Rubbish heater

[ob1cnoby]

Could be a few things, if the stat is ok, could be that you havent topped up your water, as the heater runs off the top section of your heating system, if you look under your expansion tanks ( thats the white rust coulred thing you top up in ) theres 2 thininsh pipes run into your dash from there
2 Blockage
3-Faulty heater control switych- make sure its turning With the shaft, as there is a flat on one sied- is the knob tight to turn - if not, could be a stuck regulator flow switch (tap) I know this, as mione, and I think half the guys on here have theres stuck in one spot = hence they seize.
Most likely is = top your water up, ,( and check for air locks) I dunno how that guy managed to get his heater going better by changing his oil, weird one that.
I read earlier that your water thermostat is reading 'Normal- this may still read this if your down a quite a lot, first thing to go when your down on water is your heater, as it takes the reading from around the top hose area on the van, which is BELOW your heater hoses,. I know this, as i have just driven back from france in my van (-7deg outside- the top hose went, I was bloody freezing ( my gloves frove tto the wheel (honest) but the stat read Normal, I patched the hose up, and as a regulator, when the luke warm heater went cold, I knew I needed water, but Tranny engine are great- they will plod on with hardly any water at all. Mind you that another story- Scott of the ant arctic would have been proud
Hope this helps
Dave

[spikefreeway]

Hope this helps

No, not really I have bought a new thermostat now! Cheers for the tips and will give them a whirl and if that doesn't work.

Cheers and may the force go with you

[spikefreeway]

well new thermostats in and it still only gets to just touching the blue bar. The new 'stat seemed a bit shonky but presume its working. The return from the stat housing to the header tank seems warm and the pipe from the block seems warm. It doesn't seem very hot coming back in to the header tank in fact in a rare moment of stupidity put my finger in the return flow and it wasn't really hot.
I only ran it for a while in front of my house however as its Sunday and someone would park in its space. I will try it up the local drag run/dual carriageway tomorrow as I've no idea how quickly it gets hot.
Cheers all for the stats instructions though. The only thing I would add to that would be turn the piece of stat housing round and bash the stat back in with that.

so...if its not that what is it, what should be hot an what shouldn't be.

[GBBiker]

You could still easily have an airlock somewhere in the system. Try running the engine again with the expansion cap off for a while (stationary of course

[spikefreeway]

well today I ran the enegine for a bit with the expansion tank lid off and then thrashed it up the road (I can get 70 out of her but after quite some time) and low and behold warm air from the vents. It wouldn't strip paint from woodwork but warm air non the less. Thanks to all that suggested solutions. I am very grateful.

[v3nnie]

My Mk4 heater is good but the switch only works on the last fan setting do they have a resistor fitted to them like some other cars?

[Retrohowla]

My Mk4 heater is good but the switch only works on the last fan setting do they have a resistor fitted to them like some other cars?

My mk4 was the same, when i asked this question at a transit breakers near me the old boy told me thats how they were meant to be, if this is true or not i dont know but the heater was bloody good!

[spikefreeway]

well now this morning the thermostat housing has sprung a leak when under pressure, obviously when I have been taking the end off, its cracked. Will ring ford tomorrow and check the bay of theives today.

[spikefreeway]

anyone have one of these lying around? viewtopic.php?f=10&t=63028

[spikefreeway]

well I managed to get a thermostat housing herehttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT however doesnt come with an O ring and the one that came off disintegrated. I have used some of that liquid gasket stuff and thats was no use at all (that could well have been operator error however). This one of those jobs that has started out simply and just gotten to be a right ********* headache. Any clue as to what to do next anyone? Before I go and adjust it with an lump hammer.

[Retrohowla]

If its the o-ring that goes behing the screw fitting then the new thermostat should come with one, if its between housing and head then ive made paper gaskets for them before with good results.

[spikefreeway]

no its the o ring that the entire housing sits on and doesn't seem to have any matching recess so presumably is held there by magic or some such! cheers for helping though

[spikefreeway]

Well I have done it. The trick is to get some wet and dry on the block until its all shiny and new looking and do the same to the housing, even if its brand new. Dont use that blue gasket in a tube stuff as its rubbish and expensive. Do buy the o ring It's a Ford part and its F1093992. Its the ridiculous price of 3.77 inc vat but never mind so far so good.

[dirtydog]

My heater is working better now as well, except it still only works on number 3 will sort that later but it gets hot now.
I took the cap off the expansion bottle, ran the engine and squeezed a few hoses

[scrapper]

My experience is to make sure that there is enough water in the system as most vehicles heater matrix are fairly high in the system.Therefor when the bottle is empty the matrix is next.The matrix is basically a very small radiator with small pipes that have a tendency to block easily with silt and sediment.Air from the vent,(with or without the blower) blows through the (hot) vanes and becomes heated as it passes through.