# Help! Webasto heater Trig. tribute 2005 . SOLVED, I think!!



## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

(I accidently posted an thread on the "Introductions"forum so I have moved here with some added info .)

I have had intermittent problems with the Webasto deisel heater sometimes it just blew out cold air .
When the van was in for its habitation service in August it was working fine  
We havent had to use it until last week and this time the heater was completely dead so we called Browhills and was told that the sequence of flashing light on the control knob inducated a fan failure.They said that if we took the van down to them they would only send the van to a webasto dealer as they dont service the heaters in the workshops and as we live in Scotland told us to use one close to us.
Anyhoos, the heater was looked at and was found to be full of water. The dealer had no idea how the water got there and told us that the fault would not be covered by the warranty so he would put it through as a fan failure to allow us to claim.
we have just had a call from Brownhills to say that the warranty will not cover servicable parts and will only pay for the fan to be replaced. 
So we are now being asked to pay £171.43 plus vat, of course ,in order to get our heating working again.
as we have only used the heater around half a dozen times, each time for only short periods I feel that the heater should have lasted longer than it did.   
Has anyone else had any problems with their Webasto heaters.????
Any advice would be very welcome!


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## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

*Webasto*

Hi :lol: 
Sorry to hear about your problems. I would ask one question - has a high pressure hose been used to clean? - which may account for the water
My Van is over two year's old and the webasto has been faultless. I was advised to run the unit at least once a month!
Regards
Richard :wink:


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## 105062 (Jun 10, 2007)

Hi Teddy,

Amazing isn't it the lack of support you get from your dealer once they have your hard earned cash!

Quote " I_ have had intermittent problems with the Webasto diesel heater sometimes it just blew out cold air_"

My webasto Air Top 2000 s heater on my 07 Tribby fan runs all the time when switched on to circulate the air and the burner only fires when there is a demand from the thermostat.

Quote " _Anyhoos, the heater was looked at and was found to be full of water. The dealer had no idea how the water got there"_

The Heater sucks air for the burner from a pipe under the van. If parked in water or driven through water with the heater on I could see that water may get sucked in through the inlet pipe. Has it been in the recent floods ?

My model heater costs around £1000 so at £175 it could be worse but I agree why should you pay if the dealer was caused it!
Cheers
P


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

*Re: Webasto*



richardjames said:


> Hi :lol:
> Sorry to hear about your problems. I would ask one question - has a high pressure hose been used to clean? - which may account for the water
> My Van is over two year's old and the webasto has been faultless. I was advised to run the unit at least once a month!
> Regards
> Richard :wink:


Thanks Richard, no the van has never been cleaned with a pressure hose..always just done with the old bucket and sponge.


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

Tribute_650 said:


> Hi Teddy,
> 
> Amazing isn't it the lack of support you get from your dealer once they have your hard earned cash!
> 
> ...


 Thanks, no thankfully up here in Glasgow we missed most of the flooding, we also live on a hill so the van is not parked in standing water.Also if the water is able to be sucked in,why didnt it just drain away via the same pipe :? 
we only use the motorhome because I am agoraphobic ,its the only mode of transport that gets me out and about. That means that we very rarely take passenger or use it overnight ,thats why we havent used the heater much....but I would say enough times to keep it functioning
What worries me is that we do just get the heater repaired and the same thing happens again,which is possible if the cause has not been found


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## 105062 (Jun 10, 2007)

There is only 2 ways water could enter the heater either through the external burner inlet or through the habitation air inlet. You would have noticed the inside of the van if it had at least 3" of water on the floor ( enough to enter the air pipe) so we are left with the external burner air inlet..... assuming it actually was full of water making it a "payable" fault ! The dealer should be able to tell you which part of the heater was full of water which would narrow down the choices,

Just thought, a 3rd could be water in the diesel.

A 4th could be severe condensation.

_No body expects the Spanish inquisition...... _sorry I digress you need to be a Python fan to get that...

I would ask them and also ask them why it was full of water as they are the experts !


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## metblue (Oct 9, 2006)

*heater*

Hi Teddy,sorry to hear of your problems.I am getting my Goldwing bike convertedto a trike, by a guy called Mark outside Edinburgh just off the bypass on the A1 in Wallyford.We are having a webasto heater fitted to our van and we were talking about diesel heaters in his workshop yesterday morning. He informed me that during his time in the R.A.F. he was responsible for the routine servicing of both types.I did ask him if he did not mind I would give his details out to the various club/forums that i am involved with if that was ok.He said yes that he would be interested in keeping his hand in and to help (at a reasonable cost) to carry out servicing and repairs too.
I did not think that i would be doing it so quickly! his contact details are as follows, Mark,www.edinburghtrikeservices.co.uk
Tel. No.0131 454 0617
Mobile 07871 854563

When calling please tell him that tommy gave out his numbers.


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## 105062 (Jun 10, 2007)

Teddy, I had another thought over lunch,

If the fan is damaged then it must be the habitation side of the heater so water has got in from inside the van.

Do you have a hot air outlet in the toilet / wetroom cubicle, is there anyway water has got in to that, often we position the luvres up but any water would go straight in if it fell on it and run into the heater! Do you use the shower attachment ?

Cheers
Paul


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

[size=18]Thanks Paul.

No, the shower has never been used. In fact we very rarely have water in the tanks,we use bottled water and in the loo just use hand wet wipes.
We have looked on the Webasto site but they only deal with sales there so we cant contact them direct....unless someone on here knows better :lol: ,so hubby is going to talk to the webasto dealer to try and get a more definite answer as to how the water got in,but couldnt get back out,other than "I have no idea"
Keep the thoughts coming folks  [/size]


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

hubby had spoken to the Webasto heating engineer who has our heater and he told us the water was in the heat exchanger and there was ONLY ONE WAY the water could have got there ........ we have parked in a puddle with the heater on.!!!!!!!
We are 100% confident that we have never parked in a puddle.......we have always used hard standing pitches and I think we would have noticed a large puddle.
I am going try and talk to Webasto directly..but I can see it being our word against theirs about the puddle parking


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Could it be that it was parked in a puddle when it went in for habitation check.the only other way would be as mentioned, a pressure washer sprayed underneath the vehicle.to clear away mud etc.

cabby


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

cabby said:


> Could it be that it was parked in a puddle when it went in for habitation check.the only other way would be as mentioned, a pressure washer sprayed underneath the vehicle.to clear away mud etc.
> 
> cabby


Thanks Cabby, that was something I thought of,but as Brownhills are such a large dealer there is no way that they would remember where our van had ben parked during that check.


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## 90127 (May 1, 2005)

I woke up at 4.30 this morning and I think I might have solved the mystery. :idea: Thanks Cabby for yout suggestion  
When the van was in the dealers having the habitation check done we asked them to also look at the electric step as it was sticking.
Now,as they told us that the heater was on the whole time they were working on the van that means that it was on when they cleaned the road muck off the step..............What would they use to do that??? 
a bucket and brush ,or a HOSE!!!!!!
Of course there is no way I can prove this and I am sure the dealer is not going to admit to doing something that caused the problem so we will leave it and just pay for the repair. 
At least we now know that it isnt the heater which is faulty so are happy to have it back into the van.......we will just make sure the next time we leave it at a dealer that they DO NOT PUT ON THE HEATER WHEN THEY ARE WORKING WITH WATER!!!!!!:evil: :evil:


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