Heater Problems

[dans]

Hi,

Been trying to figure out whats wrong with my heater. I get some warm air coming through it, but not a huge amount. It diverts correctly from the dial. When you increase the fan speed it seems to make a lot more noise but with very little effect.

I have read about the nipple on the plenum, and as far as I can see everythingis attached back there. Would appreciate it is someone can comment on whether I'm looking at the right nipples, as indicated in the photos below:




If anyone else has any more suggestions would be much appreciated.

At the moment, it requires a lot of driving around with windows open to clear the car!!!!

Cheers,
Dan

[Avonvilla]

So your saying you get warmish air instead of hot ? but the fan works fine ?
What about if you leave the car on the drive till the fan cuts in, is it still only warm ?

[John_W]

Some suggestions:
a) check your heater valve is opening fully, hasn't rusted away, and the hoses to it haven't collapsed (behind the engine).
b) check the air intake isn't stuffed full of leaves and dead ferrets (behind one of the wheel arch liners - I forget which - get in there and do a James Herriot impression).
c) do the usual checks that the wires and pipes between the heater controls and the heater haven't fallen off or broken.
d) check the foam seals around the interior ducting haven't perished, such that the warm air which comes escapes out of leaks behind the dash instead of being dirested where you want it (I'd leave this until last as it's the worst job).

I'm not clear from your post if the problem is that the airflow doesn't increase when you use a higher fan speed, or if the temperature doesn't increase. Obviously some of the above will be applicable to an airflow problem and some to a water flow problem.

John

[dans]

Sorry, try to explain myself better!!!!

The air does get warm enough, its just that there isn't the volume of air coming out the vents. The noise increases when you increase the fan speed but there is only a small increase in the volume of air coming out

Thanks for the suggestions John, I'll have a dig around and see what I can see!

Cheers,
Dan

[dans]

Still haven't been able to have a proper dig around yet but I can say that there is definetly what seems like a reasonable amount of hot air out of the footwells, when they are selected, but this does not come out of the face vents or screen vents when they are selected, just a slight breeze really.

So my best guess is that there is a problem with the switching of the vacum controlled flaps , although I can't quite see how the logic works on the face/screen combo yet.

Will still check the heater valve and the wheel arch. Can anyone give a quick comment how easy the wheel arch is to remove?

Thanks again!

[Monty]

In the 2nd pic looks like the pipe is off, there should be 2 nipples (bit strange if u haven`t ) and one should be blocked off, although i use this one for my dump valve.

with engine running can u here the hissssss noise as u change the direction of the vents?

[dans]

Cheers monty.

There is one connected and one blocked off. Not clear in the photo i know!! Definelty two nipples in location!!!

I do get the hiss when changing direction of the vents. From reading elsewhere I understand that is a good thing??

Cheers,
Dan

[dans]

2 yrs later and I've finally pulled my finger out and fixed the heater!! But not sure if its the ideal way to do it!

I took the wheel arch out and looked at the intake section there. Some very crappy foam, either joining to sections, or filtering, not sure which. Either way, as soon as i touched it, it all disintegrated and fell out. But now I get full air flow from the vents on hot or cold! I can finally demist my car without using a towel!!!!

Now I need to to decide should I replace this foam? Is it meant to be filtering and stopping crap going into the heater? Or is it just meant to join the air intake in the wing and the fan housing under the dash?

Off to try and find the replacement part now. Anyone know anything about it?

Cheers,
Dan

[lotuska]

Nothing more than a way to connect the 2 bits together, well designed to live just under the drain hole for your windscreen so when it fails water enters the heater system and you'll never be able to demist your car.

New one looks like:

[dans]

I might not bother then!!!

Seems to work perfectly well without it!!!

[GeoffSmith]

New one looks like:

Next to some interesting bits of hardware on the left!

[tb10]

Sorry, try to explain myself better!!!!

The air does get warm enough, its just that there isn't the volume of air coming out the vents. The noise increases when you increase the fan speed but there is only a small increase in the volume of air coming out

Thanks for the suggestions John, I'll have a dig around and see what I can see!

Cheers,
Dan

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I'm having the same problems with lack of air coming out of the vents (I had to think if I was typing something dodgy then!! )

IIRC when I changed the settings on the dashboard heater control there was a quiet 'thunking' noise which changed the airflow to the various settings (feet / screen / face / etc) but now I don't get that. Do I need a new heather control unit?

Regards


John

[Rice crispy]

sounds like the vacum isnt working, check the vacum hose is still connected under the bonnet (back of the plenum as sugested above, the rubber bend on mine had perished and was leaking. You may hear it hissing under the bonnet with car running.

David

[tb10]

sounds like the vacum isnt working, check the vacum hose is still connected under the bonnet (back of the plenum as sugested above, the rubber bend on mine had perished and was leaking. You may hear it hissing under the bonnet with car running.

David

Cool! Thanks David I'll have a look tomorrow when I get home and report back.

KInd Regards

John

[epipete]

Does anyone know the dimensions/specification of the vacuum pipes? Similarly the specification, if any, of the foam that covers the flaps in the heater unit?

I've had to recore my heater matrix so while the dash is out I thought I might replace some old bits and pieces

Pete

[dapinky]

Does anyone know the dimensions/specification of the vacuum pipes?

I can't tell you the lengths of each pipe, but i bought a length of this stuff and replaced all of the pipes i could find (heater, turbo valves, sender, etc etc) I also bought some 4mm stuff for the wastegate actuator and some 5mm for some of the breather hoses - don't need much of them though.

I think i got about 5meters but i can't really remember as it was a long time ago

[epipete]

Dave, Great!

That's exactly what I had been looking at, will get some on order.

Pete