Heating not working

[AFCB18]

Two problems (which may be connected) with my Golf GTi 2000 X Reg.

First the heating simply doesn't work. The hottest it gets is like a warm(ish) breeze even when on full-blast and the car has been running for 30mins or more.

Second, the car windscreen takes ages to demist. Whether this is related to the previous problem I'm not sure but maybe someone could help?!
Both problems have existed since I bought the car a year ago.

I've solved a water ingress problem so there is no dampness in the car anymore and the carpets are dry.

What could cause these problems? Air in the radiator? Heater Matrix?

I don't really know what to check so any help would be greatly appreicated!

[Crasher]

Does the dash temp gauge read 90 all the time or does it drop when driving?

[AFCB18]

That seems pretty much ok to me. Once warmed up after about 5 minutes or so driving it stays at 90 - I've never noticed it drop at all.

[Crasher]

Possibly the water pump or a blocked matrix.

[AFCB18]

Is there a simple solution to fix this?

I have had a funny smell in the car before now, only when changing from cold air to hot/hot to cold. It's probably best described as 'curry', however I've not noticed this for a few weeks.

[Crasher]

The curry smell is antifreeze, your matrix is leaking.

[AFCB18]

I take it that could be an expensive problem to fix? How much would that affect the working of the car?

Thanks for all your help!

[Crasher]

It is evil to do; the whole dash has to come out. VW’s own time info says just less than 4 hours, which is hysterical, at least I can’t do it that fast! The matrix is £71 genuine. It won’t affect the running of the car but will get worse and could burst and steam up the inside of the car instantly, I have seen this happen-once this week. Bear in mind that you are inhaling antifreeze fumes but at least it should not be ethylene glycol based which can cause kidney damage. The car should have polypropylene based red antifreeze which isn’t so bad.

[AFCB18]

Does the dash temp gauge read 90 all the time or does it drop when driving?

Crasher - Going back to this previous question.

Having done two 3 hour drives over Christmas I've noticed that the gauge doesn't quite read 90. At first it gets pretty much there but after a while it drops and settles between the next two marks to the left.

Does this make any difference to your previous thoughts/suggestions?

Again many thanks for your help!

[Crasher]

It could be the gauge, the sender or the car over cooling. Does the gauge get up to 90 if you let the car warm up at a standstill?

[AFCB18]

It could be the gauge, the sender or the car over cooling. Does the gauge get up to 90 if you let the car warm up at a standstill?


Crasher - sorry in the delayed response to your helpful question! It's taken me a while to find time to do this/ remember to do it!

I tested it this morning. I ran the car from cold at a standstill for 10 minutes. The gauge didn't get up to 90. It got up to the mark to the left (11 o'clock position) but no higher. I then had a 20 minute run in the car during which time the gauge fell to between the 10 & 11 o'clock markers.

Any further thoughts on this issue?

Again many thanks for your help/suggestions - much appreciated!

[Crasher]

I would fit a new genuine VW thermostat first.

[AFCB18]

I would fit a new genuine VW thermostat first.

Because I'm thick...can you explain how the thermostat can affect air temperature? I take it that the thermostat simply stops the system overheating etc, so a faulty one might also stop it getting to full temperature, is that right?!

Would a faulty thermostat show up on a VAG?

:1zhelp:

Cheers

[Crasher]

The thermostat controls the flow of coolant into the radiator to keep the engine at optimum operating temperature, not too hot and not too cold. If the coolant is allowed to flow through the radiator unchecked, this will overcool the engine due to the road draught passing through the radiator. At a standstill, this would not be an issue as the fan would cut in and out as necessary to regulate the temperature. A faulty thermostat will show up on certain models of modern VAG cars as a mapped cooling system error but not yours, on yours it will show itself as a temperature sender issue in some cases but the main fault registered would be a lambda control issue due to over fuelling. The over fuelling occurs due to the temperature sender telling the engine it is colder than it should be at that point and so the engine keeps increasing the fuelling until the lambda sensor shuts down and then the fuelling really goes rich.