Heater not giving heat.

[Terry Hadigate]

Hi all, I changed the coolant pump, belt tensioner baring, new belt and alternator last week and cant get any heat from my heater. I have bled the system with the heater switch on hot and flushed the heater matrix both ways with the garden hose. When the engine is at running temperature all pipes are hot with the exception of the heater return to the engine. Is there an electric valve somewhere in the system I'm missing. Any helpful tips welcome.

Regards Terry H

[Terry Hadigate]

No one have any suggestions that are printable.

Regards Terry H

[Stivino]

I know you say that you've bled the heater but, it sounds like it has air in it.

[Terry Hadigate]

Hi Stephen, I've had both pipes off the heater and put the garden hose on one side at a time, so flow has been both ways, and it flows with no restriction in both directions. I'm thinking of disconnecting the heater and connecting the pipes together so I have flow through the engine. Then filling the disconnected heater matrix with cheap coca cola or use something like Sterident to clean the inside of the matrix and see if that works.

Regards Terry H

[Stivino]

Don't put anything into your coolant that isn't supposed to be there.

The water flows throught the heater all the time, there is no electric valve or even a manual valve.

If you have hot water at the inlet to the heater but not at the outlet, the water isn't being pumped through the heater.

So, either it is blocked but, it isn't because you've flushed it.

Or, it has air in it that needs to be bled out.

Or, your water pump isn't pumping (unlikely)

Where is the heater matrix, level wise in relation to the filler inlet/radiator bottle?

 

[Terry Hadigate]

I had the filler/reservoir bottle up above the engine with the hoses attached so the level in the filler/reservoir bottle was above the engine and heater matrix with the engine running until it was running at normal temperature. I then let it cool and topped up the levels and ran again at normal temperature. Then repeated until no topping up was not required. I then replaced everything. Just to clarify, I was NOT going to mix Cola or any other liquid with the coolant. If you read my above post it say matrix disconnected. It would be thoroughly flushed before it was attached to the system again.  

Regards Terry H  

[CAPTAIN SOLO]

OEM bleeding instructions does say leave heater in OFF before bleeding. If you bleed with heater ON, heater core will have air, not coolant, in it.

Keep driving the car with heater ON. After a few days coolant will fill the heater core and push air out into the engine block.

You would have to bleed that air out again.

[Terry Hadigate]

I did bleed the system with heater dial on hot, as I do with all my cars, so maybe that's the problem. 

Regards Terry H