Heater

[sonic113]

Recently noticed my heater is not heating the inside of the car as quick as it used to from cold start. I was thinking to drain the system and renew coolant to see if it helps before looking at the thermostat. My coolant levil is at the Max Level, I know some people keep it between max and minium for expansion purposes or something , so would having this at the max effect the insdie heater? engine tempture seems to be heating as normal just the cabin heater taking a while to get hot air in.

 

Thanks

[simcor]

Could be due to reduced flow of coolant, either blocked heater matrix of water pump is on it's way out, don't know what engine you have but temp gauges are useless on cars mostly and tell you nothing of any use, OBD temperature monitoring is the best way to check the engine temperature properly.

If the engine is getting up to and staying at temp OK then I would suspect a blocked heater matrix. 

[Dee_82]

connect up forscan, take it for a long run, youll see the temp rise to 83/84c then drop a bit once the thermostat opens, if your thermostat is stuck open then it will take ages to rise as the radiator will be doing its job much earlier then it wont have a drop around 83/84c. I replaced my thermostat because it was rising to 83 and opening but it would stay open even if it dropped back to 55, if I pulled up to some slow traffic it would visible drop like a rock, it would eventually close again and start its climb to 83/84c again

[sonic113]

Thanks fellas. I did a drain of the coolant and a refill last night and it seems to be going well. I only filled the coolant between Min and Max this time though. Not sure what happened maybe a air lock or just tool much when it was at MAX mark. I will see how this plays out over next few weeks.

 

Thanks

[simcor]

Good suggestion by Dee too thermostat if it is opening too early will alter the engine temp and give trouble as well.