My car often doesn't warm up fully in these cold mornings. The heating inside is OK, but not brilliant. The wife is complaining it is too cold though.
It gets up to temperature if I drive up a hill which loads the engine more, but often the temp gauge sits down a bit, especially at idle.

The top radiator hose is warm, and the bottom one very cold.

I think it is probably normal and I don't have a stuck thermostat, but would just like to check if other peoples JTD's are the same in the cold.

Certainly sound as though your stat is in dicky mode and on the way out..I would change it as soon as possible if it was me before it causes more problems..old saying says a stitch in time saves nine ..

Mine seldom hits the 'halfway house' on the guage until 20+ miles into a run, in these cold conditions at least. Usually sits a wee bit under the halfway mark.

The heating in my car has never been very good (I tend to wear more clothes and suggest the same to my passengers ) but with the airconditioning and recirculation on you should notice an improvement..... might get a wee bit 'steamy' on the inside, but warmer.

I would hope to see an improvement but I believe I have the dreaded 'split pipe' aircon fault which will be attended to in the New Year.

ABZSTILO said:

I would hope to see an improvement but I believe I have the dreaded 'split pipe' aircon fault which will be attended to in the New Year.

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I thought it was only the petrol ones that had that.

Hell Hamish its cold up there in scotland so get that car sorted..

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081114193425AAWwN8C

My JTD MW (Active Aircon) gets up to temperature (halfway round the temperature gauge) in about 6 miles from cold, heater is very warm when turned on full.

My JTD hardly gets passed the first or second marker on the temp gauge with about 5 miles of 40mph driving in the cold (0 celcius or colder), but once on the dual carriageway on route to work, driving at 60mph it starts to rise abit quicker (as id expect).

Usually i can expect it to take about 10 miles to get up to the middle point on the temp gauge, and even then if the fan is on speed 2 or more with the heater turned up, once i slow down the gauge drops back a little. My Punto JTD did exactly the same & im not at all worried about it.

john55 said:

The top radiator hose is warm, and the bottom one very cold.

I think it is probably normal and I don't have a stuck thermostat, but would just like to check if other peoples JTD's are the same in the cold.

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My heater is blowing hot after 3 or 4 miles, but the hoses are the same as yours John. Top hose gets hot but the bottom hose and bottom of the radiator stays very cold.

I thought it could be a problem with the thermostat or a blocked radiator but the temperature gauge stays just below half way and the car never overheats. I even left it idling for an hour but the radiator fan didn't switch on and temperature stayed normal. My next thought was the water pump (loose impeller?) but then there would be no circulation through the heater.

I agree with you, "I think it is probably normal"

Dave.

A few points
To everyone- now's the time to use your recycle button to prevent freezing air coming into the car all the time otherwise your heater will have a very tough job of heating a constant rush of freezing air. Just turn it off and let fresh air in now and again to prevent steaming up

EASY THERMOSTAT TEST
From cold just keep hand around heater pipe from thermostat to radiator and after a few minutes you should feel a sudden rush of very hot water as the thermostat opens

RADIATOR
Blank off half of your radiator across the front grill with silver foil (looks Christmassy too). You won't need all that front radiator in this weather as your internal heater fan is acting lke a radiator too. Foil will only stay there a few days but that's all you want otherwise you'll forget it's there. If the weather warms up and your rad fan starts kicking in to warn you then take the foil off

RAD FAN
I'd be very surprised if the rad fan didn't work at all when sat idle for an hour, the heat has to go somewhere so maybe the internal fan is on and hey ho there's a rad fan working. The front rad fan is a two speed jobby on most Stilos and so, many people don't realise it IS going on slow speed as it's very quiet and will only switch to fast when required

My JTD is the same as most report here.

You start to get warm air into the cabin within 2 miles but even after 4 miles the gauge needle is still down on 'C'

Once it does get to the middle of the gauge it's rock steady though.

To everyone- now's the time to use your recycle button to prevent freezing air coming into the car all the time otherwise your heater will have a very tough job of heating a constant rush of freezing air. Just turn it off and let fresh air in now and again to prevent steaming up
That is a pain to do. I hate it. I have climate control and would like to leave it to do its job.

EASY THERMOSTAT TEST
From cold just keep hand around heater pipe from thermostat to heater and after a few minutes you should feel a sudden rush of very hot water as the thermostat opens
I dont think that is right. Water always circulates through the heater. It should warm up slowly, with the engine. The thermostat stops water circulating through the main radiator.

RADIATOR
Blank off half of your radiator across the front grill with silver foil (looks Christmassy too). You won't need all that front radiator in this weather as your internal heater fan is acting lke a radiator too. Foil will only stay there a few days but that's all you want otherwise you'll forget it's there. If the weather warms up and your rad fan starts kicking in to warn you then take the foil off
I believe my Thermostat is off and Rad is not being used, due to warm top pipe and very cold lower pipe.

RAD FAN
I'd be very surprised if the rad fan didn't work at all when sat idle for an hour, the heat has to go somewhere so maybe the internal fan is on and hey ho there's a rad fan working. The front rad fan is a two speed jobby on most Stilos and so, many people don't realise it IS going on slow speed as it's very quiet and will only switch to fast when required
A diesel Produces much less heat than a petrol engine. I have only ever seen the rad fan on when the aircon is on. It certainly has not been on lately.

Argonought said:

My JTD is the same as most report here.

You start to get warm air into the cabin within 2 miles but even after 4 miles the gauge needle is still down on 'C'

Once it does get to the middle of the gauge it's rock steady though.

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Even if you sit in traffic for a while with the heater fan on quite high? Mine drops after a few minutes of idling

I dont think that is right. Water always circulates through the heater. It should warm up slowly, with the engine. The thermostat stops water circulating through the main radiator.

Yes that's right John, you got there before i could correct it, so it should read

EASY THERMOSTAT TEST
From cold just keep hand around heater pipe from thermostat to radiator and after a few minutes you should feel a sudden rush of very hot water as the thermostat opens


And i think that's why Argo's dash engine temp is showing low as your engine temp sensor is in the thermostat to radiator line and not showing the actual engine coolant temp or the temp of the coolant around the internal heater

Decks,
That is OK on a petrol engine, but believe me you could idle a JTD for 24 hours in cold weather and it would never open the thermostat or get above the first mark on the temp gauge.
Modern common rail engines simply do not produce a lot of heat.

Even after driving to work, which is quite a hilly A road, the radiator is cold as all the heat is going to the cabin heater.

Yes I appreciate diesels run much cooler and if you're using the internal heater fan then there's no surplus to go to the front radiator, time to use that recycle switch and make the most of whatever heat there is

john55 said:

My car often doesn't warm up fully in these cold mornings. The heating inside is OK, but not brilliant. The wife is complaining it is too cold though.
It gets up to temperature if I drive up a hill which loads the engine more, but often the temp gauge sits down a bit, especially at idle.

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John,
I've got similar symptoms to you, in this cold weather my temp needle gets to 2/3 when cruising or sitting in traffic, when pushing on more it rises to halfway.
I've had it for ages but not quite as bad, maybe changing the thermostat is worth a go as mine is high mileage 117,000 miles now.
Is it straight forward on a JTD and how much is a thermostats going to cost?

john55 said:

Even if you sit in traffic for a while with the heater fan on quite high? Mine drops after a few minutes of idling

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Yes; I know what you mean

I've found it's a mistake to put the fan on a high setting when the engine is still warming up - as so much cold air is pulled through the heater it actually seems to cool it down

Far better to keep on a low 1 or 2 setting (unless demisting)

Well my jtd this last week has been lovely and warm, temp gauge needle sits at halfway not matter how cold it is once the car is hot, normally have heat coming out after about 3 miles and by the time i have got to work its lovely and warm.
Thats after only 20 miles, however i do get cold air coming in around my legs feet area but that soon warms up.

Oh does the air con work when its cold as my car mists up inside and can be a bugger to shift these cold winter mornings and my old escort used to shift the misty windows with the air con turned on in about 2 mins.

Muppet1 said:

Oh does the air con work when its cold as my car mists up inside and can be a bugger to shift these cold winter mornings and my old escort used to shift the misty windows with the air con turned on in about 2 mins.

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Yep; full heat, max fan & aircon On is reckoned the best answer.

Gives your aircon a quick work out during the winter months too

Hmmmmmmm then i dont think its working then, take forever to shift the mist inside. Need to get it checked then at some point.