I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: Heating issues.
After too many winter nights with no heat I finally mustered up the courage to dive into replacing my thermostat. It took quite a bit of time and effort but I finally managed to swap it over, and while I did it I flushed the coolant. Apparently the previous owner didn’t use the correct one as it was just redish coloured water inside.
After flushing out all the old stuff, I added some new coolant, and used a coolant hopper to ensure that there were no bubbles. I put about 5 and a bit liters in, and ran the car for 20 minutes revving the engine up to 3k rpm for about a minute every 5 minutes, until I could see there were no longer bubbles coming out. I had the heat on full blast and it would get hot when I was revving it, then cool again when I released. It’s dark now so I wasn’t able to keep on going but I’m confused as to why my heat is still not working. I had the car up on ramps in the front during the entire process. I’ve read a few people saying that I would need to cycle the car a few times and maybe drive it for a bit before anything started working.
Does anyone have any advice? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
what the thermostat has to do with the heat in the cabin? if the engine is warm which it is when its running it should be warm enough to heat the cabin.
Does the temperature sensor under the bumper work? can you see outside temperature reading and if so is that correct?
if that works look at the thermocouple element which is inside the cabin on the left hand side of the steering there is a vent and its in there.
if that is replaced and it seems to work then look at the controls
I realise now I have put NC3. I have an NC1 so no temperature reading available on the cluster.
My thermostat was definitely broken, the car never got up to temperature, the needle would always be at zero. I used the torque app and even after driving for an hour or longer the reading would be at 60 degrees C. A specialist in my area advised me that my thermostat was broken and that it would cause poor fuel economy and no heating in the cabin.
Previously when I started my car in cold weather it would take upwards of 15-20 minutes to have slightly warm air come through, and that would only be if I drove it around.
It’s airlocked. Brim the expansion tank, go out for a drive and take some coolant with you to top up, stop every mile or so and check it until it’s settled down.
Regardless of your heating issues you need to make sure the coolant change is sorted now you have done that procedure. DNC has suggested It can take a few miles/ stop & start before it’s sorted going the DIY route. He’s right, it can take a couple of days to sort out ( garages have dedicated vacuum kit to sort it in one pass)
It could well be something else in the system that allows heat into the car. I had a faulty thermostat in my TT ( stuck open) the symptoms were erratic instrument readings/always got up to steady correct temp if stuck in traffic.