James Cook Forum

Eberspächer D2L failed – repair blower or replace the whole heater?

Hi everyone,

I have the original Eberspächer D2L diesel heater in my JC.
Unfortunately, the blower/ventilator failed: When switching the heater on, the ventilator started making a cracking/mechanical noise, then sounded like it was accelerating strangely, got progressively worse and eventually stopped completely. Now even the ventilation-only mode doesn't start the fan.
I'm therefore assuming the blower/ventilator assembly or motor needs to be replaced.

This brings me to the bigger question:
Would you repair the original D2L, or replace the complete heater with a modern 2 kW diesel heater?
If repair, can you recommend a place to get parts for the D2L?
If replacing the complete heater, I'd like to know:
* Which modern heater did you install?
* How difficult was the installation in the original James Cook location?
* Could you reuse the original 90 mm air ducting?
* Could the original Eberspächer diesel dosing pump be reused, or did you replace it?
* Could the original electrical wiring be reused, or did you replace the wiring/control system?
* Did you keep the original D2L housing/mounting location?
* How much modification was necessary?
* Are there any particular diesel heaters that fit the James Cook especially well?
If anyone has replaced a D2L in a T1 James Cook, photos and details of how you adapted the air connections/mounting would be extremely helpful.

Also, if someone has successfully replaced only the D2L blower motor/ventilator, I'd be interested to know the part number and whether you think it was worth repairing the old heater rather than replacing it.

Thanks!