Ford Scorpio Forum - Print Page


    
      
        Ford Scorpio Forum
        (https://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl)
      

        General >> Problems >> Luke-warm heat from blower
        
(Message started by: ekim168 on Jan 29^th, 2011, 4:10pm)

Title: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by ekim168 on Jan 29^th, 2011, 4:10pm

Hi all again, noticed that the heater is only producing luke-warm heat, have tried the CC reset and topped up the coolant but still no joy, any ideas?

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Jonnycab on Jan 29^th, 2011, 4:14pm

Are the in & out pipes from the heater matrix both hot ?.....If the outlet is cold or cooler than the in, then sounds like a possible matrix blockage :(..... Or you may be lucky & the matrix could just have an airlock :)

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by ekim168 on Jan 29^th, 2011, 7:09pm

will check those pipes tomorrow, if it is an air lock how can i clear it?

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Mike H on Jan 30^th, 2011, 1:44pm

May seem like a silly question, what's the coolant level in the header tank? Only 'cause it came up recently if it's down to the bottom or less, heater output tends to be down as well. Also may not be any good just looking through the side 'cause what looks like the level is actually a stain, need to take the cap off and look in.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Simmo on Jan 30^th, 2011, 3:48pm

The header tank should have clear markings on the inner edge of both minimum and maximum. Look at the front of the tank near the air intake pipes.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Mike H on Jan 31^st, 2011, 3:23pm

Yes I know, but it's useless if there's a brown stain up to where the correct level is supposed to be! It "hides" the actual water content ;D

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Simmo on Jan 31^st, 2011, 5:15pm

If it's that bad why not take it right off. Plug the outlet and put some warm water and bleach in there. That should remove the 'stains'. ;)

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Mike H on Feb 11^th, 2011, 5:43pm

Ta for the suggestion, when I get five minures or several ;D

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Glyn on Feb 14^th, 2011, 2:23pm

Had same problem. Had to flush matrix and no massive improvement until 3 weeks later when the airlock finally cleared. Now great, air temps of 60c regularly warm at last !!
Glyn

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Marc1978 on Feb 20^th, 2011, 10:23am

I'm having the same trouble with mine. Just had the engine out so took the opportunity to check the matrix while I was at it, and everything is fine and there are no blockages. I tried the cc reset before I took the engine out and still having the same issues.

Any ideas?

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Tompion on Feb 20^th, 2011, 11:21am

How do you know the matrix is OK?
Unfortunately free flowing water from a hose pipe through the matrix isn’t a good indication of its efficiency.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Marc1978 on Feb 20^th, 2011, 12:56pm

I drew the conclusion it was okay as I removed it and could see no visible issues of wear/cracks etc. I figured if engine is out, the dash can come out as well seeing as I had to reroute wiring for the autobox and also replace the plastic wood trim facia and stereo.

Also, I noticed, it's not consisantly luke warm. Occassionally it did blow hotter, but not very often.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Tompion on Feb 20^th, 2011, 1:13pm

I’d have changed it having got that far. There’s no way of checking it visually, they have plastic spirals inside that break up, flushing might/might not work – just depends what’s going on inside.

Here's one cut open the blockage you can see in the waterway at the bottom 3rd from the right is compacted plastic (which means in this instance scale remover wouldn’t shift it).

http://i.imgur.com/JAJkBUm.jpg

Of course this may not be your problem, does the engine get up to temperature - needle on the gauge horizontal?

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Marc1978 on Feb 20^th, 2011, 3:59pm

Thanks for the pic. To answer your question, car comes up to temperature a treat and sits bang on half way on the guage.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Tompion on Feb 20^th, 2011, 4:26pm

Do both the pipes to/from the matrix get really hot, testing by hand you shouldn’t be able to detect any difference in temperature.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by L6ENY on Feb 21^st, 2011, 9:57am

Had the same problem with my 24v, previous owner had done all the resets and flushing still nothing, when I bought the car it was in the summer so never checked the heater, winter came no heat, most members said matrix and thats what I thought but befor I went to the expense of having this done tried putting some non bio washing powder in the header tank(two large cups) run the car for about two weeks still nothing coming through, flushed the system bingo heat the sludge that came out was unreal :o been working perfect ever since, HTH It worked for me :) Cheers Len

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by ernie on Feb 22^nd, 2011, 10:41am

Were the pipes disconnected recently for any reason. They have to be the right way round. Also I came across a car a while back, both pipes getting nice and hot but water just had a Chanel from one pipe to the other, rest of matrix solid with sludge.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Tompion on Feb 22^nd, 2011, 2:03pm

Yes, both hot proves nothing either way. One cooler to the touch shows a problem.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by Malcolm73 on Feb 22^nd, 2011, 3:39pm

I have previously posted my vain attempts at clearing a heater matrix on my Scorpio 24v ultima.. I disconnected the two rubber hoses and using 15mm domestic copper pipe and flexible hose extensions I pumped hot radiator flushing agents forwards and by revering the pump backwards. Negligible debris cam out although the liquids became slightly discoloured.. The flushing agents moved into the bucket reservoir at a very high rate, as fast as if connected to the cold water main. Any initial improvement was short lived and a new matrix had to be fitted. The old matrix was blocked by disintegrating plastic from the spirals as shown in Tompion’s earlier photograph. From this situation a new matrix is apparently the only solution.

Title: Re: Luke-warm heat from blower
Post by L6ENY on Feb 22^nd, 2011, 4:28pm

Quite agree no amount of flushing will cure a collapsed matrix, but in my case it worked :) so always worth a try ;) maybe I should change my name to lucky ;D Len.