How Long For Heater To Heat Up?

[irishjay]

Im up early in the morning and today it was very cold like 6 degrees ,,driving along i noticed that it took 6 miles before any hot air came out of the vent !!! is this normal??? seems like an awful long time before the heater warms?????? anyone else noticed a similar situation????????

[gazza1286]

This is unusual - check your coolant levels.

[moonstone mart]

Was it 6 miles of easy driving?

Diesels do take a while to warm up (as they are alot more efficient than petrol - therefore less heat created/transferred)

Have you used the car in v cold weather before or would this be a first?

As said above - give your coolant level a check. If unsure about these things take it to a dealer/garage.

Mart.

[Q.S.]

Was it 6 miles of easy driving?

Diesels do take a while to warm up (as they are alot more efficient than petrol - therefore less heat created/transferred)

Have you used the car in v cold weather before or would this be a first?

As said above - give your coolant level a check. If unsure about these things take it to a dealer/garage.

Mart.

Sounds pretty normal for a diesel to me. Does it reach normal running temperature and stay there on a decent run? or does it run cool? If thermostat is stuck open it will take longer to heat up but wont hold normal temperature on a steady speed motorway/dual carriageway run in cold weather as the radiator will cool the water quicker than the engine is heating it up.

[Beagh1958]

Way out West here, you can guess by the name. It's perfectly normal, my car is exactly the same, heater, coolant system, & thermostat all work perfectly. If you have heater button fitted as option try it & see the difference in heat up time.

[Groovy Mucker]

My engine takes a while to warm up. Until it warms up, I don't think there's an alternative source of heat for the interior heater. 6 miles or so would be right for me.

[irishjay]

folks today it didnt warm up for 13 miles so i went to shop at 7am bought 2 bottles of water added to coolant place and hey presto instant heat!!!!!! , cheerz for the info appreciate all the posts !!!!!!!!!!

[moonstone mart]

Well if you needed to add that much fluid for the heater to work you need to check there are no leaks as this is quite alot.

With new avensis there are headgasket probs - alot of the time caused by waterpumps leaking coolant and the engine overheating, thus requiring an engine strip/new head gasket + skim (if head isnt excesssively warped) etc.

Mart.

[hertsnminds]

That's interesting as my 08 Verso takes a few miles to warm up. With the climate in AUTO is doesn't even bother to turn the fan on until there is some heat in the engine. Maybe time to check the coolant again.

[f891roy]

had this problem too!!

i live 8miles from work and it took 6-7miles for my 2004 avensis D4D T3x to warm up, keeping the revs above 3000rpm. its been like this from last year.

so i done the search and found this page. took the advice and filled up the coolant (ready mixed)....HEY PRESTO!!! it now only takes 3miles to get heat into the cabin and i dont have to rev the crap outta her 1st thing in the morning (which is really bad).

to be honest there is a big difference now, even with the power heater.

I never really check anything on the car apart from tyres pressure and fuel gauage. i owned a 1994 twin turbo supra and had 155k on it before i reluctanly sold her. i NEVER needed to check anything on that car either. IT's A TOYOTA FOR %$( SAKE!!!!

[irishjay]

@ roy ,, my problem turned out to be head gasket mate ,, had to keep topping up the coolant bootle and when they done a pressure test to find where the coolant was going they discovered faulty head gasket ,, if you need to refill on a regular basis i suggest a trip to mr t for a pressure test ,as refilling expansion tank on a rgualr basis is not normal

[cmia]

@ roy ,, my problem turned out to be head gasket mate ,, had to keep topping up the coolant bootle and when they done a pressure test to find where the coolant was going they discovered faulty head gasket ,, if you need to refill on a regular basis i suggest a trip to mr t for a pressure test ,as refilling expansion tank on a rgualr basis is not normal

or it could be spitting all of it out