sharan 130 tdi pre heater fault - lots of smoke

**paulwebsterthompson** · 12-01-2007,04:58 PM

hi

i have a sharan 130 tdi with a pre heater fault = lots of unburnt deisel smoke a low temp running

anyone have experience of this remedies etc short of flog it!

thanks

paul t

**adamss24** · 12-01-2007,05:08 PM

Originally Posted by paulwebsterthompson

hi

i have a sharan 130 tdi with a pre heater fault = lots of unburnt deisel smoke a low temp running

anyone have experience of this remedies etc short of flog it!

thanks

paul t

Are you talking of the auxiliar heater ? If its smoking white, the glow plug will need replacing as there is too much fuel that cannot burn in the cold cylinder. Vw should keep them in stock as this its a common fault with these heaters. Hope this helps.

**paulwebsterthompson** · 12-01-2007,05:12 PM

thanks that certainly is the exact description of the fault cheers

paul t

**Matt B** · 12-01-2007,05:45 PM

I have a 2.0TDI (136bhp) Touran and have the same problem, but only when the outside tempreture is low (near 0 deg.C) I get white smoke comming from under the car around the underside of the engine/ exhaust. It looks like the car is on fire when it is really cold (i.e. the cold snap last winter) It has been into VW and had parts on the aux. heater replaced but have been told it is a 'fault with the touran' and it doesn't cause any problem, and only happens for a short while after start up when the car and outside temp is cold.

This is fine except for when I reverse out of my drive and can smell the fumes inside the car, on the odd occasion it is cold enough to happen. I just live with it now, you get to the point where you get bored of taking it to the dealer who can't really fix it. (my local VW dealer is rubbish, local but rubbish. When I pick the car up they have always washed it and valeted it, but often don't always rectify faults!) Rant over!!

**paulwebsterthompson** · 12-01-2007,08:15 PM

funny how they wash and vacuum it smile nicley and cant fix it

cheers matt

**sharandriver** · 16-01-2007,11:27 PM

I have the same problem on my 02 TDI Sharan. I was scared the first time - this is my first winter with the car. My dads a mechanic so he looked over it and saw it was the heater. I have heared the glow plug thing wont always work. I've put up with it but not sure how much damage it could cause

**paulwebsterthompson** · 17-01-2007,08:55 AM

hi

its begining to sound like there is quite a community of us with this problem - not just sharans but the alhambra and galaxy too.

i think what is more important is that VW must know about this problem - its common so why no recall and why the blank looks and apparent lack of knowledge from approved service centers

i am still wait for info from my service center

thanks for the reply

paul

**barnstormer** · 17-01-2007,08:34 PM

my tdi 115 2002 seat alhambra is in at the main dealers today with the same problem ,smoke from the auxcillary heater!!! put a new heater on february 2006. told them i don,t want car back until problem is sorted, i have no faith in them at all ,might as well get my 7& 4 year old daughters to do job!!

**paulwebsterthompson** · 18-01-2007,08:56 AM

its amazing how common this seems to be - hope you are sorted soon

have your lot said anything about disconection - thats what i am pushing for with mine

anyone got experiece of disconecting this unit?

paul

**barnstormer** · 18-01-2007,11:09 AM

no have not heard anything yet!! they have,nt mentioned disconnection either, i think to sum problem up vw/ ford /seat should be forced into a corner to re-design this ageing problem,after all it was fitted as standard and should be working!!