flushing the heater rad.

[landcrab]

hi lads .my heater dosent seen to put out very much heat,with a couple of my past cars i gave the heater rad a back flush (loads of crap came out ) with the rad in situ which made a hell of a differance so im thinking of trying the same on the berlingo.have any of you lads on here done the same as im wondering were the easiest place is to remove the heater pipes. its a 2004 ...2.0hdi. thanks.

[adam3rdcanvey]

Hi,

What temp is your coolant reaching? I would suspect that the thermostat is stuck open if the temp gauge does not read 90 and then fall back to around 80??

Is worth changing coolant etc if not been done recently too, flush out the heater matrix, thermostat housing/ engine block and the rad and you shoud be good to go

[Ol'Jeffers]

Hi,

What temp is your coolant reaching? I would suspect that the thermostat is stuck open if the temp gauge does not read 90 and then fall back to around 80??

Is worth changing coolant etc if not been done recently too, flush out the heater matrix, thermostat housing/ engine block and the rad and you shoud be good to go

.....Or some enterprising soul has removed the 'stat altogether!

[Foxy1975]

Hey landcrab i hope you get it sorted the heating on my Bingo is the best i have ever had on a diesel, warms up really quick.
Good luck

[ffrenchie]

I only ever had to flush an old Ford matrix and it was well and truly blocked, presumably Radweld was the culprit. I took the pipes off and Jubilee clipped a hose to it and gave it full mains pressure and it fired some really dirty orange gunge everywhere so make sure the exit is pointing somewhere you don't mind getting dirty.

[landcrab]

thanks lads ill be having a go at it soon. the engine is getting warm enouth and the heater is warm but i think it could be a lot better. the son in law has just put a new heater rad in his van (ldv ) it never use to put out any heat now he said it burns his legs when its on high.i could do with some of that lol.

[geoff]

Consider bleeding the cooling system prior to doing other works, may save you some grief and expense.

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Oh and be careful about using full mains water pressure as you may damage your heat exchanger, mains water is normally above engine coolant pressure.