How to get heater working

[hittmann81]

OK..... I'm a newb as far as Commy's go. This is the first one that I have owned. I have a VK that blows beautiful freezing cold air when its hot but cant for the life of me figure out how to make it blow hot. I've screwed with the settings and the best i've managed is freezing cold air con air. It seems that whatever setting I have it on it's blowing cold even when the temp gauge is about 1/4.

I remember seeing a diagram somewhere on air con / heater settings for the VK. I bought a gregory's which for some reason they totally leave out air con and heater.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Sounds like either the heater core is blocked or the tap under the bonnet is not working. Make sure the heater hoses are actually there and connected too. They will be the two black rubber hoses about 20mm in diameter running fron the front of the engine to the fire wall on the passenger side.

[hittmann81]

Heater hoses are definitely there I had a hard time squeezing my 8 guage amp power cable beside them.

Now.....How to I check this heater core and tap you speak of?

[vkberlina]

can you move the cold to heat lever ont he aircon controls? If its really easy to move you might have a problem with the cable that controls the heater tap. The heater tap is located inder the dash between the blower fan and the transmission tunnel.
If the cable if moving the heater tap, you might have a blockage in your thermostat housing or heater core.

I do have some aircon/heater related info on my site

cheers
scott

[hittmann81]

I am prety sure that the cable/tap is working because I hear the vaccumm shut off then back on when it changes over from cold to hot. I will check out your site for info. thanks.

[vkberlina]

It isnt vacuum controlled, its contreolled by a cable, visually check its opperation.

cheers
Scott

[hittmann81]

I pulled the the under part of the dash out on that side and the tap seems to be opening and closing fine with the cable.

I think I have another problem though which is a vacuum problem. I think whoever had the car before me pulled it apart and put the lines back on wrong. On vent i get cold air on floor i get a hissing vacuum leak on demister i get nothing. I pulled them on and off and it gave me different scenarios but still nothing that worked for everything.... too many combinations.

How do I know where these lines are actually meant to be. The only one with a number tag on it is #3..... i have 4 lines left over and 4 open spaces. 1 line is larger in external diameter than the others. I am guessing this is the main vacuum line #4

[vkberlina]

Have a look on my site I have full documentation on what hoses go where. If you suck on each hose you can see what vents are opened and closed to identify thir numbers.

cheers
Scott

[hittmann81]

I think i managed to get them all back in the right places but it's weird still.

When the tap is on cold i get air from the vents.... I move it to vent and i get air from my demister? I move it to floor and i get floor and on demister i get a sound like its trying yo blow air somewhere but no air from anywhere. Oh and I hear some fan turn on under the bonnet when its on demister too. Dunno what it is though I haven't had time to take another look into it yet. On hot i still get cold air..... will give the HC a flush out over the weekend.

Becomming a pro at pulling this dash apart and putting it back together though.

[hittmann81]

I pulled the heater hoses off at the water pump end they were full of crap. cleaned out till it ran clear also flushed the radiator and block also. I think the thermostat is jammed closed? I ran the car for about 10 mins. The car isn't running hot Top heater hose is hot to touch but the heater hoses themselves are cold.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Is this with the tap open? If it is then I would say you have a blocked heater core. Did you run water through the heater hoses?

[hittmann81]

Yes with the tap open. I flushed the heater core out and water was flowing freely through it.