Fortunately (?!) they all seem to be OK.

Any other suggestions greatly received. At the moment I quite like the put-it-all-back-together-and-hope-it-works idea.
 
As pvb says.. the thermal cutout switch stays depressed until overheat condition is reached when it would pop out. Pressing it back in again resets it.

So - Back to either the temperature switch (not realising the heater has got to temperature) cutting the unit off after 3 minutes... or the flame not actually igniting.

According to the link below there is a liner (is this instead of a gauze?) that helps with the fuel atomisation... and hence the burn.
http://www.esparparts.com/heaters-espar-c-877_897_963.html

For you to get to that it would be a complete open of the unit.. and perhaps someone else knows how easy it is to replace the liner and decoke.... I've only done the D1Lcc and the D4L.

Have you checked out the fuel filter? It should be really clean.
 
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Martin_J said:
As pvb says.. the thermal cutout switch stays depressed until overheat condition is reached when it would pop out. Pressing it back in again resets it.

So - Back to either the temperature switch (not realising the heater has got to temperature) cutting the unit off after 3 minutes... or the flame not actually igniting.

According to the link below there is a liner (is this instead of a gauze?) that helps with the fuel atomisation... and hence the burn.
http://www.esparparts.com/heaters-espar-c-877_897_963.html

For you to get to that it would be a complete open of the unit.. and perhaps someone else knows how easy it is to replace the liner and decoke.... I've only done the D1Lcc and the D4L.

Have you checked out the fuel filter? It should be really clean.
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Have completely opened the unit. The liner as you link to, is filthy but intact as far as we can see. The felt rings disintegrated as we opened it.

Does anyone have a photo of the asbestos wick, or where it goes? Cannot see anything vaguely resembling a wick - can't remember what it looks like or where it goes despite having to change it two years ago.

lenseman said:
Do you have any heating onboard? I can pop over with a 2kW axial fan heater if you like? :)
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Please, a fan heater would be amazing!!!!! We have a 700w oil radiator which is just keeping the frost away (!!!). It's freezing! Are you in Brighton too then? Will pm you... thank you!!!!

timgriffin said:
Same model same problem traced it to the thermostat, control board has become brittle and causes a bad connection and voltage drop where the fuse is located getting new control unit as seems easier option.

Ta Tim
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Thanks, something else to consider.
 
jellyellie said:
OK, so we have had much fun testing the glow plug, thermal cut-out switch and temperature switch with a simple light bulb circuit (a multi-meter is on my Christmas list!). Fortunately (?!) they all seem to be OK.
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I think there are 2 types of temperature switch - either normally open or normally closed. I don't know which is fitted in the D3L. It's possible that it's a normally open switch, in which case your test of it might show that it's faulty. Before you do anything else, I'd suggest you call Eberspacher and ask them whether your switch should be normally open or normally closed at room temperature.
 
OK, so further to my previous post, I think the wick/liner may be the same thing? Can anyone confirm this? If this is correct, our liner is intact but filthy, and was replaced 20 months ago, so probably had about 9 months' use. The felt rings are definitely dead/non-existent/disintegrated.

So, anyone know if we decoke the inside of the combustion chamber, replace the felt rings but leave the existing liner/wick in place, could that cure it...? And is it OK to temporarily test/run the unit (hah, yeah right) without either of the felt rings?

And no, haven't checked the fuel filter yet - where is it? Fuel is definitely getting through though, have checked that.
 
Did it feel like the heater was actually managing to fire up.. and produce a burn (flame).. or just having two goes (at spluttering) over the three minutes and then shutting down.

If the flame was not managing to ignite then I'd still be looking at that atomiser/liner in the burn chamber. That link to the spares place does say it needs to be replaced at each service.. and since it does the same job at the gauze in the other Airtronic units it does need to be clean and full of the right perforations in order to help start and maintain the flame...

With the standard gauze, as a liveaboard the gauzes do need replacing once a year (and one boat near me replaces the gauze more than once each winter...)

If you do just put it back together then as previously mentioned - use your early Christmas present (a multimeter) and check the voltage across the glow plug (carefully).

I'd buy two cheaper multimeters.. Then when you leave one switched on you've always got a second with a good battery inside!
 
pvb said:
I think there are 2 types of temperature switch - either normally open or normally closed. I don't know which is fitted in the D3L. It's possible that it's a normally open switch, in which case your test of it might show that it's faulty. Before you do anything else, I'd suggest you call Eberspacher and ask them whether your switch should be normally open or normally closed at room temperature.
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Hahaha, we are not at room temperature!!! We've hit 10 degrees c today, which is like a heatwave compared to yesterday's 8. Now got to stop breathing to help with the condensation.

But yes - good point. According to the wiring diagram, our switch should be normally closed, so think we're OK on that one (unfortunately?).
 
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