My heaters aren't upto much although i've flushed the water system and pressure washed the heater matrix through!

are all octavia's like this or should i investigate the dial in the car? (was wondering if it isn't moving the cable enough)

First thing thats jumping to mind is a broken water pump.

Could be the heater control valve though.

not having any problems with overheating or fast heat up so wouldn't of thought it'd be the water pump.. will have a look at the dials if its not normal

If you're new to the car, yes the heaters are slow/poor to warm up (engine's very efficient) in comparison to petrol cars. You could check the climate control flap motors(diagnostic check - VAGCOM or dealer)/vents are all working properly. Unless you've noticed a marked drop in heat output I wouldn't worry. Best to get in and just drive, as 'hardly any' waste heat is generated at idle.

if it helps on my dads tdi it takes ages to warm up but when the car is up to temp is it as hot as my petrol octi.

the only other things I can think of and I am no expert is

1 is the temp unit reading correctly ie is it opening properly

2. as said before has one of the valves stuck partial open

3 a partial airlock in the heater matrix?

4. are all the correct hoses getting hot in the engine

all the hoses are getting hot and the temp does vary when i put it cold to hot etc..

vag-com threw up no faults (well relating to that!)

its warm when the engines warmed up just not what i'd say hot!

maybe its just the way they are, maybe i'm expecting too much mfrom them!

My 110 TDi on a cold winter morning (around the zero deg C mark) takes about 7-8 miniutes of town driving (sub 30) before it is warm. Normally as I pop up the Ridgeway out of Weymouth does it start to blow some nice warm air onto my frozen fingers.

Parking in a garage overnight helps :-)

Can we clarify? Is this a plain heater, or a Climatronic unit? I've got the climate, and it never gets really hot at any time it would be useful, but does a great job of being warm enough within a few minutes.

ken, it may sound like a daft one but

on your climate I assume that you have put it into the high setting and wacked the fan up as far as it goes. I have found on both the tdi and vrs that they do get really hot . the one thing I do find normaly is that left at 22 that it will not get overly warm but says at a nice constant temprature

mine is standard dial job not the climate..

its warm it just never gets hot... it warms i guess in about 10-15 mins of driving but still isn't really hot just warm!

winter is upon us and i feel the need.....THE NEED FOR HEAT!!!

Is the temp gauge reading 90 degrees?

when its upto temp it sits in the middle which i believe is 90 degree's..

Iain, the only time I want "really hot" is when de-icing, but yes I do set "demist", and sit and sit and sit to get the temperature from the usual 18 or 19 all the way up the digital scale to "hot". Then start in with scrapers and the like and still not get more than warm by the time I'm ready to drive off.

ah yes the screen demister is not the best with the vents in the middle.

the only thing I can say is that it does take a lot longer on the TDi to go warm bur that is becuase the engine is much more thermal efficent

compared to my old petrol vrs my diesel takes twice if not 3 time's as long to warm up properly. There's no substitute for a good petrol engine.

Haven't any problem with my 02 tdi. tend to use the aircon as it is more controlable than the heater. I always have found that if the heater is far to hot for me.