Golden Jubilee
Posts: 5177
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm
Location: Lyman, IA
Espar/Webasto heaters
On a coolant heater the most common problem is the combustion blower motor. Sometimes I can get more life out of one, by peeling back the seal on the one bearing I can get to and adding a little light oil.
I have 3 units installed in trucks, and keep a back-up ready to go, so I can do a quick change out and repair at my leisure. I bought one for parts, but it turned out to be repairable, so I should have two on the shelf.
I am presently building a test-bench for both the coolant and air heater. I have already made a coolant reservoir out of a 40 cat litter tub, this allows me to run them long enough to check out all functions.
To build the test bench I need a timer (they also read the trouble codes, right now I have to pull a timer out of one of the trucks) and a bunch of plugs and wires to operate, some sort of structure to hold everything in place (right now I am holding in my hand, and they get "HOT), and some bracketry to hold the timer in place.
The wiring is simple enough, but very costly to buy from Espar. Some plugs and receptacles are proprietary, or at least seam to be, haven't found the MFG yet, but most are TE brand and are available from Mouser. A graduated flask to test fuel pump output and a small fuel tank.
Wire with the correct color and tracer can be had from Sherco-auto.com in small or large amounts.
If I get tired of trucking, may be I'll turn this in to a side business, for right now I am only doing my own.
Right now I am only doing Espar brands, but have a Webasto timer and code reader. Webasto isn't as popular here, and I don't have a mail-order parts connection like I do for Espar.