Factory auxiliary coolant heater (electric)

[farndalebarry]

Factory auxiliary coolant heater (electric) - Specifically NOT the various cabin supplementary or parking heaters. I've searched the forums for this and there are many posts about supplementary heaters, mainly around the various forms of cabin/parking/campervan heaters, usually diesel-fired. I'm asking about the electric coolant heater fitted to the engine block which is simply intended to provide faster engine warm-up, and I haven't found any posts yet about this. Mine was specified as a factory option in 2017, as Auxiliary heater (coolant) SM5 . See attached. It was a relatively low cost at £280 compared to £thousands for the higher-end supplementary heaters. My factory heater has worked well for 5 to 6 years but I've realised recently that it has failed. There is NOT a switch, but there might be a temperature sensor and/or a relay with or without a timer or a control module.

Can anyone advise please where this heater is located in the block, and/or where the fuse is located? And if there is a temperature sensor and/or a relay or control module? Otherwise, it looks like I'll have the joy of a main dealer. Either way, once I've done the diagnosis, if it isn't a blown fuse, I suspect the heater element or other items will be VW main dealer parts.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Your auxiliary coolant heater is a diesel powered heater, not electric. It's mounted under the van around the passenger seat area. It automatically kicks in when the ambient temperature falls below 5C. If you look on the drivers door pillar, there will be a sticker with something like "webasto 5KW heater fitted"

PS the search function is your friend.....

Webasto Thermo & Comfort

Hello My Van has a sticker which says 'Webasto Thermo & Comfort' on the door pillar. I understand that this is something to do with pre-heating or rapidly heating the engine cooling circuit in cold weather. But can anyone explain (in simple terms) what / why VW installed this? I don't want to...

www.t6forum.com

 

[oldiebut goodie]

If you have an electric block heater it will be mains powered so you will have been plugging the van in every night then?

 

[Salty Spuds]

If you have an electric block heater it will be mains powered so you will have been plugging the van in every night then?

nah! "9M5" is the webasto aux coolant heater. I have the same one.

 

[farndalebarry]

Thanks to all of you for all your replies. Much appreciated. I was wrong and you are all correct.
I had a crawl around underneath yesterday and found the described diesel heater and its coolant hoses (although there's no door pillar sticker on either side). The little exhaust was the first obvious clue once I understood what I was not looking for instead of an electric block heater. Every day is a learning day and it shows I should not have believed that salesman back in 2017. Never mind, onwards now with some diagnostics (after I've read all the other posts about the Webasto heater).

 

[n10n]

It is perfectly possible to have both though, very common in Nordics.

I’m not sure if the electric one would ever have been a factory option but fitted by dealer before delivery, sure. Defa and Calix are two manufacturers I’m aware of. If you had this it would be mains powered like @oldiebut goodie mentioned and there would be a small EHU socket for it, typically in front grille or bumper.

Edit: And even the electric ones have two variations: water heater that heats the block and radiation heater that heats the oil sump