Heaters

[Joedj9]

Hi everyone

Had a coolant leak a few weeks back then turned out to be from the waterpump caused by the seals failing. Had a full coolant flush whilst that was done too using g13 vw stuff. Since then, the vents in the car take forever to warm up and when they do they arent particularly hot.

Does anyone have any idea what it might be? Garage said it isnt related to what they've done. It's a 2015 cupra 280 st if that's any help.

Thanks

 

[Adrian300]

Sounds like an airlock somewhere. When i was working at Renault we had a system that sucked all the air out of the cooland system (all rubber hoses/pipes would squash down) and coolant then got filled, this method means no air locks and also means you know whether there is a leak in the system as it wouldnt hold pressure.

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

 

[Joedj9]

Sounds like an airlock somewhere. When i was working at Renault we had a system that sucked all the air out of the cooland system (all rubber hoses/pipes would squash down) and coolant then got filled, this method means no air locks and also means you know whether there is a leak in the system as it wouldnt hold pressure.

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

I was told this might be the issue off a mate so I ran the heaters on full for 10mins and left the coolant cap off but nothing has changed. Garage have said it cant be related to the waterpump they've fixed but I'm sure it's something to do with that work.

 

[Lozzy15]

Certainly sounds like an airlock. And replacing the water pump involves dealing with the coolant, which can introduce airlocks so for them to say it can't have anything to do with them is daft. It could certainly have been caused by changing the water pump. Although I did think these were self bleeding systems so how it happened seems odd to me.

 

[Joedj9]

Certainly sounds like an airlock. And replacing the water pump involves dealing with the coolant, which can introduce airlocks so for them to say it can't have anything to do with them is daft. It could certainly have been caused by changing the water pump. Although I did think these were self bleeding systems so how it happened seems odd to me.

Waterpump wasnt replaced just the seals had hardened. I'm worried the thermostat has gone. If so, that's another big bill to sort in the same month it was apparently fixed

 

[Lozzy15]

Waterpump wasnt replaced just the seals had hardened. I'm worried the thermostat has gone. If so, that's another big bill to sort in the same month it was apparently fixed

Ah I mis-read it. Either way to replace the seals it would have to have come out.

In regards to the thermostat, if its faulty the car will either overheat after around 15 minutes (thermostat stuck closed), or will takes ages to warm up and maintain its temperature (thermostat stuck open). What does the temp gauge do while driving? Is it warming up as quick as it used to and not overheating?

 

[Joedj9]

Ah I mis-read it. Either way to replace the seals it would have to have come out.

In regards to the thermostat, if its faulty the car will either overheat after around 15 minutes (thermostat stuck closed), or will takes ages to warm up and maintain its temperature (thermostat stuck open). What does the temp gauge do while driving? Is it warming up as quick as it used to and not overheating?

It sounds like its stuck open then. The gauge shows the car warming up fine. No difference at all. It's just the heaters don't really get as hot as they used to. And when they do they take an age. Had them on high tonight and I drove around for about 20miles/30mins. By the time I got out it still wasnt as hot as it used to be.

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing to try, if you have not done this before, is, make sure that the cabin fan is switched off when you start the car and drive as normal without the fan running if possible to make sure that the coolant heats up before you start removing heat from to heat up the cabin, the engine coolant temperature should move to the 90C point after 2 miles or 10 minutes of driving at normal speeds, if it does this then the built in coolant controls are okay, when this point has been reached, switch the fan back on, I think that advancing the temperature knob one click should force the fan back on - is the delivered air now warm and does the coolant temperature gauge stay at 90C - if it starts to drop back then you do have a coolant system control issue.

 

[Joedj9]

One thing to try, if you have not done this before, is, make sure that the cabin fan is switched off when you start the car and drive as normal without the fan running if possible to make sure that the coolant heats up before you start removing heat from to heat up the cabin, the engine coolant temperature should move to the 90C point after 2 miles or 10 minutes of driving at normal speeds, if it does this then the built in coolant controls are okay, when this point has been reached, switch the fan back on, I think that advancing the temperature knob one click should force the fan back on - is the delivered air now warm and does the coolant temperature gauge stay at 90C - if it starts to drop back then you do have a coolant system control issue.

I will try this tonight. Thanks mate.

 

[Joedj9]

One thing to try, if you have not done this before, is, make sure that the cabin fan is switched off when you start the car and drive as normal without the fan running if possible to make sure that the coolant heats up before you start removing heat from to heat up the cabin, the engine coolant temperature should move to the 90C point after 2 miles or 10 minutes of driving at normal speeds, if it does this then the built in coolant controls are okay, when this point has been reached, switch the fan back on, I think that advancing the temperature knob one click should force the fan back on - is the delivered air now warm and does the coolant temperature gauge stay at 90C - if it starts to drop back then you do have a coolant system control issue.

Tried this but the heaters weren't very hot at all. Barely even warm to be honest. Coolant temperature never dropped at all.

I hate this car now. Only bought it in march but I've nothing but issues. Almost tempted to let it take a dip in the river Tyne!

 

[RUM4MO]

So the engine coolant gauge indicates 90C within roughly 2 miles and/or 10 minutes driving from a cold engine?

 

[Joedj9]

So the engine coolant gauge indicates 90C within roughly 2 miles and/or 10 minutes driving from a cold engine?

Yeah mate, did about 2miles ans it warmed up to 90C on the display.

 

[RUM4MO]

So, that sounds like the thermostat is still okay, so one thing less to bother about!

 

[Joedj9]

So, that sounds like the thermostat is still okay, so one thing less to bother about!

That's a bit of relief if I'm honest. Do you think it could just be trapped air in the system then? Checked the coolant again last night when I got home and all is ok. It's still red hot after a drive

 

[Lozzy15]

It did, and still does sound like an airlock. The way I used to get air out on older simpler cars was to squeeze the coolant pipes while the engine was running, heater turned on full and the cap off the coolant tank (while the engine is cold might I add!) Doubt this still works on newer deigns but you never know!

 

[RUM4MO]

I don't know if that engine or its cooling system is known to be tricky to get the air out of, and so retain air pockets, but, the old 1.4 16V petrol engine was and that, in DIYer fixing terms, meant refilling with the engine coolant sensor removed until bubble free coolant flowed out, then quickly refitting that sensor while continuing to refill the system. I had that issue after replacing the sometimes faulty engine coolant temperature sensor, took that car for a few longer runs to force it to drive the trapped air out into the reservoir - it didn't, then I luckily read about this issue with this engine, did as outlined above, problem solved. So maybe it is a similar problem with refilling this engine's cooling system though I'd doubt if it was the same point that is used to get trapped air to escape as it all depends on the cooling pipework routing.

 

[Joedj9]

So if I squeeze the 2 visible hoses that go tot he coolant reservoir that could sort the issue? I'll certainly give it a go tonight. It's a nightmare with it not warming up at this time of year. Especially having a baby as well.

 

[RUM4MO]

I'm not convinced that that will work, but nothing to lose really, I'd think that it needs the correct procedure used when refilling it with coolant, that garage should really have discovered that prior to handing that car back, and sorted it out.

 

[Lozzy15]

It's a long shot but it may sort it. Squeeze any coolant pipes you can see/get to. While doing so be careful with any moving parts. As said there is probably a correct way of dealing with airlock. Older cars used to have air bleeding screws you'd undo until they flowed with coolant and then close. I very much doubt these cars have those, as I said previously I thought these would be self-bleeding.

 

[Adrian300]

Maybe in the mean time buy a 12v heater that plugs into 12v socket as u mention u have a baby. Just so there is some heat in the cabin.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/123956438021

Something like this...... Just as a stop gap

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk