XSeries-forum

Hey Rob,


Unfortunately I cannot help with the error code but I did encounter a similar problem once when the fan did not come on using the Telestart remote . I fitted and coded a Telestart T90 to my X5 and the system has worked perfectly except for this one time. Like your car the temp needle reached the 1/3 mark but the cabin was cold hence the interior fan did not come on, had me baffled for a few minutes until I switched the ignition on and realised I had switched off the interior fan before I switched the car off the night before.

Were the fan speed and temp is set to before the ignition is switched off determines how much air and temp gets blown into cabin. Since then I always leave the fan speed at the half mark before switching the ignition off.

This may have nothing to do with your problem , just putting out my experience .

HTH and welcome to the forum

Are you thinking hedgehog? Fans all work as they should on all powers... Hot, cold the climate panel seems ok tbh.....

Hi X Man,

Many thanks for you reply.... I also thought this could be a possible cause... I have tried with the fans on half way or even at max before the ignition is switched off.... But still no change to the situation......
I'm getting to the stage now where I'm thinking that this 'short to ground' error code is something to do with the webasto control card? Maybe it's not telling the havac unit to turn on...... Thinking about trying another unit on it
(I have a friend at a breakers yard who would let me borrow one to try)

What do you think guys?

Thanks again, your help & guidance is greatly appreciated!

The IHKA39_5 in your pic does seem to suggest the problem could be related to the climate control (havac) side of things. Maybe worth pulling out the climate control unit and checking if all the connections are seated properly .

It may be that the circuit board on the climate control unit has failed, so if you can try before you buy that is always good.

Just throwing out some ideas for you, hope you get it sorted .

Right got my new laptop over Xmas and my software loaded to it ! Sf brought this error code up ???

i think your glowplug is busted..

robs530d, yours is a strange one! never experienced this, but if your fan works well under normal conditions it obviously cannot be a fault with the fan/blower motor or any of the vent flaps. webo sends a k-bus command to IHKA to control the fan, so it could very well be a fault with the webo pcb as well.

did you state before that you have access to an alternate pcb from a breaker-friend? if so i'd suggest you try replacing the pcb in the first instance. that will either fix it or at a minimum allow you to rule out the pcb.

Xman & Jaynana, huge thanks for taking the time to reply, it's greatly appreciated!

Think this is a route to go down from now on.... As I can try before I buy I'm going to start a process of elimination and try to knuckle down on this error & what it actually means.... Hoping to try another havac unit & also another heater unit to see if the problem is related to either components... I'm pretty sure it's the heater end as no Kbus signal is going back to the car... No life in the cabin at all!

I'll hopefully post back with my findings around the middle of the week when I've had time to have a play, I'll post up here my findings to help build this comprehensive thread up justincase this happens to anyone else!

Thanks again guys!

my screenshot was very similar - page 32, post 473

i have mentioned this before buried deep down in one of the many aux heating threads, but feel the need to bring it up again!

i had the glow plug fault code come up on mine when i was trying to upgrade to parked car heating a couple of years ago.
in my experience, the circuit board on the webasto unit on later model e53's is not compatible with parked car heating. i sourced i second hand webasto from an e39 - i only changed over the circuit board ( i could see some of the components were different). i cleared out all the error codes from the car with a scanner. and since then it has worked  perfectly from the obc when programmed (apart from a spell when the aux water pump packed up!).
the fact that i had a glow plug fault code but it then worked fine with the different circuit board (to me) goes to show that this is a generic fault code for the webasto when something is not quite right. and i worry many of you may be on a wild goose chase with this.
i got my complete e39 webasto unit from fleabay for £35. for that sort of money i think it might be an avenue worth going down on your quest to get aux heating. and if it doesnt work - well you will have some spares anyway, including a glow plug!

best of luck..

The problem with programming the OBC on my one was the fact the changeover valve was missing for Parked Car Heating. Option SA536.  BmW documentation tells you this will happen if you try it.

I coded mine by adding the option for parking heater SA536.  I then had to undo the coding.

There may be a way to enable the timer without "retrofitting" the factory option, which would stop the car looking for the missing components. 

With regard to glow plug fault, My glow plug fault was definitely the circuit board.  I replaced the glow plug with a brand new one - fault remained.  I then replaced the circuit board with one from an X5 unit with EXACTLY the same part number - hey presto - heater worked as BMW intended.

So.... A quick update on where I am with my head scratching problem......

Tried another Webo heater today on the car which worked the exactally the same as mine does, starts & runs when 12v is connected to Pin 1 but no kbus signal is sent to the inside to activate the interior fans......
Not sure if I should try a HVAC unit next......
I am right in saying the kbus signal goes direct from the heater to the HVAC unit arent I..... It doesnt go through a relay or anything does it??

Firstly - You say "thermotop c".  If this is the case, your fans will NEVER work as you have the standard thermotop unit.  It does not have the software to talk to the car. (Maybe someone replaced a broken original with a cheaper more sourceable standard unit - which will still heat the water - ok a big maybe, but you never know).

If it is the C/Z identified by an additional label with the Z marking and vehicle manufacturer information, it is one with a control card for the automotive market, and it will be manufacturer specific - ie, mercedes will not talk BMW language so will be no use.

You may need to change the cars ZCS to include factory option SA536 PARKING HEATER - however, it has worked for some - but did not work for me - it stopped my heater firing as it was looking for a changeover valve that didn't exist.  So coding "might" work, but may also need additional components - like the control panel for the a/c as mentioned.

Does the little red fan on the right hand side of your nav unit flash when you put 12v into pin 1?
You do realise the fans don't come on until the water reaches a 25 degrees, and when they do come on it is at a default setting of screen and floor, at approximately fan speed 2.  You don't set it yourself. 
Also, the climate control module doesn't illuminate. 

Straight from the service document - and how I have found mine to operate since fixing it. (Albeit for the X5)

Webasto Thermo Top Z/C Heater Guide BMW Service
BMW Group UK – Technical Department 10 November 2007
Function of the Thermo Top Z/C heater
− Heating of the coolant via the heat exchanger takes
place, heat is transferred from the engine coolant
system to the heat exchanger
− The IHKA system switches the vehicle blowers on at a
default setting of screen and floor at approximately fan
speed 2 once the coolant temperature is 25 degrees C
− The IHKA system is counting down from 30 minutes
and will then switch the Webasto heater off
− When the temperature rises to reach 72° C the heater
switches to the energy saving part load operation
− A rise in temperature up to 76.5° C causes the heater to
enter a control idle period. This also happens when
exceeding a total heating operating time of 76 minutes
(vehicle / heater in normal supplementary operation)
− The circulation pump, the vehicle's own heating air fan,
and the operation indicator light remain on during the
control idle period (Red indicator next to MID or OBM)

Hi X5 ALN,

Thanks for that interesting info....

The Webasto unit I have is the common one we all share, the unit's sticker states its a Webasto z/c top.

My problem to be exact is related to the fans, the red fan illumination symbol does not light up nor do the fans start at any point. You can watch the heater run up on Inpa, the temperature climbs as it should, it goes into stabilization when it reaches 76.5 etc.... The heater to be honest behaves entirely as it should.... Heating up the coolant in the engine.
It's just the interior fans nor the red flashing symbol never work....

Any ideas.....? 

[quote="X5 ALN"]


You may need to change the cars ZCS to include factory option SA536 PARKING HEATER - however, it has worked for some - but did not work for me - it stopped my heater firing as it was looking for a changeover valve that didn't exist.  So coding "might" work, but may also need additional components - like the control panel for the a/c as mentioned.

Could it be a coding issue maybe..... Is it possible to do this with NCS Expert? I have NCS & I'm fairly familiar with activating/not activating items.... but never added anything to the vehicles ZCS....? how do you do this?