It's getting colder, so the heater doesn't work......

[wilf]

A gentle trip out yesterday showed me that Buttercup was staging yet another little protest at being roused from her gentle slumbers.

Turns out the "hot-cold" heater control is no longer connected to the water valve. Re-hooking that cable is a job for another day!

However the water valve can easily be manually operated. When I did so, the heater output was less than I recalled from last year.

I felt that an airlock might be the problem as I had drained and refilled the system recently.

I also decided to swap the hoses over to ensure that the feed is into the "bottom" of the matrix, to help bleed any entrapped air out.

So........the point of this post is to help anyone else ID the correct pipe to put on the lower connection. It is the long one that comes over from the water transfer housing on the rh head as you look onto the front of the engine.

I connected this onto the lower position, (trimming the pipe so that it doesn't rub on the back of the lh head) and refilled and voila! Toasty tootsies once again.

[Stagsongas]

A good move Wilf.

Moving the coolant supply to the bottom of the matrix doesn't make the heater work any better, but it certainly makes it easier to bleed out any trapped air. A matrix airlock can definately stop the heater working.

Doing this also ensures that hot coolant flows from the back of the LH head (RH when in front of the engine). If that flow becomes restricted or is completely blocked off by an airlock, many will guess where that can lead.

Regards

Steve

[V Mad]

Doing this also ensures that hot coolant flows from the back of the LH head (RH when in front of the engine). If that flow becomes restricted or is completely blocked off by an airlock, many will guess where that can lead.

Regards

Steve

So we had better not shut the heater off then?

[Stagdad]

If you are worried about air locks you could put an air bleed in the heater pipe, i have done this and combined it with joining the heads (many have done this) to balance the temperature of them both but you could just put one in the top heater pipe.Cheers Steve
15032010383.jpgAir vent in heater hose.jpg

[Mike Stevens]

Obviously, the engine cooling cannot be dependant on the heater setting or we'd never be able to turn the heater off! I also can't see this statement being affected by which hose goes to the top or bottom on the heater matrix but obviously having the flow in the 'right' direction would help with filling/bleeding.

To be honest, I've never had an issue with filling the cooling system since I've had the Stag from 1987. Maybe I need to see where I've actually got the heater hoses connected. Perhaps I've got them in the 'optimum' position by mistake!

Cheers,
Mike.

[Stagsongas]

So we had better not shut the heater off then?

Does the valve shut off the flow completely, or merely reduce it to a trickle which cannot produce enough heat to be felt in the cabin?

Any response to post no. 10 yet?

Regards

Steve

[jleyton]

Any response to post no. 10 yet?

Eh ? We haven't got there yet, have we ?

[Stagsongas]

No Julian, we haven't.

[richard w]

Nearly though.

[DJT]

We have now. And yes, it does shut the flow off completely.

Awaiting a response......

[Richard G]

I have a new valve but cant get the old one out,seized in ,using easy-out but cant shift.
Why does the valve not pop out, theres nothing holding it in!

[Stagsongas]

We have now. And yes, it does shut the flow off completely.

Awaiting a response......

Priceless

I got confused. I spend a lot of time with dual heater circuits that have a bypass. Still happy with the supply at the bottom though, it has worked well for one or two people.

Regards

Steve