Gas heater

VW's aircooled mini SUV. Great for riding in the country, or cruising the beach.
MASSIVETYPEI
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:45 am

Gas heater

Post by MASSIVETYPEI »

I just got my first thing over the weekend. Not sure how test gas heater.
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suntour
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 11:15 pm

Post by suntour »

What do you want to know? I am more than willing to give any suggestions or answer any questions that you might have. So far I have successfully rebuilt three of them. However finding parts is a real pain in the ass. I have started using my European relatives to help track down working parts.
MASSIVETYPEI
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:45 am

Post by MASSIVETYPEI »

The fan turns on but it never warms up. I hear what sounds like a timer. I don't think it is igniting. I smell a little gas. just not sure where to start.
Bruce2
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Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2001 1:01 am

Post by Bruce2 »

Pull out the glow plug and look at the coils. Put an ohm meter on it to see if the coiled wire is broken.
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suntour
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Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 11:15 pm

Post by suntour »

check to see if your fuel pump is clicking. That seems to be the most common problem.
wildthings
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Post by wildthings »

I haven't worked on one of these in a long while, so this is all from distant memory. Yes there is a timer, or at least a time out safety. This circuit does not make any noise however. What it does is uses a heating element to pop the safety if you don't get ignition within the set parameters. The timer like noise you are hearing is probably the fuel pump. The fuel pump pulses about once every second or so, giving a little tick tick tick. The most common problem I had with my heater was carbon tracking on the ignitor plug which prevented it from firing. Being too cheap to replace it I probably cleaned and regapped it dozens of times. :roll:
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suntour
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Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 11:15 pm

Post by suntour »

That green knob is you turn to start the heater is a timer. When you turn it clockwise it sounds like an egg timer, works the same way too. Personally I doubt you could hear the fuel pump clicking inside the car, its not that loud. The safety switch (circuit breaker thing like your house has) is designed to switch off after approximately 120 seconds if the heater fails to start. As for the carbon fouling on the plug, that is caused by a too rich gas mixture, that has to be adjusted at the fuel pump. It should produce 13-15cc?s of gas per two hundred clicks (the clicks are in relation to the blower fan 1 click per 33 revolutions of the fan) to keep the right mixture. Too little fuel and it will start to flame out, to much fuel and it fouls the plug and smokes. The glow/spark plug can be read the same way a spark plug in the engine to judge if the mixture is correct.
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