Smoke coming from unknown box in engine compartment

kbatson

New member
I don't know enough about these engines yet to know what this is, but I noticed smoke coming from this area of my engine today. It seemed to be accompanied by a louder than normal whooshing/fan noise that maintained several seconds after the engine was turned off, but that could be normal.

Can anyone tell me what this box is and what I need to do to fix it? It's on the driver's side near the front of the engine bay. I think it's part of the electrical system.
smoke-question.jpg
 
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autostaretx

Erratic Member
It's the booster (or auxiliary) heater.

The on/off switch is the "bow tie" in the rightmost AC "knob" (the one above the word "REST")

BoosterSwitch.jpg

... or (if an Aux heater):

AuxHeatSwitches.jpg

(button 7 on the timer fires it up...)

Download an owner's manual from the address in my signature block...

Above the word "smoke" is the concertina exhaust hose leading to a muffler in your driver's side front wheel well.

--dick
 
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kbatson

New member
Great, thank you. I have the service manual and owner's manual, but wasn't able to find anything to identify that component.
 

Arnie_Oli

Member
As mentioned above, your auxiliary heater is on and more than likely the exhaust pipe for the unit is leaking slightly. Smoke and the whooshing noise are perfectly normal, although the exhaust smoke should be exiting out via the silencer and pipe that is routed out and hidden in the front wheel arch
 
Manual says that is a pre heater/ aux heater. It won't come on before starting the engine though. Not on my 06 Freightliner Sprinter. Seems like in cold conditions it should be able to heat before the engine is started. :thinking: Or does it??:idunno:
 

tinman

Well-known member
Manual says that is a pre heater/ aux heater. It won't come on before starting the engine though. Not on my 06 Freightliner Sprinter. Seems like in cold conditions it should be able to heat before the engine is started. :thinking: Or does it??:idunno:
Not as installed, unless you have the optional 7-day timer. It's designed to get the engine up to normal operating temp more quickly in cold weather. If you search the forum, though, you'll find some threads on fairly simple mods to allow it to function as a pre-heater.
 

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