interior heating problems on a mk1

[chadhele]

I have just brought a mk1 clio off a friend of mine to keep insurance down whilst points are still on license and when i brought it off him he adviced m on looking at the heating as he was having problems with it!

Problem: Cold/slighty warm air comes out of heater vents when you are driving along then when you are sat still ie. at traffic lights it blows out warm air....

I have put a new thermostat in the car but made a slight difference but still blowing cold air, any help will be most appriciated

Thanks,

Chad

 

[cat171]

The heaters on mk1's are notoriously sh*te. Give the radiator a flush through & go from there.

It could be the old dreaded, blocked matrix though.

 

[chadhele]

i will drain the coolant out on friday wen im next free after work and make sure it is all drained out from rad

 

[cat171]

Yeah give the rad a good flush through (I bet the water comes out a rust colour) flush it through both ways (from the top & the bottom)

I did it on years ago when I had a mk1 & the temp it put out doubled (I tested the temp before & after) it still wasn't spot on, but it was a lot better.

 

[whatthefudge]

yeah my heater didnt work at all, flushed the system got alot of rust, but it still wasnt flowing well.

you can feel the pipe going into the bulkhead, if it's too blocked up it'll stay pretty cold near the bulkhead and hot at the engine end.

my solution was buying a new heater matrix, fitting it takes hours though as you have to strip the whole facia off inside the car to get to it.

found mine was gunked up to no end, now its got a new one its seriously hot!! =)

edit: the parts guy mentioned you're supposed to use renault coolant or it'll corrode pretty quick but i dont know how necessary that is.

 

[chadhele]

ok cheers people, i do get warm heat tho but not everytime so might jsut flush system

 

[cat171]

Yeah give it a flush through & see if the temp improves.

 

[TomTom]

As Cat said heater matrixs are pretty common, my old RT one was knackered but its too much of a ball ache to change. I crashed it before it got out of hand.

 

[cat171]

my old RT one was knackered but its too much of a ball ache to change. I crashed it before it got out of hand.

That's one way of making sure you don't have to replace it.

 

[chadhele]

lol

will do that thursday morning then as got day off work,

 

[rctempire]

You can also flush the heater matrix if you attach a hose from the hose from the matrix itself. Then flush it out.

I took my radiator out and flushed it that way and it seemed to go clean after a good few flushes.

 

[chadhele]

thats what im going to do, take the rad out and flush it from top to bottom aswell

 

[JonniP]

make sure you bleed the system after, i flushed my whole system the other day for the same problem and it really helped, i didn't bother with draining the piston block i just flushed it ou gradually with water. my engine is different to yours though only one bleed screw on the rad, i think you have three bleed screws.

 

[chadhele]

dunno will have to have a look, there is a switch of some sort on the rad but dunno what that does