vn heater not working

[onlinejames]

My dads heater isnt working, so t checked the heater tap, and its not working , inside is on hot and there isnt any vacuum to the tap also there doesnt seem to be any hot water getting to the tap , its a 4 hose tap
The top hose point goes to a metal pipe on the motor and goes to the front of the motor, it also goes to the bottom of the overflow bottle( what eva its called ), i removed the top hose to find no water came out , started the car and after a while just got steam coming out, no water coming out of the tap or hose
has anyone got any ideas whats wrong, and where is the thermostat located
is there any links to a step by step guide to how to remove heater core without taking out the dash, did that once with my xr6 swore to never do it again LOL
also yeah it has issues LOL, the fuel gauge isnt accurate for some reason and the speedo looks like its not working then suddenly it jumps up and works fine, any ideas ???
thanks guys

[88GreenVN]

I'd look at the vac lines first of all.

Is the heater rod connected properly.

[calais_cruzin]

The thermostat will be at the back of the motor behind the throttle body, u have a S1 motor as ur overflow has the pipe at the bottom. It has a screw down cap right?

Just follow where the top radiator hose leads, the thermostat will be under the hose mount at the motor.

Also i would hold or tie the heater tap open, run the car and see if the heater works, or if all 4 hose's at the heater tap feel hot.

[onlinejames]

heater rod is ok, the vacuum line runs inside the car, not sure where it goes from there, has no vacuum at all
yea it has a screw down cap, i actually put a cable tie on it and ran for a while till the temp got to half and the hoses werent hot, could easily hold them, the one that runs to the motor, the top hose which also runs to the water doesnt get hot, when i disconnected it , i got no water just steam, i later had to put 4L of water in the car as it was low but i didnt lose that much water, even with the motor running i had no water out of that hose to the motor, the water bottle had water in it too

[88GreenVN]

vac line runs to the vac ball under the front left gaurd.

[onlinejames]

i seen that, it runs from motor to t piece one that goes into car, the other under guard, there is vacuum to that line, where does it go from the guard, how do i trace it back to heater tap
thanks guys

[calais_cruzin]

how hot is the car gettin, does it over heat. it should be by what ur sayin.

you should have water comin out that top hose if the gauge is above the 1st notch

if it is n only steam comin out you have no water pressure to circulate the water, heater wont work also car will over heat. New water pump

[onlinejames]

i havnt driven it far but only goes half way when driving, my dad never complained about over heating though, was low in water, if the hose that connects to the water bottle and heater tap had pressure wouldnt it come out of the water bottle?

[centy]

very simple.
fill with water, then do everything up tight.
Run till hot then squeeze the top radiator hose.
If it is soft then you have a leak if it is cold then no water is circulating.
these engines run about 90 deg c.
You have to bleed the system when you fill it to.

[onlinejames]

any special way to bleed it?

[cameron20020]

hmm i had somthing similar, turned out to be a combination of having no thermostat, AND the heater core was blocked, so i just flushed the bastard out with my garden hose, works pretty good now..

ALSO, correct me if im wrong, but on my vn, the valve is circulating water to the heater when there is NO vacuum applied to it, this also got me when i was looking for the problem. try unplugging the vac hose see if the coolant flows, and also check if theres a blockage in the core

[onlinejames]

undone a hose to the heater core and ran the car with no water and after a while i started to get water coming out, i believe it may have had a air pocket in the heater core if thats possible, also i noticed while driving the temp never gets off the bottom mark, when im at idle the temp gets to the 1st mark and i have heat coming from the heater, which makes me think there is no thermostat

[onlinejames]

is it hard to get at the thermostat?? just the one bolt??

[calais_cruzin]

2 bolts, very hard to get to, right behind the 3800, u can see the hose at the back, there a pain to change on S1

[skunks.monks]

My heater didnt work, turns out it was disconnected cos the pipes were ****ed and so was the heater core..