2006 Sport. Bare with me......Standing in front of the car.....Opening the bonnet....Inside the engine compartment, top right hand side by the coolant container there is what I presume is a 'preheat' piece of gizmo which springs into life belching a lot of exhaust fumes when I start the engine in very cold weather. The problem I am experiencing is the it comes on sometimes when the car is at full working temperature and the outside conditions are above 6 degrees?!? I have to cure the problem, or disable the mechanism in three days time I am embarking of a 1000 mile drive. Also I would like to know exactly what this piece of gizmo does. Thanks in advance for any advice!!!!! Andrew Kennedy

never known them to work when they don;t have to.
But yes they tend to run till the end of the journey

They have 2 heating settings.

When used the exhaust will clean up.

Should you wish to turn it off, unplug the large connector, but without it the engine will probably be too cold

On my TDV8 the fuel burning heater runs when the ambient temperature is cold - not sure how cold but some people have said about 5C - but it is used to help bring the engine coolant up to temperature quickly thus reducing wear on the engine and also reducing harmful emissions from the exhaust. I have fitted a remote control to mine so that I can pre-warm the coolant before I start the car. If I just leave it running without starting the engine then it runs for about half an hour (stinks of burnt diesel) then shuts down.

I've read on here that if it is only used infrequently then the first time it starts after a break, it does produce a lot of white smoke from unburnt fuel in the exhaust. It should not do this every time - only if it hasn't been use much - as Andy K said. So if it kicks in in the next few days it shouldn't smoke again.

Note it only warms up the coolant in the engine. It does not warm up the interior of the car. However, because it had warmed up the engine coolant, the interior heater should be that much more effective sooner.

Somewhere I read that I think it was fuse 28 in the engine compartment fuse box supplied the fuel burning heater but do check that. Might be an alternative to disconnecting the lead - AndyK is that an option? Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5

Yeah. Fuse is another option. That is under 2 covers though.

I have remote heater start too