Club 80-90 Forums

OK, my Eberspacher in my new T25 westy joker was seemingly dead, sorted an earth problem and now there is signs of life, the leisure battery is dead but when engine is charging I can switch the fan on which will run for a few seconds, then the LED dims and then fan cuts out. If I switch over to heat I get several clicks, then I get a buzzer, I've put this down to low voltage?

How can I get hold of oldiebutgoodie to grace me with his wisdom and perhaps get my van to him to make sure it's safe? Got a new born so want to make sure it's running perfect!

Yep sounds like low voltage problem but oldiebutgoodie is the guy your after, I'm sure he'll see this post soon

Also sounds to me like it's down to the power.

I guess you are getting a new leisure battery anyway so do that first.
In the meantime you could wire it to you main battery and see if that resolves the problem (again keep the engine running to ensure it is charging)

I'm probably going to pull out the leisure battery tomorrow and put my snap on pack in to test, when I connect it to the knackered battery it does supply power but saps the life out of the power pack.

Petrol B2L draws around 12 amps at start and D2L around 20 amps so you need a good battery. It will be difficult to begin any further fault finding if needed if there isn't enough juice available. If you have a hefty battery charger available (min 15 amps, preferably 20a) connect this to the leisure whilst trying to start the heater but otherwise wait until you have a new battery. I wouldn't rely on the split charge being able to supply the grunt needed for start up with the engine running especially as it is a new to you van and you don't know what is fitted and the condition of the wiring. Whilst awaiting a new battery you could check all the wiring for dodgy/corroded connections - earths as well as positives. Ensure that the heater is supplied directly from the battery with a fused positive rather than via any distribution board/ Zig panel etc. to avoid voltage drop.

I can't take on people's vans/heaters as my arthritis precludes me from working a lot of the time and I work on Webasto heaters and have parts for them and not the Eberspächers.

Ok I've tugged out the old battery and put my snap on jumper pack in it's place, now I've realised it will only do anything with the engine running, realistically I need to get it out and test it on a bench don't I? If you cannot do it can you recommend someone who can? Thank you for your reply.

Or perhaps could recommend an alternative replacement heater, is there any still available that run on petrol and would drop in it's place?

It appears to have a feed direct from alternator or is running from a switch live somewhere else? The plot thickens.....

It sounds like you only have a feed from a split charge or the leisure and/or heater wiring is high resistance leading to voltage drop which is overcome with the alternator output. Connect the heater direct to the leisure battery whilst a battery charger is connected up. No point in taking it out until you have sorted the wiring. What is the voltage at the heater when it is attempting to start?

Forgive my ignorance but how do I find that out? It's fitted to a vw t25 as factory. Thank you.

Obviously with a multimeter but where would I test the connection? I can only see the thermostat and a large silver relay box, the rest is in a metal box under the car.

The best you can do without dropping the heater is find the last power and earth connections that go to the heater and check there.

Ok will do tomorrow, is there anyone you know of that works on these in south east?

No one will touch a B2L usually - they are too old. It is DIY only.

If I can't get it sorted do you/anyone know of a good and reasonably priced alternative petrol heater? Thank you