Heater booster not working

rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
I have a 2006, around 80k miles. The heater booster has worked every winter until today when I tried it. Here are the facts:
-Electric circulation pump died a couple of winters ago, heater would shut down. Replaced pump and everything worked great.
-I added a switch to turn on the heater with out running the engine. Worked great for the past 4 years. It was added from the writeup on this forum, I have a couple of posts on that so I am pretty familiar with the system.
-I added factory cruise control this summer.
-I did the remote fuses modification for the glow plug module this summer.
-I have a DAD and in the ATC diagnosis I have two fault codes.
1005 Heater Output: kortsluiting naar massa or to plus
1007 Blower Stage 1: has short circuit to ground or to plus

The 1005 fault code does not have any sub faults but the two reference Cable A81.1/10 to connector X82/7 then to X82/7 then to X165/6 as having a short circuit to ground.

The 1007 fault code again has no sub faults. It refers to A81.2/1 to M4 and cable M4/2 to M4x1/2 has an open circuit.

My diaganosis. I dont think that anything I have done has caused the problem. I think that there is a worn wiring harness or open connector.

My question. Does anybody know the location of theses connectors and/or wiring harnesses?

I am still wading thru my downloaded service manual, I think it is in there somewhere!
 
T

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
I'm going through something similar with my heater. The good Doktor interrogated the heater control board with his DRB-III and found a code for open circuit on the heater's combustion air blower. I also took it to the local ThermoKing dealership and they found the same code (31) with their quick and dirty fault reader, but when they hooked up their better diagnostic equipment (PC-based & called EDITH) it couldn't communicate with the heater, so they suspected the control board might be at fault. ThermoKing then sent the control unit part of the heater to Espar in Canada and they tested the control unit with their even more sophisticated equipment, again called EDITH (aka "blue box"), and I just received their report saying that the output from the control unit that is supposed to run the combustion air blower is bad, so I need a new control unit. Maybe your nearest ThermoKing dealer won't be as helpful, but it will end up costing me only the shipping back and forth to Canada for their considerable diagnostic help. Unfortunately, they can't supply the control unit since Espar has an agreement with MB to not compete - I've bought other parts for my heater from them before (back when Espar wasn't too sure about the noncompete issue) and ThermoKing is cheaper.

My guess is the DAD and DRB-III lack the sophistication necessary to really determine what the problem is.
 
2

220629

Well-known member
talkinghorse43 said:
...Unfortunately, they can't supply the control unit since Espar has an agreement with MB to not compete - I've bought other parts for my heater from them before (back when Espar wasn't too sure about the noncompete issue) and ThermoKing is cheaper.

My guess is the DAD and DRB-III lack the sophistication necessary to really determine what the problem is.
Click to expand...
If a member or two who has a ThermoKing heater of the same model/parts requirements as our Sprinter OEM heaters were to post their model/serial number I can see where it would be confusing and maybe a Sprinter owner might mistakenly order parts direct. Truly a tragedy. vic
 
T

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
Aqua Puttana said:
If a member or two who has a ThermoKing heater of the same model/parts requirements as our Sprinter OEM heaters were to post their model/serial number I can see where it would be confusing and maybe a Sprinter owner might mistakenly order parts direct. Truly a tragedy. vic
Click to expand...
But, the Sprinter Espar heater is designed to fit into the Sprinter's electronics/control system (control of the Sprinter's electric coolant circulating pump, ventilating fan, etc), so they're custom for MB and not the same as any other Espar heater. Here's the diagnostic report I received from Espar of Canada showing what the control unit for the Sprinter is set up to do.

Component test
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Configure basic adapter OK
2 Communication setup OK
3 Read out error memory OK
4 Read out general data OK
5 Control sensor input OK
6 Overheating sensor input OK
7 Flame sensor input OK
8 Switch on signal input (clock) OK
9 Add heater criterion input OK
10 Ventilation input OK
11 Battery voltage measurement by control box OK
12 Burner motor output NOK
13 Glow plug output OK
14 Metering pump output OK
15 Water pump output OK
16 Vehicle blower output OK
17 Overheating hardware OK
18 Internal control box test I OK
19 Internal control box test II OK
20 Internal control box test III OK
21 Switch off control box OK
22 Basic adapter current and voltage monitoring OK
 
rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
Amboman said:
:idunno::idunno::idunno::idunno::idunno:

Are you referring to the auxiliary heater?
Click to expand...
I am referring tho the booster heater that allows the engine to warm up faster and helps provide heat during long idle periods. It can be reconfigured to act without operating the engine by adding the 7 day timer, $$$, or by following this thread.

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668&highlight=booster+heater

The general principal of the switch method is that a set of 4 relays adds power and completes connections to allow the booster heater to work independently of the engine.

This is the heater that is mounted under the drivers headlight not the other optional one located under the van.
 
cahaak

cahaak

New member
If you did the mod and used the 7 day timer as your switch and also jumpered the dianostic cable per the mod, then you should be able to pull the failure codes from the 7 day timer. You need to look in the 7 day timer manual to figure that out. Overall, the key is to figure out if the failure is the heater itself, the water pump, or something else. You can try to run the heater with the van running (will do so even if the water pump is bad) - unless the dosing pump is shot. Usually, you can hear the start up sequence when you try to turn it on, dosing pump, initial fire and so on. Depending upon where it appears to fail in this sequence will help you figure out what the failure is. If you can't get the dianostice code off the 7 day timer (or if you just used a switch and you have narrowed the failure down to the heater unit itself, then you may be served by bringing it in and having them connect directly to the ESPAR with a diagnostic device to read the codes.
several writeups on here regarding things that needed to be replaced on the ESPAR, blower, glow plug, screen... you can find them with the search.

I have done the mod as you and used the 7 day timer, had to replace the elec. water pump, but my heater is still doing fine, but it has only been 2.5 years since I did the mod. Very handy for starting up below 0 deg in the winter - it sits outside parked.

Chris
 
rlent

rlent

New member
For whatever it's worth, the combustion blower on my heater booster failed and had to be replaced.
 
T

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
rlent said:
For whatever it's worth, the combustion blower on my heater booster failed and had to be replaced.
Click to expand...
The first attempt I made to fix mine I could hear that the combustion air blower wasn't working, so w/o diagnostic help, I bought a new one (thought maybe the brushes were bad like the coolant circulating pump is wont to do). I tried to power the original blower w/ a 9v source and it worked. The heater w/ the new blower worked for about a year and then failed again, so I'm guessing the control unit's failure was sporadic for a while. In fact, when the good Doktor was using his DRB-III to try to drive individual heater components, the heater started up on its own and he was then able to fully control the blower through all of its preprogrammed speeds. Next day though, it was back to no start.
 
rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
It Lives!!! Well sort of.

I was poking around the heater and as I was switching it on and off I noticed that the electric water pump was working, then not working, starting when I hit it, hen stopping. I pulled out the old one from several years ago that I had rebuilt with new brushes. Swapped them out, did not solve the heater problem but headed off another problem. Anybody know where to get the elusive L47 brushes?

This afternoon I dug out the heater connectors and started to record voltages with the switch on and off, connected and unconnected. As I was moving the connector around it started! Ran for a second then stopped. as I was moving it around it started again.

I am not sure if the circuitry in the heater was acting up or if there is a broken wire in the wiring harness. Can anybody tell me how to hot wire the heater? I have the wiring diagram and it looks like I should power pin 1, ground pin 2, 12 v to pin 7 the wire from the cabin heater control.

All suggestions are welcome.
 
rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
The latest.

I think I found the problem but I cannot prove it yet. When I tapped in to the wiring harness next to the booster heater to connect the manual switch wire to the electric water pump wire I used blue male and female spade connectors. I should have used red due to the wire size, but that was all I had at the time. Also at that time I did not know how easy it was to pull the grill and headlight to get to that area. I found while looking for broken wires that I had actually crimped the terminal over the insulation. The wires hang out on the inside of the terminal had been contacting the male tab allowing the system to work, the fittings were shielded so I never saw the wire hanging out. That lasted until this summer when I was moving that splice around while I was adding the fuses to the glow plug module. I think that explains why I could get the heater to work by twistingt and turning the wiring harness.

Now where I have now screwed up. I pulled the booster heater out to check for broken wires and possibly clean if that was the problem. Well you have to take apart the unit to test the wires and well..... Why not take apart some more! Warning, if you do this have the new gasket that lives in Canada available to allow you to put it back together. The grey deposits I thought was soot was not soot it was the gasket!

I get to find out if my wiring fix has solved my problem in a couple of weeks.
 
rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
Re: Heater booster not working and Electric pump brushes

I just got the motor brushes. Two swipes down two sides with a file and they fit perfectly, file them to length and now try to remember how to hold them in place to reassemble the motor. I have done it before but cannot remember how I did it.
Any ideas out there?
 
rbjenterprises

rbjenterprises

Member
I took a break and started over. Read some posts. I used some dental floss and passed it down the channel next to the brush, over the front of the brush then back out. I clamped the plastic motor end in the vice, pulled one brush up in to its housing and clamped the floss, pulled the other, slipped the botor housing on. Done! It works.

Here is the link to the brushes I used, #33D:

http://store.eurtonelectric.com/brushlowvoltage33e-2-2-2.aspx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom