Wabasto

Pie-eyedpiper

Pie-eyedpiper

Member
United-Kingdom
It transpires that I do have a Wabasto.
I have no idea how it works, or what the controls for it are. I only have the standard AC controls in the centre console.
It is the glow plug warning light on the dash that alerted me, and when VCDS scanned it says the glow plug is faulty.

My question is can I remove it without problem? Would this alleviate the glow plug issue, or would it throw up other fault codes then?

And if I do remove it, does anyone want to buy it? (will move to Market Place if so)
 
Proghound

Proghound

Admin Team
United-Kingdom
The Webasto preheater is controlled from the car's ECU. When the outside temperature is 7°C or below, it should come on from a cold start to heat the engine coolant and by extension, the car's cabin, burning diesel using the glowplug. There are some circumstances of outside temperature, coolant temperature and actual vs. requested cabin temperature from the controls, where it will later turn off again, otherwise it's on the whole time the engine is running and it's 7°C or below. Later TDI's had a simpler auxiliary electrical element just that heated the cabin, leaving the engine to mostly heat itself, apart from a slight residual input from the element being mounted under the heater matrix.

If you were to remove your Webasto, you would need to cap off its fuel and coolant supply and return pipes. As now, you would have no way to help the engine heat up in cold conditions, short of turning off all cabin heat. The ECU would still be expecting the unit's control box to be connected so it would most likely record a comms fault with it being unavailable.

However, when I first got my 2002 Crystal TDI, its Webasto didn't work either, I believe also due to the glowplug. But I never had a warning light about it. The glowplug warning on the TDI is also often a notification of a failing brake light switch. Was there anything else on your VCDS scan?
 
audifan

audifan

A2OC Donor
Just leave the Webasto alone. Any warnings from that do not appear on the dash. Suggest you do some research into the functions on an A2.
 
Pie-eyedpiper

Pie-eyedpiper

Member
United-Kingdom
The 2 readings that came up were the "glow plug with flame monitoring" (implausible signal, what ever that means), and "alarm triggered by sensor" but the door was open at the time.

I appreciate we haven't had an overly cold couple of weeks since I bought the car, but she strikes up first turn of the key, and I have a rather small battery too. So nothing will be aiding the engine glow plugs.
The glow plug warning light isn't on straight away, just after a few seconds when the throttle is pressed.
I thought there might be some mention of supplementary heating in the car handbook, but there's nothing mentioned. Maybe because it's automatic.

Al.
IMG_20230305_140101139.jpg
 
Pie-eyedpiper

Pie-eyedpiper

Member
United-Kingdom
audifan said:
Just leave the Webasto alone. Any warnings from that do not appear on the dash. Suggest you do some research into the functions on an A2.
Click to expand...
So the fact that I have a Wabasto glow plug issue and the glow plug warning light on the dash aren't connected?
I have looked in the handbook, nothing. Online tells about repairs, not it's operation or what happens if you remove it. Unless you know differently.
 
audifan

audifan

A2OC Donor
Yes like we said before that glow plug warning in VCDS ( under the AUX HEATER section ) is for the Webasto. It is confirming that at best it will work intermittently. So ignore or repair later. Now if the glow plug warning lamp is coming on the dash after the engine has started then you need to carefully check all 3 rear brake lights are working and also the brake switch on the pedal.
 
Pie-eyedpiper

Pie-eyedpiper

Member
United-Kingdom
Ah ok, I would rather it was the brake pedal switch, I've read that they are unreliable. Will give the brake light sa check though, I have a feeling the high level one might be playing up.
Thanks
 
timmus

timmus

A2OC Donor
Pie-eyedpiper said:
So the fact that I have a Wabasto glow plug issue and the glow plug warning light on the dash aren't connected?
Click to expand...
Correct, they are unrelated. The Webasto’s glow plug is faulty, but that has no impact upon the engine’s glow plugs. There is no fault with the Webasto that can cause a warning light to illuminate in the instrument cluster.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Pie-eyedpiper

Pie-eyedpiper

Member
United-Kingdom
timmus said:
Correct, they are unrelated. The Webasto’s glow plug is faulty, but that has no impact upon the engine’s glow plugs. There is no fault with the Webasto that can cause a warning light to illuminate in the instrument cluster.

Cheers,

Tom
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Tom.
Seems to be starting fine without any assistance, although it does take a while for the engine temp to get up to 90.
 
timmus

timmus

A2OC Donor
Pie-eyedpiper said:
Thanks for that Tom.
Seems to be starting fine without any assistance, although it does take a while for the engine temp to get up to 90.
Click to expand...
The Webasto won’t help with the starting of the engine, even when working perfectly, but it will massively reduce warm-up times when the ambient temperature is low.

Cheers,

Tom
 
timmus

timmus

A2OC Donor
simufly said:
Was the Webasto a standard TDi fit or an extra from Audi?
Click to expand...
It was standard on the TDI until it was superseded by the electric cabin heater. It wasn’t an optional extra such as cruise control, for instance. All TDIs until mid-2002-ish have one.

Cheers,

Tom
 
George Hogg

George Hogg

A2OC Donor
Don’t take out the webasto, they are wonderful things on a cold day. Hugely cut warm up time and a very valuable addition to the A2. I wish all of mine had them.
 
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