caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Ok - two naughty words here in one question - heater 'why do you need a heater...blah blah blah and radweld - which I accept can be nasty stuff.... ...anyway, our heater has stopped working in its normal 'scorched shin' efficient way. In the recent past I used some radweld, which succesfully stopped a water leak in my radtec ali radiator. Could the heater itself have become 'blocked' with 'stuff' so that although it blows air, it is not allowing an effcient through-flow of hot coolant? Any ideas, and can the 'core' of the heater itself be restored or serviced in any way. www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted October 3, 2005 Support Team Share Posted October 3, 2005 I suspect the Radweld is a likely cause of the problem and I doubt re-coring would be cost effective. I am sure I have seen second hand heaters for sale on here - all those weight saving types ditching them. The usual problem with the s/h ones is the securing tabs have broken, but this is easily remedied by rivetting a bit of right angle ali to the case. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 our securing pads went miles and miles ago wasn't thinking of anything as drastic as re-coring - more removal and an 'air-line' blast sort of thing? www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Locust Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 'Radflush'. Might unseal the radweld out of the radiator though. Ian Green and Silver Roadsport 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted October 3, 2005 Support Team Share Posted October 3, 2005 I suspect I'm about to try and teach you to suck eggs but...is the valve opening fully? The cable could have stretched or moved. Or perhaps the valve itself is the bit that is blocked? Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 yep - did check the valve, and it is operating on full 'swing' - but I had also thought that perhaps that was blocked - it does look like it has quite a small bore. www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted October 3, 2005 Support Team Share Posted October 3, 2005 Yes the bore is quite small and when I last looked at mine it was pretty badly corroded. I was having the reverse problem in that I couldn't get it to switch off. Adjusting the cable worked to a certain extent but I'm sure I'm still getting warm air coming in when the valve is closed. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old captain slow Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 I realise this is the wrong answer, but I've run without a heater in all weathers for the last 3 years and it's fine! Bite the bullet and ditch it. Save a couple of kilos too! C7 CDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DohNut Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Angus First I would disconnect the heater, you are less likely to screw anything else up if it goes wrong. (sods law not your cack handedness ) Flush it through both directions with your hose, turn it upsidedown and shake it about etc. Depending on the amount of gunk that was removed you may have fixed it or try and use some of the rad clean stuff which is usually an acid which dissolves the iron oxide. Given that your engine is alloy as is your rad quite how effective it may be I dont know. If it did not look like it did anything then try again with very hot water. Weather it will take off the radweld is another matter again. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Check the valve as they can play up / not open fully by way of the cable. As others have said any use of rad clean would be bet done with the heater off the car. You then have the fun of lifting the car up singlehandly to bleed the air out Hants (north) / Berkshire club here Area meeting pics here My Racing here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 cheers all - from my first post.... 'why do you need a heater...blah blah blah - yep david - wrong answer yes I know you don't need a heater, but fact is it is very effective - particularly when you use your car like we do - for example a few weekends ago, leaving the house at 4am on the first frosty night of the winter season, en route to the Ring. I don't care how hard you are or how much weight you want to save - a 4 hour trip like that with heater is just more comfortable. So there. 😬 www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Edited by - angus&tessa on 3 Oct 2005 14:51:20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 I mean more comfortable for Tessa, obviously www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazerBrain Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Just a thought - if the heater is blocked AND you have the heater valve open then wouldn't your engine coolant temp rise dramatically as there'd be no coolant flow? I guess the coolant can only bypass the heater when the heater valve is closed. I'm not sure whether it'd be best to blast air or water through the disconnected heater. Years ago when I moved house my domestic water heater (which uses a fairly crap heat exchanger) was blocked. We fixed that by disconnecting it and connecting a hose pipe to each of the pipes in turn and blasting water through until a large amount of sludge was torpedoed into the waiting bucket! cheers, Darren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 3, 2005 Author Share Posted October 3, 2005 Hi Darren - understand what you are saying. Heater isn't 'not working' at all, just not as good as usual, so I think its just 'slightly' blocked. Anyway - took about 4 minutes to take it off - bleed T fitting means you can just unplug the heater (which is now raised nice and high) and plug the two pipes back together again on the bleed T I'll have a look tomorrow at work and blow it through, see if the pipes have furred up! www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangely Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 When my (1996 fresh air) heater sprang a leak we replaced the core with one from a Mini, I think. It wasn't quite as warm because it was brass rather than ali, IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old captain slow Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Southern softy C7 CDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 🙆🏻 😬 ....anyway - have actually discovered that the car is warmer without the heater in place! Bloody great big hole through the scuttle bulkhead allows lovely warm air through from the engine bay Not so sure how dry I would stay in the wet though 😬....so actually, you non-heater boys are actually far bigger girls blouses 😬 www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted October 5, 2005 Author Share Posted October 5, 2005 Even warmer this morning when one of the remaining hoses split slightly (the one that goes from the top of the heater down towards the thermostat) - the old rubber did not take kindly to me bending it on a different curve to the one it had sat at for the last 10 years! Cue lots of steam and rather hot water gushing down onto my leg through the big hole in the scuttle left by the removed heater!! No burns, and easy to stop as I was in a que of traffic at the time, about 200 metres from work. I'll be replacing all those hoses with silicon ones as soon as I can. www.mycaterham.com here 87,756 miles in 4 years - 1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Angus, my first 7 had a curious opening flap rigged up by the previous owner with a little pull cord to operate. Trouble was when heat was needed and the flap was opened the fumes from the XF were intolerable. The heat when the weater was serious cold was nonexistant. I sheeted it over... Race cars are sometimes scrutineered to check that no flammable liquid can come into the cockpit. Spose hot water is close... Hants (north) / Berkshire club here Area meeting pics here My Racing here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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