It's cold!

[wtpfrd]

Not sure if this should be in this section or the electrical section - sorry!

I've got a 1998, 406 2.1TD - no climate control, just the normal heater controls - and it's always been quick to heat up in the morning, meaning I'm normally nice and warm by the time I get to the end of the street. For some reason this morning even by the time I got to work, with the heater on full, it was still blowing out relatively cold air.

Is there any explanation??

Thanks!

[jameslxdt]

your thermostat is probably stuck open, there only about £9 from the dealer and are easy as fook to change

[mjb]

Check your coolant level is topped up and if necessary bleed it at the heater matrix stage. To do this there should be a pipe under the bonnet going through the bulkhead into the passenger compartment around where the glovebox is, with a plastic cap on the top. When the engine is COLD, unscrew it a bit (you don't need to actually remove it - saves the panic attack associated with dropping it ) and you should hear hissing for a bit until liquid starts dribbling/gushing out. Tighten it back up. Because the pipe might be above the filler tank, you may need to park the drivers side on the kerb to do this properly. A decent camber on the road will also work well

I've got a leak somewhere round the bottom of the radiator, so I get this problem all the time if I've forgotten to keep the coolant topped up. First I know is when I drive the 60 miles to work at 6am and it's still freezing inside by the time I get there!



On a related note, can anyone point me in the direction of how to drain the entire coolant system without having to take the radiator off? I've mixed anti-freeze types so should probably flush it (and try a spot of rad-weld!)

[jameslxdt]

mjb, to drain the system, take the bottom radiator hose off, and put a hose in your expansion bottle and turn the hose on and leave it going untill the water comming out the bottom hose is as clear as its going in

[niz406]

On a related note, can anyone point me in the direction of how to drain the entire coolant system without having to take the radiator off?

There is a tap on the bottom of your rad for draining, if you want to flush the engine, you need to remove the upper and lower pipes from the rad and then use a hose pipe and just flush, flush away all the crap! Then do the normal filling and bleeding procedure with your make shift header tank

[mjb]

When you say "hose"... do you mean "lots of water" (ie, a big pile of 5 litre bottles would do) or "pressurised water"? If it's the latter I think I may have to make a mess of Tesco's forecourt one night while it's shut

Would I need to run the engine to flush the crap from the engine and heater sections?

[niz406]

Hose as in hose pipe ban hose..... not slack women standing on street corners giving sucky, sucky, $5

YOu don't need to run the engine, but you will need to remove the thermostat, and put the feed from the tesco's free water pipe into the cylinder head / thermostat housing, not the rad.... you flush the rad seperately.... otherwise you end up with sh*t all in the engine ! AGAIN ! !

[jameslxdt]

when i do it, after flushing, i leave the thermostat out and run it with plain water and a forte cooling system degrease (i love the smell of that stuff ) and run it till the fans cut in, switch it off once they have cut out, let it cool down, flush the system again and then put your fresh antifreeze in and of course refit the thermostat, i would use genuine peugeot anti-freeze as its very good stuff and not that expensive either, if you want the best antifreeze, get volvo antifreeze its meant to be sealed for life in the cooling system and should never need replacing but its very bloody expensive

[mjb]

This all doesn't sound like something I can reasonably do without access to a hose

What if I park over a kerbside drain, drain what I can using the radiator drain plug, then make the drain plug do a steady leak (instead of a pouring) while running the engine hot and pouring fresh water in the expansion tank as needed? Sure it won't be as good as a complete flush, but it might do a reasonable job once the engine heats up shouldn't it?

No I ain't thought about how to close the drain plug with boiling water coming out...