Eberspächer advice

[western 868]

It'll probably be next weekend now before I can fit the 2nd terminal to fuel pump wire, back on shift 7am to 7pm next week, so it'll be dark when I get home. 

just wondering if I need to put some fuel in the outlet end of the pump to help it lift fuel from the tank. Or will the pump have enough 'suck'to lift the fuel, my tank has about 35liters in it. 

[smallfry 133]

What I done with my conversions, non Land Rover, was to take the feed pipe off at both ends, and prime the pump with it running using a big medical syringe. The heater itself will time out, but once it connected up wire fire up easily.

Syringes can be easily got from horsey shops or ebay. I find then useful for lots of things that you havent even thought of yet. They create vacuum too.

[paime 81]

I have one of the Chinese knock offs and have to say its pretty good. To connect the fuel line I used the 'spare' grey plastic connection on top of the fuel tank as mine is a td5. Just nipped the top off it then stuck a length of steel brake line into it with a 90 degree bend at the top.  A bit of fuel line acts as a seal and then the nylon line attaches to the end. A bit rough but works fine.

I've also never had to prime the pump as it has enough sook to not need it.

Edited January 8 by paime

[western 868]

Thanks for the advice guys, all useful info. 

a thought with a spare battery I could rig the pump to prime itself into a clean bottle then it would at least have a easier job to pull fuel with a empty pump.

Edited January 8 by western

[FridgeFreezer 2,029]

Hard to tell from the photos but you might want to angle the end of the air intake hose downwards to prevent it filling up with crud.

[western 868]

I will tweak it before starting the heater up. Might move it to the rear face of that cross member. 

[Maverik 562]

13 hours ago, Peaklander said:

I'll be interested to compare the noise of your heater with mine. We may need to share videos. I can't get used to the jet engine roar of the burner during the start-up / warm-up phase. It makes a tranquil early morning a little less tranquil. However heat is better than cold!

Have you put a silencer on the exhaust? I've got a Airtop in my van with a silencer on it and its pretty good at muffling noise, compared to the Thermotop in my 90 which is like a small jet engine firing away without a silancer.

[Peaklander 348]

Yes It has an after-market one on. I have been moaning about it for some time but haven't yet tried any other solution such as a genuine exhaust silencer or one on the inlet.

I believe that these newer D2 heaters (at least) always go onto full flame at start-up for at least a minimum run time, in order to ensure that carbon build-up is minimised. I am guilty of spreading that rumour as I don't definitively know that this is correct.

The noise is only an issue on the outside of the vehicle; that's what I mean about spoiling the tranquility. If its windy it's no problem but in a quiet spot or campsite, in the early morning, it can be loud.

 

[western 868]

14 hours ago, Peaklander said:

I'll be interested to compare the noise of your heater with mine. We may need to share videos. I can't get used to the jet engine roar of the burner during the start-up / warm-up phase. It makes a tranquil early morning a little less tranquil. However heat is better than cold!

Once I get it running and at some where less restricted than my driveway I can do a video so you can compare the noise from inside the vehicle & outside. 

[simonr 283]

Nice tidy install Ralph!

Unfortunately, the 'sounds like Concorde taking off' is a 'feature'.  However, once it's running, it will idle when it's close to temperature and is much less noisy.  It will eventually shut down though - then re-start with a noise that will wake the dead!
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the way I got around this was to open a window, just enough to keep it idling over night.  Then at least you wake up to a warm truck.  At idle it hardly uses any Diesel - maybe 1l over 8 hours.

For EVERYTHING technical there is to know about Eberspachers, look here: https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/eberspacher_intro_1.html

The site is run by my friend Roy Murkin (stop sniggering ).  He & I reverse engineeded the diagnostic & fault clearing protocol for the heaters a few years back.

If you're interested in doing it, without buying an expensive controller:

To make an Eberspacher send Serial Fault Data (Note regular Serial, not CAN):

You need to connect a resistance of about 150k from Blu/Wht to ground which drops it to about 9v.  That can just be left in place.

I made this from 100k + 56k in series.  Across the 100k gives about 4v which can be fed directly into one of the serial ins on the Arduino with the baud rate set to 1200, 8 bit, no parity.

I used an NPN Tr to short the two resistors to ground for signalling

I used a relay to connect yellow to +12v (easier than a high side driver for a Tr).

You need to connect yellow to +12v

wait 1000ms

Take Blu/Wht to 0v

wait 3000ms

Let Blu/Wht float

Wait 400ms

Start reading serial
 

Wait for first byte = 85 - start of packet

Wait for first 69 - last byte of header

Read errors until you get a 0

Ignore any bytes < ASCII 04
 

To erase any stored faults, do the above & wait until you see data.

Take Blu/Wht to 0v

Wait 2000ms
Let Blu/Wht float

Wait 300ms

Send data request sequence above

Start reading serial.

 

You can get it to clear the faults just by shorting the Blue/White line to 0V and the Yellow to +12 and counting for the timing.  The timing doesn't need to be very precise.  I managed to do this in the middle of the night in my van after it started showing a fault.

 

It's also surprisingly easy to build a complete new controller for them, based on an Arduino.  Roy built his own.  I also built my own Webasto Controller.
My Webasto controller is much quieter than the original as it starts on the minimum fueling & fan I could get away with & still have it fire up reliably.  That was Roy's objective too - to fix the Concorde taking off feature!  PM me if you want / need to do this - I guess I could write it up here.

[western 868]

Interesting info Simon, thanks it may be useful in future, as for the terminal I need, Mark at Espar in Plymouth has replied & is sending some in post, do hopefully have it running later this week. 

[Badger110 150]

I used a pet medicine syringe to pull through the fuel to the dosing pump, from there the pump usually sorts it out to the unit itself.

[reb78 417]

I suppose the fuel lines on mine are not long, but I have never had the need to prime the pump at all.

I bought a cheap silencer set but havent fitted it yet... I get what people say about the noise, but I dont find mine excessive... you can hear it and I wouldnt want to sleep with it going (so for a camper I can understand the objection more) but for 'normal' use, I dont really find the noise too loud - having said that, mine gets used if I am out in the snow and need extra heat in the cab (i dont notice the heater whilst driving above the noise of the engine etc), to warm up and defrost on cold morning or if the dogs are left in the car in the cold weather, so in the latter two examples I am not around to listen to it at those points anyway!! My heater in the 110 is pretty good so I rarely need the eberspacher in 'normal' cold weather.

[simonr 283]

The cheap silencers work pretty well - at least as well as expensive ones!  A silencer on the air intake makes some difference too (not as much as on the exhaust).

A surprising tip I found for the fuel pump is to put a 90 degree elbow on either side of it, a few cm from the inlet & outlet.  That probably halved the amplitude of the clicking sound it makes.

[Snagger 873]

3 minutes ago, simonr said:

The cheap silencers work pretty well - at least as well as expensive ones!  A silencer on the air intake makes some difference too (not as much as on the exhaust).

A surprising tip I found for the fuel pump is to put a 90 degree elbow on either side of it, a few cm from the inlet & outlet.  That probably halved the amplitude of the clicking sound it makes.

I would imagine mounting the pump on rubber mounts like those used on the RRC ABS pump (like miniature engine mount rubbers) and having soft hose connections at each end of the pump to act as sound dampers would also knock the noise down.

[simonr 283]

53 minutes ago, Snagger said:

I would imagine mounting the pump on rubber mounts like those used on the RRC ABS pump (like miniature engine mount rubbers) and having soft hose connections at each end of the pump to act as sound dampers would also knock the noise down.

They sell mounts just like that (eBay).  It was just surprising what a difference the 90 degree bends make!

I've just found Butler Technik sell rubber elbows for just this purpose!  They probably work even better than my (solid) elbows.

[Anderzander 806]

I’ve seen people hang them from cable ties and report it making a really big difference to noise.

Mine is pretty good - I don’t hear the pump. It does have an elbow, but I wasn’t sure if some are just better than others.

I bought a silencer for the intake and exhaust - but run it without them, as neither seemed to make any difference 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

[Peaklander 348]

I don't mind the pump noise. It is just a ticking and the frequency depends on the rate at which the burner is running.

The standard fix is a rubber mount in a clamp, as in my photo. When the heater is on full fire the noise of the pump disappears!

[Anderzander 806]

They are supposed to be angled like that too aren’t they ..... mine isn’t 🤔 

[reb78 417]

40 minutes ago, Anderzander said:

They are supposed to be angled like that too aren’t they ..... mine isn’t 🤔 

Yep. 45 degrees from vertical (or horizontal). They say it helps stop airlocks i think. 

[pete3000 42]

my only tip is to try and get the pump either inside or well away from salt/spray, otherwise the terminals can rot out and the pump stops working. Ask me how i know.

[western 868]

25 minutes ago, reb78 said:

Yep. 45 degrees from vertical (or horizontal). They say it helps stop airlocks i think. 

15 to 35 from horizontal in the fitting info for this D2 I've fitted, but can go up to 90, but not less than 15 degrees.

Pete3000 my pump is on the right main  inner chassis face, the plate above is the 2nd row floor plate, well forward of the rear axle & high enough to keep out of road rubbish 

[Jon W 33]

When reinstalling mine after my chassis rebuild, I sicked some fuel up the pipe to help it get going as know they have a habit of going into lockout mode if they detect no fuel, but with the instruction manual it was a case of pressing a few buttons to reset. 
My exhaust exits behind the body crossmember but my intake pipe is routed into my battery box to avoid taking in water from puddles and when wading. I could do with a silencer on my exhaust as it is noisy in the mornings

 

[Mo Murphy 717]

6 hours ago, Jon W said:

When reinstalling mine after my chassis rebuild, I sicked some fuel up 

 

Don't swallow, Jon ! 🤣

Mo

[Jon W 33]

Yer it wasn’t the best idea but is the easiest way of getting diesel through. Just make sure you have something nice to drink after. Diesel tastes disgusting!