romyshadow1

Seat Exeo Diesel rough running on cold start

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I've got a 2011 Seat Exeo, diesel engine, with about 140000 km on the clock. Lately, it's been running really rough when I first start it up in the morning, especially when it's cold outside. I'm also seeing a noticeable increase in fuel consumption. Plugged in my OBD scanner and it's throwing an error related to the PTC heater. From what I've read, it's the electric auxiliary heater that helps warm up the engine faster. Could a faulty heating element really cause such poor running, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

4 comment(s)

Sounds like a faulty PTC heater to me. I had a similar issue with my Seat Exeo, although I have a different engine. Cold air blowing when the engine was cold, plus the engine was running rough. Did you check the voltage going to the heating element? That might give you a clue. Also, were there any other error codes besides the one pointing to the heater?

Thanks for the quick reply! No, I haven't checked the voltage yet, honestly not sure how to do that safely. The error code was pretty specific about the auxiliary heater though. You said you had a similar problem... did replacing the heater fix it completely for you? Was it a pain to replace?

Yep, replacing the PTC heater sorted it out completely. Honestly, I didn't do the replacement myself – I'm not that confident messing with the electrics. I had a garage do it. Best to get it checked out properly, especially if you're not comfortable with electrical testing. Could be dangerous otherwise!

Took your advice and went to the workshop. They confirmed it was the PTC heater. New one installed, cost me about 350€ all in. Engine's running much smoother now, especially on cold mornings. Thanks a bunch for your help!

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