Frank
Established Member
Hi,
I am having a problem with my heater which is quite strange as it works on the maximum setting but NOT on any other of the settings. It does not also matter from which direction I set the heat to come from so it is NOT anything to do with the heater flaps, same problem, no matter what the flap settings are. Only mentioned this because this is one of the things MG thought might be the problem.
I took the car to the MG dealer at Falkirk and after a software update they stated the heater was working on all settings. After about 5 mins away from the garage it became obvious it was still not fixed and had EXCACTLY the same problem. In the HVAC settings as you know, there is 7 red bars, with obviously all bars showing you are at the maximum heat output.
Prior to the fault a comfortable amount of heat came out when 2/3 bars were showing, now you only have heat if all bars are showing. Please note there is NO heat at all (not even a smidgeon) until you have ALL the bars showing.
Anyway as you probably know the energy to power the resistive heater comes from the main battery pack (hence why your range can be affected by using the heater) so I thought I would try a little experiment. With the car in ready mode but parked, I put the centre display to show the electrical systems (can't remember exactly what the display is called but the important bit is that it shows the current consumption). I then put the heater on one bar at a time and blower on 3 bars (constant on 3 throughout the test) and monitored the current movement. Now I should stress this, AC not on, and parked in ready mode with no heater red bar showing there is no movement on the current consumption, that I noticed.
One bar showing, still no current consumption, and this continued right up to the 6th bar, still cold air coming out and no current consumption. As soon (and I mean instantly) as the 7th bar is showing the current consumption go's crazy and fluctuates between 0 and about 25 amps. It is difficult to read as it never stays still which seems strange as when you put anything on maximum I would expect it to draw x current and hover around whatever the maximum current would be, but my readings are erratic. The way it is reading the current on maximum in itself shows a problem, I think.
I tried the same test using the AC and that went up to a reading (only done it for a short while, just to prove a point in my head) to about 8 amps maximum and hovered between 7 and 8 proving what I thought, important thing to note no erratic readings.
Just so you know, on returning to the garage on the days they said they fixed it the service guy (don't know how high up he was in the service chain) tried to tell me there was not a fault and he started applying ICE heater logic to the problem which is nonsense. I stopped him in his tracks and asked him quite bluntly "do you know how this heater system worked", NO was the answer. So you see what I am dealing with.
Still waiting to take is back (Falkirk is 79 miles from me) but I am reluctant to take it back until they have some idea what the problem is. They refuse to acknowledge there is a problem and insist it needs "further investigation" by a trained MG technician to state their is indeed a fault. So I asked him to carry out the heater test on one of their EVs and let me know the outcome. Their reply was their results were different to mine but did NOT tell me what they were and I am waiting until the Chronovirus thingy has abated a bit before I take it in again.
I was hoping some of you guys would be kind enough to do this test on your cars and let me know what current consumption reading you got (average reading) on each of the bars. Thanks and I will use this information to help me solve my problem with my reluctant MG Dealer.
Regards
Frank
I am having a problem with my heater which is quite strange as it works on the maximum setting but NOT on any other of the settings. It does not also matter from which direction I set the heat to come from so it is NOT anything to do with the heater flaps, same problem, no matter what the flap settings are. Only mentioned this because this is one of the things MG thought might be the problem.
I took the car to the MG dealer at Falkirk and after a software update they stated the heater was working on all settings. After about 5 mins away from the garage it became obvious it was still not fixed and had EXCACTLY the same problem. In the HVAC settings as you know, there is 7 red bars, with obviously all bars showing you are at the maximum heat output.
Prior to the fault a comfortable amount of heat came out when 2/3 bars were showing, now you only have heat if all bars are showing. Please note there is NO heat at all (not even a smidgeon) until you have ALL the bars showing.
Anyway as you probably know the energy to power the resistive heater comes from the main battery pack (hence why your range can be affected by using the heater) so I thought I would try a little experiment. With the car in ready mode but parked, I put the centre display to show the electrical systems (can't remember exactly what the display is called but the important bit is that it shows the current consumption). I then put the heater on one bar at a time and blower on 3 bars (constant on 3 throughout the test) and monitored the current movement. Now I should stress this, AC not on, and parked in ready mode with no heater red bar showing there is no movement on the current consumption, that I noticed.
One bar showing, still no current consumption, and this continued right up to the 6th bar, still cold air coming out and no current consumption. As soon (and I mean instantly) as the 7th bar is showing the current consumption go's crazy and fluctuates between 0 and about 25 amps. It is difficult to read as it never stays still which seems strange as when you put anything on maximum I would expect it to draw x current and hover around whatever the maximum current would be, but my readings are erratic. The way it is reading the current on maximum in itself shows a problem, I think.
I tried the same test using the AC and that went up to a reading (only done it for a short while, just to prove a point in my head) to about 8 amps maximum and hovered between 7 and 8 proving what I thought, important thing to note no erratic readings.
Just so you know, on returning to the garage on the days they said they fixed it the service guy (don't know how high up he was in the service chain) tried to tell me there was not a fault and he started applying ICE heater logic to the problem which is nonsense. I stopped him in his tracks and asked him quite bluntly "do you know how this heater system worked", NO was the answer. So you see what I am dealing with.
Still waiting to take is back (Falkirk is 79 miles from me) but I am reluctant to take it back until they have some idea what the problem is. They refuse to acknowledge there is a problem and insist it needs "further investigation" by a trained MG technician to state their is indeed a fault. So I asked him to carry out the heater test on one of their EVs and let me know the outcome. Their reply was their results were different to mine but did NOT tell me what they were and I am waiting until the Chronovirus thingy has abated a bit before I take it in again.
I was hoping some of you guys would be kind enough to do this test on your cars and let me know what current consumption reading you got (average reading) on each of the bars. Thanks and I will use this information to help me solve my problem with my reluctant MG Dealer.
Regards
Frank
