Ducato heater coil light

[gmcclin]

Hi, I hope you can give me some advice regarding a problem which has just occurred on my Ducato based motorhome. The heater coil light has always come on and as normal went out when ready to start. I have attempted to start the van this morning and heater coil light did not come on and it took numerous attempts to actually fire the engine up. Any ideas please.

[StuartO]

gmcclin - 2016-05-02 6:59 PMHi, I hope you can give me some advice regarding a problem which has just occurred on my Ducato based motorhome. The heater coil light has always come on and as normal went out when ready to start. I have attempted to start the van this morning and heater coil light did not come on and it took numerous attempts to actually fire the engine up. Any ideas please.

It sounds like the glow plugs (heater coils) didn't come on, so there was no pre-heating, hence the difficult start - was it a cold morning?

It is unlikely to be the glow plugs themselves and more likely to be an electrical failure somewhere along the sensor/switch pathway - maybe just a simple thing like a poor connection.  But it might well require some testing and grovelling around to diagnose the fault and so unless you feel able to get under the bonnet and get stuck in yourself, take it to a garage and get them to do it!

 

[gmcclin]

Stuart... Many thanks for your advice. I will have a check for bad connections as suggested. Thanks again.

[euroserv]

Hello,

 

I am not sure of the age of your vehicle but there are likely areas to look for a fault depending on the vintage.

 

If it is a pre 2002 face-lift, the most common place is a connector under the radiator. It sits on the cross member where rust is an issue and can be affected by corrosion too.

 

If it is a post 2002 face-lift, there is a fuse box on top of the battery where there is a fuse for the glow plugs if my memory serves me correctly. Quite awkward to get to as it is towards the rear.