Noisy and smoking diesel heater, XC90 D5
 

I've got a '03 XC90 D5 with a factory fitted heater (with timer). I've always called it "Webasto", but apparantly it's not Webasto and neither Eberspächer.

I pulled the fuse on it a while ago because it was smoking quite a bit, and had a strange kind of knocking noise every now and then. I would like to have it up and running properly again. Does anyone have any suggestions? Can a thorough cleanup perform any magic, or will I need to replace anything?

I have one too, in my 2009 car.

Noise, smell and smoke is normal!

Hmm, OK, main reason I actually pulled the fuse was that it kept starting at random times, but that was with a faulty DIM (instrument cluster), I have replaced it with a brand new one since then, might have to try again and see if it works properly now.

Give it a go.

You will probably find its quite smokey the first time you use it.

Mine makes a lot of whooshing noises too, but works really well.

Likewise, I've had a few cars with them in the past, sound like a jet turbine sometimes, and white/gray smoke, but all were ok - You don't say whether it's actually working correctly and heating up, if not the glow plug could be failing, easily replaced, last one I did cost me about a tenner, specialised Beru part.

Mike

I put the fuse back in after these posts, so a good couple of weeks ago, and we've been using the car basically every day in -5 to 8 degrees celsius, and the heater has been "OK". I was able to use the manual start from the instrument panel (which never worked with the old DIM) and it has not been starting when it was not supposed to. It has also started with the car as it is supposed to. Heating seems OK. On manual start I believe the Freelander we had some years ago heated faster (5,5kW Webasto on a 2-litre 4 cyl), but it was a smaller engine, probably had less coolant and a smaller cabin to heat, but basically my conclusion would be that it was working. However...

1. A lot of noise, movie here: http://youtu.be/E37oUcd8fqU, to be honest it sounds worse in the movie than it is, but it does not sound good.
2. Sometimes a lot of smoke, especially when stopping the engine. Enough to make people stop and point and stare... :-)
3. A couple of days ago I left the car unattended for 4-5 minutes while delivering kids at daycare, engine had just been running for a couple of minutes so I left the heater running. When I got back the heater had stopped and I could see traces of oil (probably diesel) in the wet ground underneath the car. There were no error messages in the display, but it has not been running since. I can hear it for a couple of seconds when trying to manually start it (probably fuel or coolant pump?), but nothing more happens. The car works fine.

Would appreciate any suggestions as to get it running AND running properly again!

it sounds like it needs to go for a professional service or repair.

if you want to have a poke around yourself, removing the front bumper is only a 10 minute job.

id be taking it to an experienced garage though

I've spent 10k GBP on this old car in two years, and I don't mind a couple of hours in the garage, but would like to have parts ready. Is there a complete rebuild kit, or anyone that can pinpoint what is needed?

same issue - which fuse did you remove?
 

for now i would be happy to disable and stop the pointing

Can't say for sure, but fuse 1 in the fuse box under the hood if I remember correctly. Check the lid and look for auxillary heater or similar.

Mine died again and I am really struggling in the Norwegian winter. :-(