E83 2.0d X3 battery draining - fuel heater

davelo

Member
I took my 2009 E83 2.0d to an independent servicing guy here in PE a few weeks ago as I had picked up a "Throttle actuator" fault 483D which I couldn't get to the bottom of. It turns out one of the flaps in the inlet manifold was broken, so I ended up having to order a new manifold from the agents. 2 week delivery time from Germany. He also replaced the diesel filter and did a brake fluid flush.

I collected the car on Friday and all seemed fine. Slightly more noticeable boost around 2500 rpm and the faults had all cleared. Next morning the car was stone dead. The battery was so flat it wouldn't even unlock. I had the battery tested and apart from being completely flat, it was OK.

After having the battery charged I refitted it and started doing some troubleshooting. I picked up within a few minutes that the diesel filter was almost too hot to touch. Clearly the fuel heater was activating for some reason, and not switching off. I unplugged the connector to the heater and all now seems fine.

Digging around on some foreign forums revealed that there was a recall on certain 2009 models regarding the fuel heater not switching off (battery drain, and possible fire hazard). Did I miss this, or was the recall not done in SA? Did replacing the filter perhaps have something to do with causing the problem? Does the heater need to be replaced? Am I correct in saying it only activates below -1 deg C?
 

davelo

Member
OK, an update on this. I spoke to the agents, and apparently there was a recall locally for the fuel heater, for exactly this issue. The fuel heater on my vehicle was actually replaced under this recall in 2011. Interesting that the same issue seems to have surfaced with the replacement part. This then just serves as a heads-up. If you have a battery drain issue on these vehicles, just check that the problem isn't the fuel heater activating and not switching off. It's located under the vehicle, at the diesel filter.
 
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