Technical JTD - cabin heater not working!

[john 10]

I have a fiat stilo estate1.9 jtd and just now it is in arnold clark fiat garage it is only blowing cold air in the car my bill just now is £320 and fiat said they cant find the problem i think im :bang: i like my car a great deal but fiat dealer up my way is a joke can anyone help me

 

[Deckchair5]

First thing i'd do is see which side of the bulkhead the problem lies ie is it the engine and a mechanical problem or in the cabin? So i'd have the engine running for a while with cabin fan off and then feel the heater pipes where they pass through into the bulk head.

If they're both hot to the hand then you know the heat's getting into and flowing though the cabin but isn't being distributed by the ventilator box ie hot/cold selector

If one is hot and the other cold then there's an airlock or blockage in the heater matrix

If they're both just warm and the pipe from your thermostat to the radiator is the same temp then the thermostat is gone ie is open when it shouldn't be

 

[william cruickshank]

this might sound silly but have you tried a new pollen filter this is what was wrong with mine

 

[GizmOwin]

Thought I'd bump this, as I'm having a similar problem.

All through the winter my climate control/heater wasn't working despite power being on full bars. Occasionally it would just come on out of the blue about 30 mins into my journey, but most of the time wouldn't come on at all. I changed the Pollen filter and the actual climate control unit itself but nothing changed.

I noticed my temperature gauge was only going about 1/3 of the way up, so I had the thermostat changed this February, and it then worked fine, first time every time, and the thermo gauge was showing dead-on half way.

Sadly no more than two months later I'm having the same problem, although the temp gauge is where it should be. I've noticed the heater blower works okay when the ignition is on, but the engine isn't. Can anyone give me any suggestions what it could be? Would the air filter or MAF cause this problem if they were clogged up? Do I need a heater/air con recharge?

Hope you can help, I need my air con in this weather!!

Owen.

 

[roy lovelock]

Thought I'd bump this, as I'm having a similar problem.

All through the winter my climate control/heater wasn't working despite power being on full bars. Occasionally it would just come on out of the blue about 30 mins into my journey, but most of the time wouldn't come on at all. I changed the Pollen filter and the actual climate control unit itself but nothing changed.

I noticed my temperature gauge was only going about 1/3 of the way up, so I had the thermostat changed this February, and it then worked fine, first time every time, and the thermo gauge was showing dead-on half way.

Sadly no more than two months later I'm having the same problem, although the temp gauge is where it should be. I've noticed the heater blower works okay when the ignition is on, but the engine isn't. Can anyone give me any suggestions what it could be? Would the air filter or MAF cause this problem if they were clogged up? Do I need a heater/air con recharge?

Hope you can help, I need my air con in this weather!!

Owen.

first of all the maf and air filter wont have any bearing on the temp of your saloon enviroment, they are for the engine.

the pollen filter will slow down the air curclation and cause the aircon / heaters to be ineffective when they have been in the car for many years (blocked with pollen and debris).
Im suspecting you probally have an airlock in the system, have you lost any coolent from your system or have to regually top it up?
have you ran the car and bleed the system?
as already pointed out are your pipes getting hot or luke warm.
have you also been using antifreeze, lack of can and will cause corrosion in the system causing things like thermostats to block or freeze open.

 

[GizmOwin]

the pollen filter will slow down the air curclation and cause the aircon / heaters to be ineffective when they have been in the car for many years (blocked with pollen and debris).

Pollen filter has been changed.

have you lost any coolent from your system or have to regually top it up?

Neither.

have you ran the car and bleed the system?

Yep. Did it when I changed the Thermo and recently when having the waterpump fitted.

as already pointed out are your pipes getting hot or luke warm.

I'm not sure which pipes to check. If you put your hand right in front of the air vents, you can feel hot hair blowing through, but it's like mouse breath.

have you also been using antifreeze, lack of can and will cause corrosion in the system causing things like thermostats to block or freeze open.

And yes, always used antifreeze and coolant. And thermo was changed recently.


Owen.

 

[Davren]

Have you tried the Climate Control relearn procedure?

CLIMATE CONTROL SELF-LEARNING PROCEDURE

The AUTO and MONO buttons must be pressed simultaneously within 40 seconds of the ignition being turned to the ON position in order to active this procedure. A few seconds later a figure will appear on the display (in place of the driver's side set temperature) which will count down to indicate the time remaining before the start of the procedure. At the same time (i.e. whilst the count down is taking place) the previous self-learning status is signalled on the passenger temperature setting:

'1' flashes if the previous self-learning procedure failed
'0' indicates that the previous self-learning procedure was successful

This procedure is not carried out if at least one of the above mentioned buttons is released whilst the figure on the left hand side is not zero (this is designed to check the outcome of the previous self-learning procedure).

Exiting the procedure zeroes the 40 second counting period from when the ignition is switched ON, to allow the procedure to be repeated without having to switch the ignition OFF.

Each time a new control unit is fitted, the flap actuator learning test must be carried out using the diagnostic equipment and the unit must be personalized through programming.
.
.

If that doesn't cure it, then it's probably one of the flap actuator motors stuck or it's connector link broken.

 

[GizmOwin]

Have you tried the Climate Control relearn procedure?

If that doesn't cure it, then it's probably one of the flap actuator motors stuck or it's connector link broken.

I tried this yesterday. The left hand side counts down from "03" to "00" and the right hand side just flashes "01". I don't know how long you're supposed to hold the buttons for. I held on for about 4 minutes until my arms couldn't take any more, but nothing changed, I did hear a lot of clicking and "calibrating" noises coming from behind the dash whilst holding the buttons down.

Should I be holding them for longer?

Owen.

 

[Davren]

The procedure above is a translation from Italian, so the driver's/passenger's sides could be reversed for RHD cars. This would explain why your left side is displaying the count down.

Your right side flashing "01" would indicate that the procedure has failed, probably because of a faulty actuator motor or broken connector link.

As far as I recall, I only held the buttons for about 20 seconds last time I did the procedure.

FES (FiatECUScan) will connect to Stilo Climate Control and may indicate which motor is faulty.