heater question and antifreeze question

[tick73]

hi

my mk2 only blows out very slightly warm air, even after 30 mins of driving. last year she was fine, blew out nice and hot.
when the slider is in the cold position, its how it should be, but slide it over, only a miniscule change.
the coolent level is fine, so is not lack of coolent. any ideas?


also, is it worth putting more than 50% mixture of antifreeze into the system? as the stuff i got ( recommend for pre 96 vw's) says maximum mix of 50/50. so would it do any harm in using more or would it be just wasting money? and if you did use more is there a chance of overheating?

[phil miller]

hi mate a 50/50 mix of antifreeze is more than strong enough mate, as for your heater do both heater hose's get hot? if they do, id check the lever is moving on the heater box, it could be something as simple as the cable has come off, if the lever works fine and both hose's get warm/hot then it could be the matrix, a simple flow check would give a good idea as to if the matrix is blocked, hope this helps bud

[Boardboy]

Tick73 have a look where the heater pipes go through from the engine bay in to the car. Have you got two inline valves on the hoses's with a small hose that bridges the other two hose's? If you have: the chances are one or both those in line valves have failed. I can't think what they are called. I think they are used to stop the flow if the heater matrix fails suddenly. Apparently they play up. I removed them both and used some copper pipe to replace them.
Hope this helps

[tick73]

it has that kind of set up, with the smaller hose that goes inbetween. im off work tomorrow, so, i will take the valves off and give them a good inspection, is it ok to get rid of these and bridge the gaps?

[Boardboy]

That's what I did. I had the same problem little or no heat coming out of the heater.

Good luck.

[Crasher]

If you remove the recall fitted heater check valves, you MUST install the Golf 3 upgraded heater matrix from a reputable manufacturer such as Valeo. If you don’t there is significant risk that the heater matrix WILL burst and spray boiling hot coolant all over your feet and instantly mist up the inside of the car to the point that you cannot see. This is no joke on the motorway and a boiling hot foot spa is not a nice experience. I am not kidding here either, I have seen numerous Golf 2 heater matrixes explode over the years and I have had it happen to myself twice.

[nirms]

Thanks for the speedy replies to all.

Blocked matrix it is then.

A bit more info. I had a new matrix fitted Jan 2011 as old one was leaking. I will try to upload picture later.

At the time heating was as poor as it is now but I put this down to leaking matrix and as I soon discovered a few other minor leaks.

I had a new rad fitted as old one had major leaks.

After new matrix was fitted the heating was still poor. All leaks are sorted now and coolant level is rock solid.

Out of curiosity what causes the matrix to get blocked?

I was thinking of trying to flush the matrix out and if successful then replacing with fresh water anti freeze mix.

From reading previous threads on here and your replies I may have more than one problem.

When I bought the matrix, in the box was matrix and a thin long type strip which I assumed was some type of gasket that fits round the matrix, there was nothing else as you have mentioned.

Would the fitter have used the old foam seal that fits around the matrix? I assume this is what you meant in your post.

[Crasher]

The matrix gets blocked by system debris, it needs seriously flushing out BUT it is impossible to flush the matrix once blocked due to its top flow design.

[nirms]

Gutted!

So for near on 3 years after getting new matrix fitted with no improvement in heat. System was dirty and blocked new matrix up.

I don't know what to say, I can't even complain to garage as its been so long.