Think I've Taken On More Than I Can Handle

[maximumbob]

Hi all,

As some of you may have noticed I am relatively new to this site and it is good to see an active toyota forum. However, you may also notice that I have posted quite a few topics requiring help from you specialist guys out there. I am beginning to think that the cheap GT4 that I found was cheap for a reason.

I now require some help with the heating in the car. I know that the air con does not work, I think it just needs topping up, hopefully it will not require much more than that. But, should the air con not working effect the heat given out by the normal fans?

Basically, I can have the fans set to level 3 or 4, with the heating cranked up top and I still don't get much heat out of the car. If I open the center fans and set the heating to face level I get a blast of what can be described as luke warm air.

Eventually it gets to a reasonable temperature in the car, but from experience, the heating in my old Toyota Carina II was unbearable on level 3, max heat after about 15 minutes.

The other week I drove from Southampton to Leeds with the fans on 3 and the heat on max and no matter what directional fan setting I used I still didn't need to turn the heat or fans down.

Is this caused by the air con? Have I got a faulty themometer somewhere? How do I track this down and what do you guys reckon this is?

Cheers

[91CelicaGTI]

I had this problem on mine. although I didn't have air con so I don't know if this is the same problem. If you pop the bonnet and look by the bulk head you should see a blue cable that connects on the top of something round in front of the passenger (very technical) , if you get some one to sit in your car and change the heat setting from hot to cold and back to hot, you should see the cable moving the top of what ever it is connected to. Make sure that it can move freely. I used a bit of wd40 on mine and it was fine after that.

[maximumbob]

I'll give that a go, hope it solves the problem. Thanks

[Kelvyn]

Failing that replace the engine thermostat.

[maximumbob]

I cleaned the connector and the temperature dial moves more freely now, but still no more heat.

Think I need to replace the thermometer.

Is this an easy job and where can I get the parts from. (i.e. does it have to be a toyota part?)

[Sirius]

I cleaned the connector and the temperature dial moves more freely now, but still no more heat.

Think I need to replace the thermometer.

Is this an easy job and where can I get the parts from. (i.e. does it have to be a toyota part?)

It is possible you have an air bubble somewhere in the system - try runnning the car for a while with the rad cap off - this might flush out any bubbles.

By thermometer do you mean thermostat?

If so I would go to Toyota for the part there is the thermostat itself and a gasket price for both is about £15 plus the VAT

You can probably get a blue print part cheaper but for £15 I think its worth having the proper bits.

Its a fairly easy job if you are handy with a spanner - you will also need some fresh coolant as you are likely to loose all of it when doing the work.

Hope this helps :)

[maximumbob]

yep, i did mean thermostat!

Thanks for the advice, will have a look into it.

[Panzerbjorn]

I hate to be the first to say it but no interior heat can mean a head gasket failure. Are you having to top up your water much? engine overheating? hope it aint!

Panzer