Can't get car heater to work?

[Anonymous]

In my bravo JTD i can't get any warm air from the heater, unless the car has been left running for over 10 mins. When im driving, the engine temp gauge doesnt even rise above the first nick (i think it should stay about the halfway point?) Has anyone experienced any problems like this or know wat it is? P.S The injector light is on in the dash most of the time, im not sure if they could be linked?

 

[Anthemmaster]

I had exacly the same problem with my hgt,turned out to be a broken thermostat,cost about 34 quid from fiat and was pretty straighforward to fit.Straight away noticed the diffrence,runs one notch above half all the time now.Apparently its supposed to improve the running of the car,cant say ive noticed but sure is warmer.Hope this helps,anthemmaster

 

[Schumaniac]

Re: Re: Can't get car heater to work?

Ok lets get this straight coz i have the same problem too. Whats the thermostat got to do with this? I mean the fan wouldnt even be switched on and still the engine would be ice cold. The indicator barely rises up to the second mark. I have to redline it to get some warm air out of the heater.

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[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Can't get car heater to work?

The thermostat keeps your engine running at the right tmeperature, provides a quicker warm up and thus helps fuel economy too. It's closed at startup and so the water in the engine is in a shorter closed loop if you like so the engine doesn't have to heat up so much water and the engine obviously heats up quicker. Once the engine water temperature is high enough the thermostat starts to open and allows water to circulate in the whole system including the heater which until this time has been cut off. Now some nice hot water is going through the heater and you can warm your tootsies.

If the thermostat is open all the time the engine will take ages to warm up if at all and the water in the heater will be luke warm at best unless you are stationary with no cooling air going through the radiator.

So good thermostat means quicker warm up,engine operates at correct temperature and good heater output.

To roughly test your thermostat, start engine from cold and hold onto one of the heater pipes. After a short while you should feel a sudden rush of hot water through the pipe showing the thermostat has just opened.

 

[Barakka]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Can't get car heater to work?

Spot on description

Can also stick the other way as did on my g/f's Cinq when the thermostat went. Stuck closed so in queuing traffic the engine got REALLY hot and the heater still didn't work at all

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Can't get car heater to work?

95% right The water circulates through the heater all the time, the thermostat bypasses the radiator only.

Basically the wax in the thermostat gets old and they open sooner and sooner and eventually stick.