Heater Problems

[Joe Wright]

Hi guys,
I have mentoned this problem before but t's getting a bit annoying as the weather is getting colder. For some reason my temperature dial decided one day to stop going the full extent of it's travel. It wont go all the way to cold and wont go all the way to hot. Checked to see if the water valve in the engine moves and it does. The main problem is the car doesn't get very warm inside,only slightly, even with all the fresh air vents closed. Could it be a bent cable, or does the rad need flushing, new water valve possibly. Its just odd that the dial broke and the heater isn't very warm, unfortunately I haven't owned the car long enough to know whether it used to get hot before the dial broke.
Temperature wise on the car it sits just under the middle on the guage when it's up to temperature so I guess thats fine.
Would appreciate your help, I want to get this fixed before winter.
All the best
Joe

[Jeroen]

Can imagine you want this fixed before the winter really settles. If the heater valve moves freely you can operate it manually to see what it does at one end and at the other. My guess is that both cold and hot are ok, coolant temp is a good indication. If for example the coolant thermostat would be defective the heating wouldn't work, but the engine temp would stay low as well.

I suspect it's one of the clips behind the heater control panel that has come off or perhaps broke off that doesn't allow the heater control to get to the ends.

[Joe Wright]

Thanks again Jeroen,
Ill try and have a look, is the clip close to the rear of the dial and cable? The valve does move freely and moves the dial so all okay there. Ill have a look to see if anything obvious is broken, if you could give me an indication of where and what to look for that would help. I will probably reverse flush the heater as well. All the best. Joe

[Joe Wright]

Just to add. The dial does turn to the ends but then springs back a bit once you let go. Hope that makes sense.
Joe

[Jeroen]

Yep, check behind the dial. With your latest update I'm pretty sure there's the problem...

[Joe Wright]

Thanks very much Jeroen. Ill let you know

[bluebaur]

Joe, i had the same problem. my temp dial was not going full up or down. The temp was not hot, just warm.
The problem on mine was that the clip holding the green cable was broken. I changed the clip and the was it.
I also got my full heat back as well.
Bluebaur.

[Joe Wright]

Hi mate,
Thankyou very much for that. I will have a look at the clip, I know where the green cable is. I reversed flushed the system the other day, I noticed nothing was coming out of the return pipe that runs from the heater to the engine near the bulkhead. After flushing it all through and getting rid of a lot of gunk the difference in heater temperature is incredible. It warms up very nicely inside now but I still want to fix the dial so thanks for your help.
All the best
Joe