Warm Air

[1an3]

Hi All

Bizarre problem - while driving to work this morning I noticed that the air coming from the vents was freezing cold, despite the heat control being fully right. Turning fully left, and back made no difference, nor did switching on the air con. (My air-con needs a service anyway methinks as it wasn't very cold last year.) Engine temp was normal (ie. mid-gauge, outside temperature around 4-5degrees.

At the point I noticed I was crawling in about a mile of traffic. When I turned onto the Motorway, I noticed before the bottom of the sliproad that the air got warm as per normal.

Possible explanations? Before I got onto the sliproad and it worked I was thinking Fuse or coolant problem, but it coming to life has foxed me. Anything I should check for in respect of fuses/coolant/radiator etc?

(NB. I have little/no confidence under a bonnet, changing bulbs is about as far as I've been and that was a PITA in this car, removing the whole headlight unit...)

Ta in advance.

Ian

[1an3]

This is bizarre.

Last night after work, everything was normal: the air was 'lukewarm' almost straight away, ie. I could tell it wasn't blowing dead cold.

This morning, I had exactly the same symptoms as yesterday - very cold air blowing all the way until I hit the motorway slip road. As I accellerated down the slip I had my hand over the vent and the air got warm almost immediately.

Definitely feels like a fault, but can anyone point me in the direction of where? :(

[Unsimple]

Strange one mate, deffinatly something to do with your heater matrix I think.

best advice I can give you mate is to consult your Ford garage and see if they have any free diagnostic's to offer you.

Best of Luck

[1an3]

Apologies for dragging this up, but a colleague has a theory.

He suggested that the car may have electric heaters, if the diesel engine is so efficient as to not generate lots of excess heat. He suspects that the battery might be a bit dodgy, running under voltage, or something. He suggested that the alternator might not supply enough umph to the heaters if the battery is running under voltage, until the engine revs go up.

Plausible?

[1an3]

Just for completeness, this is now resolved. It seems that the coolant was low, so there was nothing to get warm. Suppose I was dead lucky that it didn't do more damage. Cost me £150 to have the leak fixed though :(