Hi guys, I noticed this morning that my car wasn't throwing out any heat from the heaters after the engine reached normal temps. However after about 10 mins it started to blow hot air out untill I came to a stop and then the air cooled right down to ambient temp. As soon as I pulled away the air got hot again. If I put the air con on cold it works fine. Any ideas why the heater is warm only while driving????? I have checked the coolant level and everything else with the car seems normal. I have noticed that the air pressure coming out of the vents above the stereo seem a little weak untill you stat driving. Cheers Beavis
is it on ECON? This relies on air pressure from driving to get the air into the cabin as opposed to the blower. This would explain your symptoms. How are your operating temps? Must be around 80 degrees C. Though I doubt you would have suck spikes in your coolant temps.
Thanks for the reply, I am sure I didn't have econ on, I will double check. Operating temperatures seem normal. The fan in the roof makes some noises sometimes and the ambient temperature sensor reads a couple of degrees higher that the proper temperature outside. I think this is due to the outside temp sensor being loose. I will try the heaters on with the ECON off and see if it starts behaving its self. Is it worth running the Air Con diognostics from the manual? What are suck spikes? Cheers Chris
Econ doesn't affect the airflow - it just swtiches off the AC compressor, everything else works as normal. Start with the Diagnostics from the manual - it'll tell you if there are sensor issues - if the computer is getting the wrong info, it will be telling the air to go to the wrong place... could also be any number of flaps which have jammed/failed.
I just ran through throught all the diagnostic checks and everything seems to be in order. It seems to only blow hot air when the car is moving. As soon as you stop the air cools down. Doesn't matter what settings you have it on. Any other idea's? Beavis
Right, Checked coolant level and all seems fine. Couldn't top it up anymore. Heaters/Climate control works perfect until I stop then the air slowly turns cold. Anything in the car tell the climate control its moving? Cheers Beavisjem
Coolant/Heating/AC issues....HELP!!! Hi guys, I have been trying to sort out what is going on with my car and I now need to get some advice on which direction to go. It all started off with no heating......... So I originally checked the coolant and it was fine. Went to work yesterday and re checked the the coolant. It was down....alot. I managed to get about 2 litres of water into the car before it wouldn't accept any more. Drove it again today and found that the coolant level has dropped. This time I could get about a litre in. So..... I have a coolant leak Now I spent tonight trying to find the source of the issue. The only water I could see under the car was near the passenger side front wheel. It was dripping off some of the undercarriage. So as I don't have a trolly jack, or axel stands I don't trust the standard jack to be safe while I look under my car. So action 1........ Take car to garage, put it on a hoist and check for leak. This was going to be the plan until I came home from picking up the girlfriend. On the 5 minute drive home I noticed the front screen was starting to mist up so I put on the AC and it cleared straight away. When I stopped the books and papers my girlfriend had put in the passenger footwell were soaked. One unhappy g/f To be honest the car did have a warm smell about it, Like coolant leaking into the cabin....... But the water was stone cold on the books and on the carpet. Also the Air con has been gurgling and sounding like darth vader for the last couple of months. So... what are the likely issues I may have????? I think I am going to do plenum pull and replace all water hoses. I need to work out if the water in the passenger footwell is from the aircon or from the heater core. Any help advice would be great Cheers Beavis
Your heater core is leaking Chris, very common, yoiu are just lucky you didnt get boiling water dumping on your bare feet in seconds like i did, the heater core is not easy to remove so the easiest thing to do is to blank it off at the motor. The proper fix is of course to remove and replace the heater core, but as i said its not a fun job
Those are the 2 big giveaways that its the heater core (well other than the coolant level dropping!) As Niall says - bypass it in the engine bay to confirm, and its a fun dash out job to replace...... Mine went very slowly - leaked for about 3 years before I got round to replacing it - I also had the gurgle in the dash on startup as it used to get air in the system overnight....
If your Zed is an auto, you can change out the heater core without removing the dash, but it's still not a trivial job. If you are not handy with a spanner, get your zed mechanic to do it. Replacement cores can be obtained from Philip Radiators in Canberra.
while this isn't from z32 experience, I have the same thing happen in my daily (VN commo). As far as i can tell with mine, its because of the power draw of the heater fan/blower, at night with headlights, rear dimmister, stereo and such, the alternator doesn't but out enough power at idle for everything to run 100%, so the lights dim slightly, and the heater blower slows, but when you increase revs pwoer output goes up, and eveything works better again. so in short, either your draining to much power, or maybe your alternator is on its way out, but either way it could be an electrical problem. hope this helps EDIT: after reading ^above, with coolant dropping, probably not an electrical thing heater core it is i'm afraid :S
