Technical Heater plugs warning light.

[English Frank]

Well here I am again. This time I'm getting a warning light to check the heater plugs. Well I've no clue how to do that or how to fix the problem. I have always had pre electronic cars up to now.
If someone could point me the right way curing the problem I would be very grateful.
PS. I should mention that it is a diesel Qubo 1.3 which is converted to carry a wheelchair up front.

 

[bugsymike]

Well here I am again. This time I'm getting a warning light to check the heater plugs. Well I've no clue how to do that or how to fix the problem. I have always had pre electronic cars up to now.
If someone could point me the right way curing the problem I would be very grateful.
PS. I should mention that it is a diesel Qubo 1.3 which is converted to carry a wheelchair up front.

Don't know if it helps , but on a 2010 Fiat Panda 1.3 Multijet the heater plug control unit is roughly forward of the battery and lower down , a square box with wiring plug. There should be a fuse, check your handbook and also a small relay that powers up that circuit in the engine compartment fuse box I think.
However, I would first test to see what power I am getting to the heater plugs themselves and if they are in good working order.
On a 2010 Fiat Doblo 1.6 Multijet a few months ago I had a glowplug warning scroll across the instrument panel. On testing I found two duff heater plugs so replaced the set, deleted any error codes and no further warnings. Before and after the warning it always started no problem.

 

[English Frank]

Thanks Bugsymike! Hopefully the Qubo is built the same way. So now I'll give it a go and let you know what happens.

 

[English Frank]

Fraid this one's different. Is it hard to check the heater plugs? I'm told they can be troublesome to extract.

 

[bugsymike]

Fraid this one's different. Is it hard to check the heater plugs? I'm told they can be troublesome to extract.

Some come out easy if you have the right size deep socket, but some seize in the cylinder head, so if they don't come out easy do not force as can snap costing loads to fix
Depending how mechanically minded you are and what testers you have .
If heater plugs are still in the engine , pull the plug terminal off and using a Mulimeter set to Ohms one wire of tester to earth on engine the other to the heater plug terminal , you should get a continuity reading, if not reading heater plug is probably duff.
Test the supply between plug and engine using a voltmeter setting on DC volts on your multimeter you should get a reading up to around 12 volts depending on the type of heater plug recommended for your vehicle (some are rated at 11volts , some at 4.4volts etc) it may only show this reading when engine cold and for a few seconds when key first turned on, not to start position, just ignition lights.
If heater plugs come out easy and on inspection have 11volts written on them , if careful you can test using a set of jump leads connected to a car battery.
Note only lightly touch to terminal and only for a few seconds, it should glow bright red quickly, then remove connection to battery.
As I have a Professional Amps and Volts Wilkson Test Set from years ago I can test the for amps as well as that meter reads up to 30 Amps , normally a heater plug will draw 8-10 amps, which will probably destroy a cheap multimeter

 

[English Frank]

Wow that's really informative! I'll give it a go tomorrow, assuming it stops raining long enough.
Thanks for your assistance Bugsymike.