Paging kazbanz & tamarillo re car heater fix

kazbanz, Apr 24, 8:27am
Car heaters in something that old aren't complicated things.
You have basicly a mini engine radiator under the dash and a fan blowing the hot air round the car.
So parts wise theres a switch to turn the fan on and speed it up. The fan itself and a temp lever that throttles the radiator.
The most likely issues are 1) fan motor isn't going.
2) the "tap" for the radiator is blocked/radiator itself is blocked.
in either case they are pretty easy to open up and look at.
One thought I do have--the heater relies on the engine water being up to temperature.--so if the car is always running cold the heater will never get warm

mme, Apr 24, 12:17pm
Many thanks kazbanz.

She just had the local guy in Leeston look at it. She now has a bill of $200 for not getting her heater fixed but he fixed the carseat. Some welding involved I think.

I will paste & email your info to her.

mme, Apr 24, 12:20pm
She drove in from Leeston to Chch a couple of days ago so that wld be long enough to get the engine water warm enough?

kevlight, Apr 24, 5:59pm
you would only need 15 mins on the open rad to get the car temp up to operating temp, that will get the water as hot as its going to get. does the car have a water temperature gauge ? generally neddle should be reading half way to 3/4 way past the middle position.
. if your car has no temerature gauge, just put you hand on the radiator after you have been for a drive ,it will be hot ,that will tell you the engine is heating the water in the radiator.
. all you have to do now is figure out why the water is not circulating to the little miniture radiater under the dash of your car,
. as KAz has suggested they are a pretty simply car(primative) to work on esay peessy as bugger all electrics ,electronics ,techno gadgets in your way.
. have a look under the bonnet and see where the hoses pipes go through the bulk head into the car undre the dash ,it is possible there may be a tap on the hse that has been turned off or the hoseses may have been tied off/ blanked off.
. have you had any work done on the car?.
. if the radiator has been flushed or the water changed in the radiator you may have to bleed the water in the heater radiator;
have a llook here

http://www.minipeople.lt/failai/db/3/work+shop+manual.pdf

as the man in the Blue suit said reads the Manual dude ! good luck

. knowlege and spanners make the man (or girl) richer and wiser !

mechnificent, Apr 24, 7:38pm
If you feel the radiator temperature, then the two hoses going to and from the heater, you should be able to feel the hose going to the heater at the same temperature as the radiator, and the return hose should be quite a bit cooler if the fan is working.
If the hose going to the heater isn't hot, or if the tenp of the return hose isn't cooler, it indicates either no flow, or in the second instance, a flow and no fan blowing or faulty air ducting. rats nest say.

It's the three different temperatures you are comparing to make the diagnosis.

Also, get someone that knows how hot a motor should be, or have the thermostat checked. A car on the open road, even up here in the north., can run well below it's designed temperature if the thermostat is jammed open. The water in the system may not be getting hot enough.

kazbanz, Apr 24, 8:09pm
MME kevlight has good points. By your other posts I assumed that the simple stuff HAD been checked.
Hoses actually running to the heater.Taps turned on.hoses getting warm.

supernova2, Apr 24, 9:15pm
Have you checked that the dash control lever actually moves anything?

mme, Feb 25, 12:43pm
I don't what's been checked. You'd think that the guy in Leeston wld have but who knows. I'm not sure if he charged her $200 just for fixing the seat if he took that long to do that he knows what he's doing.

I'll email all the info to my friend