Webasto question

[Jim Blackwood]

About that heat controller... I do have one in the right hand side of the dash which has a digital temp readout, I think the manual says it is for the coach heat. I also have a square hole in the lower dash close to the wiper controls that was taped over, looks to be in about the right location and about the right size for the driver's heat controller, but it's a blank hole. This one has a red light and no readout. Something other than stock was done there but I'm not sure what. One more small puzzle to ponder.

Jim

[buswarrior]

Add "safety systems triggered" to your trouble shooting.

Biggest pain, but are the most important parts... prevents burning up the coach, if the unit misfires...

Never saw a digital temp read out in an older "D" model tell the truth... go old school, turn the knob until passengers stop complaining... the light on, indicates the coolant valve is open, putting heat to the heat exchanger. It is a smart little beast, once it is to temp inside the coach, it holds it quite closely, the light on and off not always makes sence, but so long as the temp holds steady, don't worry about it.

That is a separate issue from some parts of the coach constantly being cooler/hotter than others... that is air distribution failure, not the controls...

The coolant boiler is there to help heat the coach interior, thus the plumbing order. Used as an engine pre-heater, since there's no fans running, it just warms up the heat exchanger on the journey to the engine... at 82K BTU, you aren't going to get any delay...

Where a busnut screws this up, is if the water valve on the coach HVAc is somehow unintentially powered by home brew controls, and is set closed... normally, ignition off, the valve's resting position is open when power is off...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Jim Blackwood]

Thanks for the good advice. I will include the safety interlocks, in my experience with similar type control systems that is usually where the trouble lies, and often it is simply a matter of getting all the switches set properly to allow operation. With the general, advisory nature of the MCI system description and the broad non-specific nature of the Espar documentation that may involve a lot of guesswork. At least working from schematics I hope to identify the interlock components. In any event the final output will be either a power=on, power=off or contact closed signal and that will allow me to split the system and identify which end has the problem. Use standard troubleshooting procedures after that.

I have jet cleaning wires and solvents to clean the burner head and I plan to test operation before putting it back in the housing. (Yes, definitely want to avoid the large fireball in the engine compartment part of that process.) Unless I can find a spec for the spark gap I'll just have to set them to where they get the fattest spark. Hopefully I can pull the power feed from the fuel pump while doing that, and pull power from the spark while testing the fuel and jet.

Clifford, thanks for the info about the hatch. If that is on top the step below the rear inside bulkhead, mine has some black plastic discs at the corners of the panel (hatch) which look like like they could be some sort of snap on screw covers. I've been hesitant to try prying them off in case I would break them. Does any of this sound at all familiar? (Also, I really hope Sonya is doing better.)

It's likely the burner was due for a cleaning, though it really doesn't look bad from my perspective. So at the least I can bring that up to date even if it turns out (likely enough) that a switch somewhere is turning it off.

Jim

[richard5933]

If the Espar is anything like the Webasto, you might find that it fires up after a thorough cleaning. There are a few safety devices on these things that don't like being dirty, so that would be my first effort.

Is this manual helpful?

https://www.butlertechnik.com/downloads/Eberspacher_Installation_Parts_list_and_Workshop_manual_D24W.pdf

[lostagain]

If I remember, there are 2 hatch cover accesses at the back of the D. One on the floor driver side. The other under the very back seat cushion. I used to do most of the Webasto work from above.

JC

[Paso One]

Here is a couple pics from a 1996 D

[Jim Blackwood]

Thank you, the information very is helpful. Monday morning I will pull the access hatch and that will make it much easier to get at. On that panel, I guess I'll just take a chisel to those black plastic washer like things and if they won't just pop off, break them.

My son  found the archived photo on my phone so I now know that it is a model: HL2-24, Ref# 25 2487, Serial# 72724DA

It's not exactly the one the manual in the link refers to, mine has the big round knob on the air inlet end and the round cover. There's still a lot of info in there that would be the same, some that isn't. It seems they had a compact unit and a standard one and mine is the standard one. It's very similar to a manual I did find but may have more pages. I'll do some more searching this evening and tomorrow.

It also looks like the controller is the 99 hour electronic timer. I'll need to find the operating instructions for it, as so far it doesn't seem like it's working as it should.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

I think the biggest question right now is, what indication does the 99 hour timer give when the control board in the hydronic heater unit is locked out?

According to the manual one of the lockout conditions is a number of consecutive non-starts. That could easily happen. Then does that disable the 99 hour timer? If it does, is there a fault indication? If there is, then does that match what I'm seeing? (set doesn't work and digits read U0) In which case cleaning the head and clearing the fault could be enough. That requires a wire to be momentarily jumpered. I found a better manual, much better on the troubleshooting, better drawings also.

On the alignment of the electrodes there never was any spark gap specification given. Instead they include an alignment block in the repair parts kit it seems. So I guess I need to order replacement electrodes just to get the alignment tool. Either that or guess. Should be a fairly typical spark gap for 20,000volts, about .030"

https://www.butlertechnik.com/downloads/Eberspacher_Heater_Hydronic_16,24,30,35_Troubleshooting_&_Repair_manual.pdf

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

No longer Webasto so I guess the thread should end, but there isn't much else to tell. Maybe the results. Just a couple more photos. First, what I took for black plastic washers on the access panels (dim light, poor vision) were actually 9mm socket head panel latches, photo below.

After the panels were open I took these photos. You can see the need for cleaning the burner and gapping the electrodes. I think if I detach the two sensors and then the fuel lines I can get it out on the bench for a proper cleaning and service.

Headed to Miami day after tomorrow as co-driver ferrying my son's S&S down there and should be back the first of next week. If there's anything new that is of particular interest I'll post it, and that should be the end of it, I would think.

[sledhead]

all the burner nozzles that I have removed from my Webasto always look brand new and they would not always fire . at $10 or less it is cheep insurance to keep the temperamental thing running

dave

[buswarrior]

And get that oil burner nozzle from an HVAC source, not Weba$to...

Part in hand, they'll know what to give you.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[sledhead]

I gave my heating guy the wpx-886-41a-df # and he got me this delavan 40-60w for under $10 and it works every time and I installed a new fuel filter as well

again this is on my aqua hot unit

dave

[Jim Blackwood]

Would you get parts for an Eberspaecher at the same places?

I found another useful manual:
https://www.eberspaecher.se/fileadmin/data/countrysites/EB_Schweden/pdf/Broschyrer/Produkter/Product_information-2017-en.pdf

I find the plumbing particularly interesting.
I put it all back together after a thorough cleaning, though I didn't think to put the nozzle in the ultrasonic. Oh well. I think the issue is electrical anyway. The connectors are in very bad shape. I will have to replace them. The electrodes didn't appear to have any spark erosion so I didn't attempt any adjustment there.

What I think happened is that the connectors failed and caused an error indication on the timer, at least I hope so. If so it might not even have triggered a lockout.

Prof.

[richard5933]

If your system is like the Webasto, there are also a number of sensors in the system (temp, etc.) that can shut down or keep the system from firing.

If you get a call to Lloyd, he will probably be able to talk you through the steps to bypass everything in your system to see if you can force the burner to light. Then you can walk it backwards until you locate the specific problem that's keeping things from working.

This is what I did with ours - about 15 minutes on the phone and Lloyd had me run through the steps to isolate the problem. Once we determined what it was, I decided to send the unit to him for service. You might be able to fix it yourself once the problem is found. Ours came back like a brand-new unit and worked like a champ from then on.

[buswarrior]

Do not ignore the nozzle.

That is an annual service part in a home oil furnace.

Think about the consequences of it dribbling fuel into that chamber, instead of spraying a good fine mist...

Standard oil nozzle, the coolant burner peeps like to mark 'em up really hard.

happy coaching!
buswarrior