Alhamra smoke

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Thu 18 Dec 2003 23:40
Alhamra smoke - revjem
My 2001 Alhambra Td SE gives off huge clouds of paraffin-smelling smoke from under its nearside. I am told that this is a special heating device and "they all do it". But surely not after several minutes of running, and not so much it fills the car if a door is opened? I don't see other Alhambras billowing smoke like mine does!

Any ideas on what I say to the SEAT agent? He has given good service so far, but I suspect something isn't working right.
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Fri 19 Dec 2003 22:30
Alhamra smoke - Ivor E Tower
Yes there is an auxiliary heater on Alhambra/Sharan/Galaxy TDI models. Smoke should only occur for a few seconds when the heater starts up - see www.fordgalaxy.org.uk then the technical section...and the heater will run until coolant temp reaches 90 deg C (or you switch the engine off). Criteria for it to start running are varied and subject to tolerance - usually coolant has to be cold and ambient temp under anout 6 deg centigrade. If car has been parked in a garage or under cover, this "confuses" the sensors so that the heater may not start up until you have driven for several minutes.
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Fri 19 Dec 2003 22:51
Alhamra smoke - bertj
Out of interest do any other VAG diesels (i.e. VW, Audi, Skoda) have this form of heater? How does it work?
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Fri 19 Dec 2003 23:55
Alhamra smoke - JohnM{P}
The courtesy Touran I picked up a frosty fortnight ago had one - clouds of smoke for a few seconds whilst stationary at traffic lights had me worried! Garage confirmed that this is a feature of the Sharan aux. heaters. (The TDi engines are so efficient, they take 5 miles at least to get to normal water temp. so aux.heaters needed; oil takes a few mile longer still).
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Sat 20 Dec 2003 11:24
Alhamra smoke - revjem
Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm not helping by using the car for stop-start journeys when it has no chance to warm up.

But ... it did it the other day after a 100 mile run. I also noticed that the same journey showed a fuel consumption of nearly 50 mpg last year (in the summer) and hardly broke 40 mpg this time, a couple of weeks ago. Is my auxiliary heater control not switching off or is it more likely to be something else? I have just had it serviced (50k miles), so it should be OK.

Many thanks for any comments.
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Sat 20 Dec 2003 19:44
Alhamra smoke - DL
Pull the fuse out of the thing to disable it!

Fuel guzzling waste of space!!
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn/problems.msnw?Page=1 - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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Sat 20 Dec 2003 23:30
Alhamra smoke - JohnM{P}
Fuel consumption is dependant on many variables... my Passat 110 seemed to have a lesser spread of mfg figures than my current Golf 110, which seems to be be affected more by wet weather and increased average speeds (areodynamics?)than the Passat. I, poor anorak, am trying to monitor the computer ave mpg over the same 33 mile ish section of road (30 miles on cruise control on motorway at 70 mph) in the Golf, currently varying between 56 and 62 mpg at what I would have imagined were 'identical' speeds.
The computer ave mpg is pretty accurate compared to the brim-to-brim litres/mileometer mpg figures...

As it has been said many times before on this site, you must check over many tankfuls to make a comparison...

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