hello guys,

i'm having some trouble with the heater on my 1.4 8v 2003 fabia, where i sometimes get warm air most of the times i get cold but never hot.

i thought at first it has something to do with a faulty thermostat cause the water temp doesnt go up to the middle and usually stay at the minumim reading. but even when it does reach the required tem the air is still cold, and when it does blow hot air it is not related to the water temp reading.

any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks,

Feras Arabiat

My advice, seeing how you have the 1.4 8v engine, is to replace the coolant temperature sensor and thermostat housing in one go. You can get the parts as a kit, and they would be the first things to look at anyway for the sorts of problems you describe. I did a technical guide for replacing the sensor only, here, although the housing is the part that the sensor sits in, so all you'd need to do extra to what's in the guide is drain the coolant (the drain's on the bottom corner of the radiator), unbolt / disconnect and replace the housing and sensor, and refill the coolant system.

If you're having problems with the air conditioning (if you have it) not blowing really cold, then it's probably this...

thanks ap0gee.

I called the local dealer and explained the problem, they lady suggested that it might be a "heater radiator" which is located somewhere in the dashboard.. does such a thing even exist?

also, i have problems setting the air circulation on, which either doesnt work or works for a minute then disconnects. i never looked into it coz i dont use it much but could it be part of the problem?

The recirculation problem may be because the motors that control the recirculation system need resetting using VAG-COM or the dealer's diagnostic tool. If you're unlucky, they may need replacing entirely, however I think someone posted instructions on how to do that on this site recently. The 'heater radiator' sounds like the dealer is trying to describe the heater matrix. I don't know enough about the heater matrix to help, but if you search the site, you should get plenty of info (plus stuff about the Keanu Reeves movie, of course! )

HTH