Hi,

 

Noticed in this cold weather that my heater takes ages to get any warmth in the cabin. And even after driving for 10-20 miles its only mildly warm. Noticed today it also seems to be warmer on the passenger side and still quite cool air out of the drivers side vents.

 

From reading up I suspect it's a blocked heater matrix? looking in the expansion tank I can see a bag thing floating to the right hand side which I suspect is the renowned silica bag. Not sure how to tell if that is split/leaking? the coolant itself is pink/red(ish) still and doesn't look obviously contaminated from the top/filler. Looking at the expansion tank from the outside at the side where the min/max level indicator is the tank wall is pretty crapped up inside? (brownish and difficult to see the level clearly) could this be the silica or just general years of crap in the system?

 

My only option really seems to be to have the system drained and flush, and if the matrix is coming out then it seems best to swap it out rather than flush it and refit. And from reading it seems like the expansion tank is probably best to be swap because of the silica bag?

 

Feels like it's going to be a pricey one. £150-190 for the matrix and £35-45 for the expansion tank. Suspect the majority of the cost will be labor if I send it to be done at a garage? 3-5 hours labor maybe?

 

Am I on the right lines here?

 

Thanks

57 minutes ago, lockstock27 said:

looking in the expansion tank I can see a bag thing floating to the right hand side which I suspect is the renowned silica bag.

Is the tank labelled "mit silikat" or similar. If so, change that and initially hope nothing's irretrievably bunged up.

Is the engine getting up to temperature going by the water temp guage?

The temp gauge seems to be behaving normally. Gradually works it's way to half way or just below and goes no higher

There are 4 main culprits:

 

1. Reset the heater controls in case one side is out of sync and not opening the flaps properly. Takes a couple of mins, but I can't remember how to do it but it is posted in here

 

2. Incorrect coolant. You can't mix the 2 main types as it can congeal. But you should be able to flush it through by draining the coolant out, running some detergent through it and re-draining that, then refilling with the correct coolant.

 

3. Split silica bag. Take the header tank off and remove the bag and see if its split (10 min job). If it has, the matrix likely can't be flushed as there isn't a chemical safe to use in the matrix that will dissolve silica so if it has split and emptied its contents, you'll need to replace the matrix.

 

4. Sand left over from the casting process. I'm guessing that could be flushed out, but not sure.

 

But try no.1 first

 

Nick

Here you go for the climate reset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WqX5r28AGI

 

Edited 18 January, 20242 yr by NikTheGeek