fbh problem - white smoke

[wesley]

a freind of mine is having problems and asked if anybody has any ideas please.

its not a rover diesel but has a webasto fbh and when the car is started and its cold enough for the fbh to run it produces masses of white acrid smoke or fumes starting about 5 mins after the engine is started and lasts for a few minutes before vannishing.

so much smkoe that it looks like the car is on fire. can anybody help please.

[awvc1]

at a guess I'd say the FBH is in dire need of a service - webasto service kits can be had for about 15 quid off ebay. Haven't done it myself but there are quite a few howto's on the subject.

[David Lawrence]

a freind of mine is having problems and asked if anybody has any ideas please.

its not a rover diesel but has a webasto fbh and when the car is started and its cold enough for the fbh to run it produces masses of white acrid smoke or fumes starting about 5 mins after the engine is started and lasts for a few minutes before vannishing.

so much smkoe that it looks like the car is on fire. can anybody help please.

It could be a number of causes but the good news is that it means that at least the glow plug is working. It will either be needing a service to clean the burner unit or worst case the pcb needs attention

[bigblue75]

Left the house this morning on the way to work and fired up the car before clearing the windows and lights of a light frosting... had white smoke coming out of the front grille before i'd finished and upon opening the bonnet found it to be coming from the FBH.
Pulled the fuse as a temporary fix.
Looked through the how to's and will service the unit ASAP but would be grateful for more information and pictures regarding the disconnection for removal. Many thanks in advance for pointers given.

Cheers,
Joe.

[steve811]

Mine was the same last winter, serviced the FBH this summer and it is cleaner and quieter in operation. Cleaning is a dirty job but worthwhile.

[Astraeus]

White smoke from these is caused by the diesel not burning properly.
Operation
Glow plug heats up
When up to temp
Fuel pump activated and delivers very small amounts of diesel in short spurts
These ignite and burn ( small controlled fire of burning diesel)
Glow plug goes off when lit
Diesel continues to be added to fire and this continues until shut off
After switch off
Glow plug heats up again to dusperse any excess diesel.

Usual problems are

Restriction in combustion air- check the intake for obstructions
Defective glow plug- not hot enough to ignite diesel but can still oroduce white smoke.
Too much diesel- is it the correct pump?
Coked up combustion chamber- if this it needs cleaning out. Incorrect burning makes this worse
Glow pin screen blocked or broken- there is a very thin glow screen like a very fine wire mesh. The fuel is pumped through this onto glow plug. It then hits the hot glow pin as a sort of mist and is more easily combusted.
Low voltage- The current draw is quite heavy when glow pin heating. If low voltage it will not heat up enough to ignite properly. Thus can be result if battery low or the incorrect gauge cable being used to install heater. If you push too heavy a current through cable of incorrect thickness it can cause voltage and current drop.
These are just a few of the more common problems with the units outwith wiring probkems

Chris

[johnnyb44]

Do you think cheap supermarket fuel can play havoc with these heaters. It may well contribute towards higher accumulations of soot and carbon deposits compared to the likes of shells optimax diesel (or whatever they call it nowadays )