Club 80-90 Forums

Just drove around 20 odd miles and when I pulled over into a parking space (on a flat) water starting dripping out at quite a fast pace...its clear and has no smell. Its also dripping off the corner of the sliding door...

I need to drive in a few hours and im scared this is serious...can anyone advise? Thanks

Im ferociously scanning the Haynes manual for anything I can find....I don't even know what those tubes are connected to! I'm panicking..

That looks like a diesel/petrol heater, but if the liquid doesn't smell?... maybe its coming from above? do you have one of the factory rear heaters under the rear seat? these leak quite often and the coolant leaking out where those hoses go into the van

Well I'm not sure if this helps but the large unit the bigger of the pipes is attached to looks like a 'night heater' (blow heating system).
The larger pipe is normally either cold air in or hot air out of the unit. The smaller pipe the exhaust?

I can't really comment much further only to say that 'water' is a normal by-product of most combustion processes. Where is it coming from exactly? its hard to determine the issue without the origin of the liquid, it could just be 'the route' the liquid is taking rather than where the liquid is being produced.

Beat me! lol.

Martin

Thanks for your reply California,
Yes I do have a rear heater which is located under/in the rock n roll bed. I will go and look inside - I hadn't thought of that, I just panicked! I'm not even sure the heater works... I'm going to look in the engine now too, as i can't seem to locate where it's coming from. Sounds really silly but the previous owners have put a bike rack on the rear door and now it wont hold open making it really difficult to even look in the engine as It's so heavy to hold up.

Thanks for your reply, Emma

Hi Lloydy, YES! i have a heater....i really really hope its coming from there..somehow feels less serious.
I'm going to take a look now - my vans parked outside my house.. I did notice a bit of a bluey type residue around the rear heater when I was cleaning the van the other day..

I thought that you said that there wasn't a heater under the van!!!!! Certainly looks like one to me.
Dripping off the corner of the sliding door says water inside the door to me - some appear to have drainage holes and others none.
Any which way - the liquid there appears to have a slight blueish green tinge like coolant to me so that original rear heater under the seat that you found could well be the culprit - check for signs of damp around it and its hoses.

Next you can try the Eberspächer that you now know is there with those controls that you found in the side panel.

its quite common to leak there. You can either remove heater and cap off each hose, or join the hoses together. Then replace the rear heater when you have the money, no rush.

Oldiebutgoodie - im confused, as there is a rearheater (the factory fitted one) inside the rock n roll bed area ...but I can't see an eberspacher? ...is that black box under the van the eberspacher?? I thought they were red metal type boxes?
Hmmm...I really need to do some more research.
I'm off to look under it right this minute!

the eberspacher is the thing under the van

Thank you all, so much....the rear heater is indeed leaking quite a bit...

AND...


all this time I had no idea I had an eberspacher....







Looks a little worse for wear..

And this is the rearheater...and yes, it is leaking!!

Easiest fix for the rear heater is to make a U-bend out of 15mm copper pipe then join the two hoses together, it can be done either inside the van or underneath. Then you can either repair the heater at your leisure or remove it.
The Eberspächer heater looks like it is a D2 which, if working, will more than compensate for the loss of the VW rear heater. Get the rear heater leak sorted first then we can work on checking out the Eberspächer. (annoyingly it has been mounted so that its identification plate has been obscured)
Are you petrol or diesel - I am assuming diesel as the Airtronics only come in the larger model B4 for petrol vehicles.

Emma&Al wrote:Thanks for your reply California,
Yes I do have a rear heater which is located under/in the rock n roll bed. I will go and look inside - I hadn't thought of that, I just panicked! I'm not even sure the heater works... I'm going to look in the engine now too, as i can't seem to locate where it's coming from. Sounds really silly but the previous owners have put a bike rack on the rear door and now it wont hold open making it really difficult to even look in the engine as It's so heavy to hold up.

Thanks for your reply, Emma

Have you thought about cutting a length if wood to prop open the tailgate? Works for my garage door.

Or even replace/upgrade the gas struts

You'll need to cut a length of wood to hold the tailgate open while changing the struts, so might as well do that first and get some extra use out of it...