Sharan Rear Booster Heater

[RogerTo]

I have just noticed that the air intake pipe for the rear booster heater on my 98 Sharan, has broken off the heater unit under the car - it's now just got it's other end in the sill and is waggling about. The clamp is still attached to this pipe, and it looks like the stub has broken off the heater. The silencer pipe is still firmly connected (and looks pristine!). So presumably if the booster heater operates it will draw in air (for combustion? is that correct?) from under the car, and there is an entrance point for water - I guess that is a bad thing.

My question is - do I need to worry? I stuck a finger in the end of the silencer pipe and it came out clean - no soot. Does the booster heater serve a useful function in our climate? I have used the rear heater a few times in winter, but to honest it is pretty redundant (and that includes recent winters and -20c temps) as the front heater is pretty good, and we tend to have quite a few bodies in the car. Should I bother getting a replacement from a breaker, or just forget about it? If it does get that cold I am usually more worried about the inability of salt to affect ice on the road surface and likely to stay at home.

So - is the rear booster heater a thing of value in the northern UK, or only of use in continental winters?

Hope to hear some views about when and if it is useful. Thanks in advance.

[RogerTo]

Does anyone know anything about this rear booster heater??

Looking forward to hearing something - we're predicted to get a corker of a winter this year...

[zollaf]

it works when the temperature is below 5 degrees and merely heats the coolant a bit quicker than the engine. if it was still working to start with, you may notice the engine taking a while longer to heat up. many of them fail though and don't get fixed, in which case you will notice no change. you can hear them when they start as they sound like a jet engine .
remember they also predicted a summer so hot we would all melt, water would be in short supply and britain would be the new spain.

[Holsokk]

Sorry to pick up this thread again, but where is this booster heater located? Our booster heater is defective. I have a sharan 2002 model and live in Norway, so in winter times up in the mountains its "pretty" useful to have this booster heater engaged!

edit: I know its in the rear part of the car, but want to know exactly where it is(im a little lacy after fixing various problems with the sharan) :p .

[RogerTo]

It's on the left hand side of the car (at least it is on our RHD car) about 20 - 30 cm in front of the rear wheel I think. There is a collection of coolant pipes coming from the front of the car, and at the heater there is a roughly U shaped pipe that comes down from the heater and back up into the sill. This is the air intake pipe - presumably it is in the sill to keep the intake free from the muck thrown up by the wheels. The is also a distinctive exhaust pipe exiting from the heater, pointing to the rear of the car, with a slightly flattened tip I think. The whole heater assembly is tucked up next to the sill.
Judging by the description from zollaf, (sounds like a jet engine) mine has never worked, but as we live in britain that's ok I guess. It only rarely gets a lot below zero.
Good luck:-)

[Holsokk]

Thanks a lot for the quick and good description! I can recall seeing this distinctive exhaust pipe at the left rear side when i changed the rear springs. Then its most probably the same setup. :) Thanks, we diagnosed this problem awhile ago and it said it was a fault on the glow plug, firebox and waterpump(circulation pump). I will maybe try to fix this before we sadly enough sell this car( i was beginning to care for this car). But we got a volvo xc70 with awd to deal with these mountains now!

[Ed740i]

my booster is broken aswell (live in reykjavik) i will fix it 1 day but a peice of card infront of the radiator does a good job for now ;p
Holsokk get yourself a 3.2 di-d pajero, i had an xc90 and my pajero runs rings round it ;)

[Holsokk]

Hehe. Damnit! Pajero sounds like a real robust car, Ed. :) I really like mitsubishi. I have a mitsubishi galant sedan i have plans to modify. A little OT there! I will do a attempt to fix the heater booster, but i fear that it will be a expensive repair.