Eberspacher smokey - advice

[davidfox]

My Eberspacher heater is emitting quite a lot of smoke and it does not get that hot, clearly it is not burning correctly, is there anything that a village idiot like me can do as I am a bit fed up getting the so called experts in, or is it time to get them back, advice please.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

How long does it remain smokey? My first thought was a duff heater plug which means it takes an age for the fuel to light so lots of unburnt diesel is exhausted, hence the smoke. But I would expect once lit that should burn off very quickly and the heater should function properly.

It could be contaminated fuel, water in the fuel for example, this might explain the 2 symptoms you describe, smoke and not getting very hot. Is it a separate tank?

I would first get some fresh fuel and put it in a container, if you can extract the fuel pump take up pipe and drop it into the new fuel and see how it goes. If this is a shared tank, and running the heater on clean fuel fixes it, get your fuel changed before running the engine again.

Just thinkin out loud..

 

[davidfox]

I ran it for 2 hrs on saturday and it was as smokey at the end as when it started, it is a shared tank 170ltrs of fresh fuel in on Saturday to top off the tank, no sign of water in the fuel the smell is that of unburnt fuel.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Re: Eberspächer smoky - advice

Fuel + air = heat (edit + ignition accepted)

If you are happy that the fuel is good, then next to investigate is why it does not appear to be lighting properly. As I said, and this is just me, once lit, even a really dodgy heater plug as out of the equation.

I think you could have any of the following,

the heater itself has carboned up?
The exhaust is blocked
The air intake is blocked
The motor is running slow (batteries ok?)

Does it feel like it is pushing out as much air as it used to?

 

[Heckler]

if its a D1LC its the gauze thing that surrounds the glow plug, take the glow plug out and tease the gauze out, I have wire brushed them before now but best results are if you replace. The gauze acts as a wick to vaporize the fuel and if it is burned away where the ignition point is it starts smoking.
Stu

 

[davidfox]

Re: Eberspächer smoky - advice

The inlet and outlet dont appear blocked, I started it with the engine running, so batteries are not the problem, Is decarboning a difficult thing to do?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

I thought about that Stu, but decided that it would be out of the running once lit, but I stand to be corrected.

I am looking at the diagram and it does appear to be behind the combustion chamber, i.e. not used once you have a flame. Have I misunderstood how it works.

 

[davidfox]

I have amazingly found the manual and it is apparently a D4L any good?

 

[Heckler]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

J
On the D1lc yes it wicks the fuel thru from the little hole at the side of the glow plug threads, the bit that sticks into the combustion chamber gets burned awy and also the gauze gets carboned up, I have wire brushed them and turned the gauze around so that the undamaged bit gets the fuel through to the chamber to get them away.
Have studied the D4 airtronic diag on www.espar.com and I'm not sure that they have one, but cannot find ref to a D4L
S

 

[davidfox]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

I am sure that it is quite old as the manual was printed in 1982 although the boat is 1988 I dont know when the Eber was fitted tho'

 

[tonykerry]

Re: Eberspächer smoky - advice

My eberspacher suffered similar problems which I eventually suspected was the quality of diesel supplied at Titchmarsh. I fitted a separate plastic tank and used heating oil and, like magic, all my heater problems disappeared!
Regards, Tony Kerry

 

[Heckler]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

in that case i suspect that it is similar to the D1LC, try removing the glow plug and see if there is a gauze in there, if there is a pair of thin nosed pliars and grab the stainless tag and wiggle it out.

 

[davidfox]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

Thanks Stu and all

 

[davidfox]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

If it is this gauze that is the problem, where can I get a spare?

 

[Heckler]

Re: Eberspächer smokey - advice

go to ebay and search with eberspacher in the search box, all the bits are usually there at some point in time. but TAKE THE GLOW PLUG OUT FIRST AND CHECK.
S