Fuel Burning Heater

Discovery 3 TDV6 may be fitted with a Webasto Thermo Top V fuel burning heater, and is used in the Discovery 3 to provide auxiliary heating of the engine coolant during cold weather. This is largely to aid emissions and to speed up cabin warm up.

Fitment

It is not fitted to all TDV6s. Notably, those in warm climates are not equipped.

Park Heater Functionality

Very early Discovery 3's had park heater settings in the Settings Menu but this was removed as part of the Enhancement Programme in 2005.

Site member stapldm has created instructions for fitting a park heater timer, which effectively retrofits the park heater functionality.

A further modification involving a GSM module (with SIM card) allows remote operation by means of either a phone call or SMS text message.

Cold Climate Timer

Land Rover did release an option for a pre-heat/cabin warmer timer (Webasto based) to be fitted in cold climates.

Speak to your dealer for information.

Smoke from the front of the vehicle?

Outside air temp below 6 degrees C? Engine temp less than 75 degrees C? Low fuel warning light NOT on?

Then don't worry, its the Webasto Fuel Burning heater starting up.

The function of the heater is to assist the very efficient TDV6 to warm up on cold starts, by burning diesel fuel to directly heat the coolant in the engine. One problem with modern diesels is that they are so efficient that they don't produce enough heat to warm the coolant enough to ensure efficient running.

When it starts (after about 1 minute from initial engine start) it will emit some smoke and steam from the front of the front left wheelarch. As the FBH reaches max power, it will burn cleanly with no smoke. You should not see smoke for more than a minute or so. You should see the smoke emitting from a small exhaust is the front of the wheelarch.

You cannot control the operation of the FBH (unless you have modified it), it is fully automatic.