Dear all,

Now it is getting colder I have been trying the heater for the first time and it is not very good. After about 10 minutes you, at last, get some slightly luke warm air through, which is nothing like other cars I have had. This is with the heat control set to max, it seems even worse using the thermostat. The fan seems to work although noisy if turned up at all. Does this sound normal or a fault. If a fault any ideas what it might be please? Thanks for your help in advance.

You've not mentioned what engine you have. Assuming it's the 2l TDi you've mentioned in other posts, it's quite likely to be normal.

49 minutes ago, Goderich said:

Dear all,

Now it is getting colder I have been trying the heater for the first time and it is not very good. After about 10 minutes you, at last, get some slightly luke warm air through, which is nothing like other cars I have had. This is with the heat control set to max, it seems even worse using the thermostat. The fan seems to work although noisy if turned up at all. Does this sound normal or a fault. If a fault any ideas what it might be please? Thanks for your help in advance.

I used to own a 2013 1.6 Superb Greenline.

It was a great car, but the heater was poor and occasionally had a mind of its own.

In deep winter time, there could be a delay of 10 miles before significant heat came through.

I think this is common with lots of Skodas due to not having an heating element within the system unlike other VAG cars. It has been mentioned in a few threads if you do a search. 

If you keep the fans off until it has warmed a little it will warm the cabin quicker. 

Yes it is a 2 litre diesel.

Install a cardboard in front of the radiator when extra cold. but keep an eye of the engine temperature on longer travel...

Does that make a significant difference?

yes done it with many cars. easy and no cost. worth a try.

Yes, covering HALF, 2/3rd of the radiator is good solution - half should be enough - but not in full. 

@Goderich

 

It is also possible that heat exchanger is blocked - limescale - and you need to flush the system. 

Edited 15 November, 20187 yr by jafo

The cardboard in front of the radiator doesn’t make a big difference. The coolant doesn’t flow through the radiator, just the engine until it up to temperature then the thermostat opens to allow it to circulate the full cooling system

It will help the temperature go up faster! ive done it with gr8 result.  give it a try

No need, both our cars warm up quickly for the heating, even the 3.2 diesel Shogun

What does your temperature gauge do after starting and then driving some distance. How quickly does it move up to 90 and does it stay there? 

If it doesn't raise much after a few miles or even drops on a gentle run then suspect the thermostat.

 

Using cardboard to mask the radiator not a good idea. The thermostat should deal with overcooling as it won't even let any coolant flow through the radiator until up to temperature. If you have it masked and you then need extra cooling you risk overheating/damaging the engine. I am afraid I speak from past bitter experience - I did this to a Datsun 100A many moons ago and managed to overheat the engine going up a steep hill which damaged the oil and eventually taking out a big end.

 

My Superb I (diesel) took a few miles to warm up but the temp went up to 90 and stayed there and the heater was great. My Superb II(petrol) also goes up to 90 and stays there, warms up fairly quickly and the heater works well - but drinks from the other pump and has manual aircon/heating.

 

 

Edited 18 November, 20187 yr by bigjohn

First thing I would do is log the coolant temp on a  run and see what the thermostat is doing. It is very likely it is opening early and hindering the warm up time.

 

These engines do warm up on the slow side if your just pottering about, especially at temperatures near zero, what makes it worse is the higher you turn the heating and the fans up the longer it will take to get some heat into the block so make sure you leave the climate on auto as it tends to hold back the fan speed until you get some warm air

Another thing - if it is DSG then there is 2nd thermostat - you need to search forum @Goderich

I agree that the heater is poor.

Further - selecting the feet position doesn't seem to close the side vents and the volume of air for the feet is very low compared to other outlets.

The heated seats are poor too as nothing can be felt for about five mins by which time you have got over the cold shock of leather.

A friends mazda has heated seats that are almost instantly hot.

 

4 hours ago, superbdreams said:

I agree that the heater is poor.

Further - selecting the feet position doesn't seem to close the side vents and the volume of air for the feet is very low compared to other outlets.

 

 

Is there a servo motor failed somewhere? - my heater works well

 

7 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

my heater works well

 

Same on my 2014 (FL) with regard to circulating air. Heat wise, my diesel engine (1.6) takes awhile... 

 

I leave the climate system on auto. I have a 6 mile drive to work via B roads at 50mph. I find that it takes 3-4 miles to get "warm" air, 6-7 to get something like "heat". The "warm" air starts getting produced when the temp gauge on the cluster hits about 50 degrees.

On cold days and even more so on really cold days I tend to put the heater on recirculation for a while as I have found that the temperature in the car increases more quickly as you are not pulling in cold external air and trying to bring it up to the desired temperature. Bear in mind though that even with the AC on I have to allow fresh air in now and again to stop the windows from misting up.

I added an electric aux heater to my TDi. I start getting slightly warm air within 30-60 seconds

 

Combined with the heated seats it keeps me warm enough until the engine hits about 70'C when I get warmer air.

What heater was this exactly and how much did it all cost including fitting it please? I fear fitting it would require taking a lot of the car apart to not keen on doing that myself.

1 hour ago, Goderich said:

What heater was this exactly

 

If you do a search of this forum for "Webasto" you will get quite a number of hits for it.

 

One example thread (there are others) here: Cabin Heating

21 hours ago, Goderich said:

What heater was this exactly

 

It was this part number: 1K0 963 235 E

 

Was probably about £100 for the cables and a used one. At least on the Octavia, it didn't take much work to install

 

The Webasto heater mentioned by TheRobinK is diesel powered and is much more involved to fit.

Don't forget there is a third option.

 

http://www.frostheater.com/

 

I looked into these years ago but there are not many options here in the UK and those are 110V 60hz