webasto heaters, losing my patience (1 Viewer)

Jan 8, 2014
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Bought my travel van in July and I have had problems constantly with the webasto heater. The vehicle has been back to south downs motorhomes at least 5 times to sort out faults with the system. Now don't get me wrong the staff at south downs have been very professional in trying to rectify the problems and each time I have taken the vehicle away it has worked. They have changed battery s twice, had it sent a way for new fan motors, new PC board, heavy duty cable to batteries etc.

Yesterday I thought just run the system again as I do every few weeks, low and behold 5 flashing red lights. It is now back at south downs motorhome.

I have a ferry to Spain booked for the 9th jan, and they usually have my van for 3 weeks at a time?????

Now I'm panicking, I have inrormed them to either replace the whole system, give me my money back or replace the van, what would you do??
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Daz, How big is your battery feeding the heater ? what state of charge was it in? Did you try running the engine before starting heater. The biggest problem is the battery as when you switch on the heater it can draw up to 12 amps for 2/3 minutes to fire up / clean / start running, and the same ( around 5/8 amps ) to close down. If your battery is not up to this the heater will shut down and the only way to reset is to remove fuses to heater.
 

Judge Mental

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Not have bought it in the first place.....sorry thats not what you want to hear, but if you can get out of the deal do it!

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Minxy

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If you put "webasto heater problems 5 flashes" into google it will come up with various pdfs etc about it so you might be able to find the problem.

Just had a quick shuftie at one and it said it could be the flame sensor:

http://www.kamtrucking.com/resources/Webasto-Flash-Codes.pdf

Also the below was off another:

http://techwebasto.com/redirect/heater_main/5001186A.pdf

NOTE:
An error code is generated on the control element indicator light after an error has occurred. When determining the generated code, there will be a series of 5 fast flashes after which, the error code will be generated by a sequence of
long flash pulses, count o
nly the long flash pulses to obtain the code. Error codes are shown in the table below.

If the heater is fitted with a combination timer, an error message will appear on the display of the timer after a fault
occurs. If the control element is used, the error number is indicated by the indicator light flashing:
F 00 Control unit error / incorrect parameter set / warm start recognition
F 01 No start (after 2 attempts to start) / no flame formation
F 02 Flame failure (repeated more than 3 times)
F 03 Under voltage or over voltage
F 04 Premature flame recognition
F 06 Temperature sensor interrupt or short circuit
F 07 Metering pump interrupt or pump short circuit
F 08 Fan motor interrupt or short circuit or overload or blocked
F 09 Ceramic glow pin interrupt or short circuit
F 10 Overheating: Resulting in permanent heater fault lock-out
F 11 Overheating sensor interrupt or short circuit
F 12 Heater lock-out
F 13 Heater lock-out permanent
F 14 Overheating sensor incorrect position
F 15 Set point generator interrupt​
 
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Daz n Tina
Jan 8, 2014
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Thanks for your replies, the batteries are new, 2 x 90amps, 5 flashes is the heater motors, 3 flashes is low power, I have 5 flashes. Plugged into electric and engine started makes no difference. We have 120 solar panel just to keep batteries topped up. ( pleased to see judgemental is still not the helpful person he could be)
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Daz, I would guess the flashing number is 3: F 03 Under voltage or over voltage and therefore your batteries are not charged ( yes they might be topped up ) but not charged. Connect to EHU and leave charging for 2/3 days depending on charger. You did not say that you tried turning on heater with engine running ( this is the best way as the amps drawing are replaced right away via alternator. Remove fuse to heater leave a few seconds replace and try with engine running and leave running for about 10 minutes to allow heater to clean etc. Hope this helps.

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Daz n Tina
Jan 8, 2014
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Daz, I would guess the flashing number is 3: F 03 Under voltage or over voltage and therefore your batteries are not charged ( yes they might be topped up ) but not charged. Connect to EHU and leave charging for 2/3 days depending on charger. You did not say that you tried turning on heater with engine running ( this is the best way as the amps drawing are replaced right away via alternator. Remove fuse to heater leave a few seconds replace and try with engine running and leave running for about 10 minutes to allow heater to clean etc. Hope this helps.
Hi Don, I have 5 flashes not battery related.
 

Minxy

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If you are staying on a campsite then take a separate electric heater as a safety measure/back-up, however you will find that there are plenty of people abroad who can fix it ... probably first time round! When we were in Germany last year we had a problem with our Truma combi and the mobile technician met us a few hours later near a motorway junction fixed it for no charge.
 

Don Quixote

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Hi Don, I have 5 flashes not battery related.

Daz, that after the five flashes it starts with ? so you see 10 flashes total? The reason I ask is there is no 5 flash code?

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Daz n Tina
Jan 8, 2014
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Daz, that after the five flashes it starts with ? so you see 10 flashes total? The reason I ask is there is no 5 flash code?
I think the flash code that you have is for a digital readout. The manual control does have a 5 code. Which I believe is 8 flashes on the digital controller
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Daz, no I have the simple dial with led in centre and cannot remember as it happened to me last year what I saw, but think you are getting same problem I had and that was batteries. I thought they were fully charged and the solar panel was doing the job........ it was not it was topping the batteries up and only that, so day after day I was believing at the end of the day they were fully charged and ready to run the heater! WRONG..... ( read my posts on charging )
The draw on the batteries is great from the heater and unless they are good the heater will "failsafe" to protect both it's self and your batteries. have you tried the running engine test yet ?

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Daz n Tina
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This is what you asked above......not my problem that can't handle plain speaking!
I can handle plain speaking perfectly, but I never asked you if I should have bought it in the firstbplace, but thank you for your invaluable input it was most sought after. Hope this makes you feel better and now you can jump back on your 'ego' throne.:xThumb:
 

Badknee

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Daz & Tina, I think what Minx is saying is forget the first five flashes, that is to tell you there is a fault that's all, no matter what the fault is it will be five.
Then look at the next lot of flashes and that will be the fault code. Good luck.

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Daz n Tina
Jan 8, 2014
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Daz, no I have the simple dial with led in centre and cannot remember as it happened to me last year what I saw, but think you are getting same problem I had and that was batteries. I thought they were fully charged and the solar panel was doing the job........ it was not it was topping the batteries up and only that, so day after day I was believing at the end of the day they were fully charged and ready to run the heater! WRONG..... ( read my posts on charging )
The draw on the batteries is great from the heater and unless they are good the heater will "failsafe" to protect both it's self and your batteries. have you tried the running engine test yet ?
Thanks Don, I will look into that. When I plugged it into the electric yesterday it did not make any difference. Will drive to south downs today to have another look.
 

Badknee

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Thanks Don, I will look into that. When I plugged it into the electric yesterday it did not make any difference. Will drive to south downs today to have another look.
Perhaps try it with EHU connected?
 

Don Quixote

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Thanks Don, I will look into that. When I plugged it into the electric yesterday it did not make any difference. Will drive to south downs today to have another look.

Daz, even on tickover on the drive will do just for the test. If the heater starts ( after about 5 minutes of running engine NOT before to allow charge to batteries ) then switch off engine after 10 minutes .the heater should carry on working. Using EHU as suggest above will be too slow as your charging system will not supply enough amps to fast charge the battery.

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Don Quixote

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Daz, you do know that you can run the heater whilst driving, many MH owners do this to warm the MH before parking up. Fingers crossed for you.
 

dabhand

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OR, you just could have a totally different problem, my heating hadn't worked for years, it went through all the various flashing light stages but wouldn't fire up, as we rarely if ever used it, it wasn't a problem, although I did have several people look at it to no avail, decided to get it fixed for Morocco trip, the guy sent all the pcbs off to truma etc, couldn't find anything wrong, he eventually took the drivers seat and the electro bloc out and found that MICE had gnawed through some cables, don't ask me why there was power at the pcb but it wouldn't work, something to do with a wire from a relay I think. Just a thought!
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
OR, you just could have a totally different problem, my heating hadn't worked for years, it went through all the various flashing light stages but wouldn't fire up, as we rarely if ever used it, it wasn't a problem, although I did have several people look at it to no avail, decided to get it fixed for Morocco trip, the guy sent all the pcbs off to truma etc, couldn't find anything wrong, he eventually took the drivers seat and the electro bloc out and found that MICE had gnawed through some cables, don't ask me why there was power at the pcb but it wouldn't work, something to do with a wire from a relay I think. Just a thought!

Dabhand, he does not have a problem with Truma, but his heater made by Webasto. This system has + / - from battery to heater / heater air to vents. Not a great deal for mice to chew on, but non the less helpful.

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Judge Mental

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I can handle plain speaking perfectly, but I never asked you if I should have bought it in the firstbplace, but thank you for your invaluable input it was most sought after. Hope this makes you feel better and now you can jump back on your 'ego' throne.:xThumb:

ego trip? just listen to yourself......you said should I back it? all i did was agree! and get a tirade of insults for the effort....
 

dabhand

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Dabhand, he does not have a problem with Truma, but his heater made by Webasto. This system has + / - from battery to heater / heater air to vents. Not a great deal for mice to chew on, but non the less helpful.
Ah! But do the mice know that?:xgrin:

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DBK

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I am sure Webasto have a UK number but I can't find it but given your predicament ring them in Germany 00491805951159 there is bound to be someone there who can speak English and perhaps give you a UK number. "spracken zee English bitter?" should work.

Our Webasto heater has been faultless since we bought the MH but I have heard of problems but they were sorted out by speaking to the right person on the phone.
 
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Daz n Tina
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I am sure Webasto have a UK number but I can't find it but given your predicament ring them in Germany 00491805951159 there is bound to be someone there who can speak English and perhaps give you a UK number. "spracken zee English bitter?" should work.

Our Webasto heater has been faultless since we bought the MH but I have heard of problems but they were sorted out by speaking to the right person on the phone.
Thank you for the info, currently in south downs will keep you posted
 

Badknee

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As an ex trucker we always had Ebercp, Ebirspat, Eberspatt, we never had Webasto. :LOL:

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Daz n Tina
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Well been to south downs, after much discussion we are now going to see if their workshop can resolve the problem at their workshop on Friday. If not a company in Nottingham PB Auto electricians are webasto specialists who will replace the system on Monday if I take it their as they keep stock of the dual tops. This is a pain as I live near Portsmouth.

If Southdown's do rectify the problem AGAIN (5th time) I will take a extra layer of clothes to Spain.

But no matter what Spain here we come!
 

Minxy

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If you go on the Webasto website you can check to see if there is anyone closer ....
 

pappajohn

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there will be a series of 5 fast flashes after which, the error code will be generated by a sequence of
long flash pulses, count o
nly the long flash pulses


Please read the above snip from Minx post.

There is no error code 5

5 flashs indicate a fault has occurred...
Not the actual fault.

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