Bloody heater ................or not

[HarryW]

Question for you seasoned Cerb tinkerer's .
I realise the oil cooler doesn't have a thermostat, but whats the water thermostat like on your motor. I'm trying to judge if mines stuck open. Been out Friday and Sunday into the night (don't get me started on how bright/dim are the headlights are, that's a different post ). The water temp drops down to 70 whilst cruising its bloody parky in the cabin with the other drafts when its below freezing outside is it normal or is it a case of TADTS .
To top it all off the hot fan seems to have stopped working, cold works fine is it duff or is it linked to something clever in the ECU that stops it working when there is not enough heat , pointers tips mucho appreciated.

[sonnylad]

Best way to check is to keep an eye on guage when warming up over the 80deg mark, cos when the thermo actually opens the temp will drop slightly as the rush of cooler water runs around before rising again.

It a good indicator also for opening temp that should be 85 deg, but due to original fitment being hard to source many owners are fitting alternatives wrongly guided by spare parts list that gives thermostat with opening temp of 80 deg.

[paul.a]

I know it may sound stupid of me but it was after 2 years of ownership before i realised that there was a vent on the left hand side down towards my feet and when i opened it hey presto i found warm air still cold when making progress though

[Dave 500]

Mine's nice and hot it does take a good 5 to 10 mins of driving to get it up to temp though. Mine even on really cold days like at the moment still runs at 90 and up to 105 in traffic.

[Ireland]

Mine runs about 70* and it's cold as hell in mine too.

It does rise in traffic.

It's interesting to see that 80* and 85* have been mentioned as mine never reaches that.

Is that really what it should be?

[volospian]

Mine has been running, on these last few subzero days, at not much over an indicated 60. Normally it runs between 70 and 80 but does rise in traffic.

[Tanguero]

I seem to recall a thread about modifying the airflow for the heater, so it recirculated air from the cabin instead of icy air from outside. I havn't been able to find it though.

Mine heats fine under 40 but at 70 the air coming through is freezing.

[WIL35]

The recirculating heater mod was posted in this Topic by Robertjp, sounds like a worthwhile modification. Has anyone else done it or had it done?

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

[SimonSparrow]

Another thing that helps is to block of the cold air intake, which is the little half-moon shaped cutout below the drivers side indicator at the front. I've used a squishy rubber ball for this. Otherwise as speed increases, the cold air will open the flap in the mixer box underneath the stereo and you'll never get warm.

I'll probably partially block off the airflow to the oil cooler too, as I've noticed that unless the oil gets warm, the inside of the car never does.

[HarryW]

Cheers for the reply's and link on the heater fan tips. I think I'll mainly be in the passenger footwell this weekend.
Re the thermostat, I've been told I have a new 87 deg one fitted so it 'shouldn't' be stuck open, but then again its a TVR .

[jbvipercerb]

Back to the thermostat part of HarryW's question, is the stat. in the cannister on the nearside radiator pipes? I can't see any other place for it, but I've seen pictures of the thermostat and it looks just like a "normal" one!
Does the cannister have to be taken apart to change the stat. or is it all changed as one unit?
My heater and water temp. does just the same as Harry's, goes cold when driving in cold weather and I'd like to check the stat. for operation and even see what it looks like for myself.

[volospian]

SimonSparrow said:

Another thing that helps is to block of the cold air intake, which is the little half-moon shaped cutout below the drivers side indicator at the front. I've used a squishy rubber ball for this. Otherwise as speed increases, the cold air will open the flap in the mixer box underneath the stereo and you'll never get warm.

I'll probably partially block off the airflow to the oil cooler too, as I've noticed that unless the oil gets warm, the inside of the car never does.

That sounds like a good plan. It seems a little less... permanent... than the "fix"

[SimonSparrow]

volospian said:

SimonSparrow said:

Another thing that helps is to block of the cold air intake, which is the little half-moon shaped cutout below the drivers side indicator at the front. I've used a squishy rubber ball for this. Otherwise as speed increases, the cold air will open the flap in the mixer box underneath the stereo and you'll never get warm.

I'll probably partially block off the airflow to the oil cooler too, as I've noticed that unless the oil gets warm, the inside of the car never does.

That sounds like a good plan. It seems a little less... permanent... than the "fix"

I just take the rubber ball out in the spring and chuck it in the boot.

I've also done the mod on the passenger side to recirculate the air and have blocked off the inner wing with expanding foam.