In car heater not working.......

Hi everyone, I'm a new member so hello. I'm looking for some advice on a problem with my Golf. It's a 1.6 CL petrol 5door 1995 model.

The in car heater recently stopped blowing hot air when on (only blows cold) and the car overheated. The RAC said it was the thermostat, so I replaced the thermostat, but this still hasn't solved the problem.

The outlet pipes from the radiator are getting hot as expected, the fan kicks in when required, the matrix pipes are getting hot as expected, but the car is still overheating and blowing cold air through the fan.

I'm at a loss - any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds like it may either have a air lock in the system or possibly your head gasket has gone ?

1/ are both the top and bottom radiator hoses and/or the top and bottom of the radiator getting hot ?
2/ are both the heater hoses getting hot ?
3/ have you tried back flushing the system out ?
4/ is there water circulation ?

Thanks for your reply Kev3dr,

1/ are both the top and bottom radiator hoses and/or the top and bottom of the radiator getting hot ?
Yes, they are both hot.

2/ are both the heater hoses getting hot ?
Yes, they are both hot.

3/ have you tried back flushing the system out ?
Yes, tried that.

4/ is there water circulation ?
As far as I can tell, but someone mentioned an 'impellar' in the water pump which may have busted.

I've garaged the dam thing now as am fed up with spending time in this cold weather under the bonnet, so hopefully a resolution will be forthcomming!! (jess kisses his teeth and says........'Gonna cost ya mate'.

Thanks for the advice though. All the best. J.

These breakdown people can be muppets, the thermostats control is outside of the heater circuit, it prevents water flow to the radiator not to the heater matrix. That symptom is classic water pump impeller failure. If it wasn't overheating I would say it was a blocked heater matrix and head gasket failure is still possible but I would do the water pump first. The water pump is driven off the cam belt on the 95 1.6.

Maybe the gasket has gone, I think it also :(

Can I ask you something: 10 minutes after you start the car if you try to squeeze the top and bottom radiator hoses are they hard as a stone? If it it so you have air in the cooling system.

How often do you pour liquid in the cooling system? I mean does the liquid from the cooling system "dissappear" without any visible blead or leak from the cooling system?

First when you start your motor with open pessure cap of the cooling system and keep 2500 rpm and look into the cooling vessel do you see bubles?

Maybe the gasket has gone, I think it also :(

Can I ask you something: 10 minutes after you start the car if you try to squeeze the top and bottom radiator hoses are they hard as a stone? If it it so you have air in the cooling system.

How often do you pour liquid in the cooling system? I mean does the liquid from the cooling system "dissappear" without any visible blead or leak from the cooling system?

First when you start your motor with open pessure cap of the cooling system and keep 2500 rpm and look into the cooling vessel do you see bubles?

If the termostat is defected in open state then you won't have overheating, but if the termostat is defected in close state you will have overheating and you will have good heating in the car:)

When I had such problems with my Opel I made the following: The engine was cold. I removed cooling system pressure cap and started the motor for a couple of minutes untill the temperature is still below 80 celsius degrees. And beleive I HAD HEATING in this case!!!

But it could be water pump - less capacityр but it's less possible