Heater doesn't get hot.

[Landy110]

I know there has been some discussion about heaters recently but mine in the Defender only gets luke warm. A few weeks ago I pushed it up Bellbird Hill out of Sydney in third gear and What Tha!!! I got heat. The guage was a bit higher than normal so I reasoned that even though there is a thermostat, there must be because it runs at constant temp. It doesn't run the engine hot enough to make the heater work properly.
Is it normal for the engine to run a bit below half on the temp guage?
The heat was good when it was a bit above half.
I have seen trucks with controlled grille slats or even canvas "blinds" that partially obstruct the air flow.
Has anyone done this? If I do should I leave the airflow to the intercooler uninterrupted?
Or should I get a hotter thermostat?
Steve.

[harry]

are you sure there is a thermostat?
sounds like there isn't.
the thermostat's job is to heat the engine, not to cool it.
it restricts the water flow until the engine reaches temp then opens to allow the radiator and fan to cool it, if there is no thermo, it will take longer for the engine to heat up from cold, and if the radiator and fan are working properly then the engine should never get hot if the thermo isn't working, or not fitted.

[THE 109]

check the coolant temp with a thermometer when hot (at normal running temp) ,it should read above 80deg C.

[discowhite]

my heater starts to get hot once the needle gets out of the blue zone on the gauge. maybe you have a blocked heater core?? when you were going up the hill the angle allowed water past the blockage/restriction??


cheers phil

[chunk]

It sounds like you may have a faulty thermostat (stuck open) or no thermostat at all.

[Landy110]

O.K. I'll check the temp, then if neccessary I'll replace the thermostat and while I'm at it I'll try and see what flow is like through the core but I can't make sense of the plumbing to the heater. It's hard to work out the direction of flow and I don't know what sort of flow there should be but I am mechanical enough to know if the is a significant blokage when I try to run water through it. I believe it is an absolute B**** to remove the heater with A/C fitted.
Steve.

[mcrover]

Sounds to me like the thermostat may be missing or too cold for winter.

Put either a themostat in it or a hotter thermostat in it and just flush your heater core, there will only be an in and an out, the in will have the heater tap on it (in most cases on most cars).

[jimbo110]

You could also have an air lock in your heater, and the angle of going uphill flowed more water through the heater.

[Landy110]

Sounds to me like the thermostat may be missing or too cold for winter.

Put either a themostat in it or a hotter thermostat in it and just flush your heater core, there will only be an in and an out, the in will have the heater tap on it (in most cases on most cars).

The Fender has no heater tap, it's on 24/7 all that happens is a flap directs air through it or around it.
I only ask because it would seem sensible to reverse flush the thing with a hose.
http://http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3500/forumpics020fy5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8809/forumpics019el8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I'm guessing that the hose that comes out of the back of the head is the inlet hose and the one that comes off the radiator hose and runs in a metal tube across the top of the manifold is the outlet. Does anyone know any different?
Steve.

[discowhite]

im happy with that guess!
you might find that the fitting out of the block is rusted out, creating a restriction, and the rust flakes may be stuck in the heater core??

cheers phil

[Landy110]

Thanks.