Eberspacher D4 problem!

[Guest]

Hi all,

Our D4 is playing up and we need some advice as the problem seems a little unusual.

On friday we stayed on the boat and the heater fired up fine and was on for a good few hours at full belt (we always run her like that due to the problems we had with the D2 on jupes).

All was fine, but on saturday evening we went out for a fab meal with Jonathan Tammy and rebecca (Mariotech) and we put the heating on to keep the dog warm whilst we were out. On return we found that the unit was just blowing cold air and had not fired up.

We tried a couple of times to get it going but our experience of the D2 is that if there is a problem encountered during thr firing up sequence you only get two chances to retry before the unit locks itself down, thus requiring an expensive engineer to come out , fix the prob and reset the ICU.

Now...here is the thing....unlike our faulty D2 on jupes that would get all the way through the fire up sequnce (billowing smoke and all), it appears that the D4 was only getting to the first stage of the sequence (cooler fan only). And just wouldnt go to the next stage (which I presume is fuel related.)

And here is the even more odd thing...given that after a number of false starts which I assume disabled the unit, this morning we fired up again and it did indeed go through the whole cycle to the point of blowing out hot air for about a minute before shutting itself down. A subsequent restart put it back to the fan only first stage like last night.

Any ideas on what is wrong and where I might go to get it sorted without someone like Panks saying we need a new ICU (which costs more than a second hand D4 complete unit on e bay!!!

Leroy "not so blingy anymore" cold chap! : :

[Antares_9]

Shove a powerfull old vacuum cleaner over the exhaust and give it a minute or two burst Adam, I even try a start during that "procedure" it often works with a blocked exhaust also dries out the flame gause if it's got a bit flooded from repeated false starts.

[Guest]

thanks rod and david...

when you say the exhaust.....do you mean the skin fitting outlet on the boat exterior?

leroy :

[Antares_9]

That's it Adam, emphasis on the "old" though as it will make it smell a bit and you may the have to keep it for work type cleaning.

Also if the control has an circulation air only switch, make sure that is not on, a bit obvious I know but it has been known.

[Guest]

all sounds promising guys...

will be down there tomorrow with the spare dyson!

adam...

[Antares_9]

It’s not a universal panacea Adam, but it’s such a simple thing to do it’s often my first defence, often works and nothing is lost if ineffective.

[Guest]

Hi all,

well...we sucked and sucked with the vac....and unfortunately nothing happend.

Feeling brave enough to remove the unit and perform a basic service/clean up, as the last time this happend on jupes, I refitted the unit with Goodchilds supervision after watching them remove it for me..

Antares (david) mentioned in another post there are some technical manuals on here some where?

Whats the best way to decoke the burner and glow plug? I know I will need the replacement gaskets etc and have sourced them already?

What esle should I be looking to do.

adam... :

[Antares_9]

If it is coked up then soaking the burner unit in caustic soda will clear most of it, your model has a screen so order one of those at the same time as the service gaskets together with the screen removal tool.

Here's a link to a PDF of the D$ manual http://www.espar.com/documents/airtronic.pdf

[Guest]

David thanks for that...looks very useful indeed

adam... :

[Antares_9]

You may find the attached trouble shooting guide some help Adam.

airtronic_hydronic_troubleshooting.pdf

[Guest]

Hi all....

Still determined to sort out the issue without an engineer call out...

Johnathan (Mariotech) has very kindly offered to help me remove the unit and give it a thorough de-coke so I have ordered the necessary gaskets, fuel pump filter etc etc I am sure that once its put back together, even if it still doesnt work, it will be easier to identify where the problem is.

adam... :

[Antares_9]

If you don't mind me asking Adam, why have you ordered a fuel pump? They hardly ever fail and it is easy to see if that's the fault without removal and they are a fortune. Did you order a screen? Because you almost certainly will break it if there's any amount of carbon about. Whilst it's out then check the resistance values on the glow pin and overheat sensor are within tolerance as it only takes a moment. I would do this even on a new pin now as some daft bugger once sold me a 24v one as a 12v and physically they are identical to a 12v so after assembly I couldn't get it to run and had to diagnostics start all over again.

Edited to say I realise it's the filter for the fuel pump you've ordered, that'll teach me to see commas where there are none.

[Guest]

hi ya david

yes its just the filter that I have ordered as I have no idea if it has ever been replaced and thought it wont do any harm to do this at the same time, not least because I know these units dont like broads fuel!!!. At £3.60 I dont have a problem.

I think the screen thingy comes as part of the service kit that I have ordered.

I am hoping that this, replacing gaskets, de-coke etc will solve the problem as I already got stung last year for both a burner and an ECU on the D2 on Jupes.

thanks ever so much for all of your advice and you will no doubt see another post either to say it was a success or HELP!!!!

Adam...aka Leroy Bling :