Keeping a 110 CSW warm

[Dr Goon]

I used the 110 today as it is going in to have some work done on it tonight. Very cold this morning and there was ice on both sides of all the windows.

The heater is next to useless and only started pushing out lukewarm air after about 30 odd miles.

The trip in February may well be in temperatures as cold as this morning, possibly much colder and I was wondering whether there is a way of keeping more heat in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

The conclusion I came to was that a wooden bulkhead behind the rear seats may assist as it would reduce the volume of air that needs to be heated. I appreciate that a full bulkhead would render the interior mirror useless but I am not too concerned about that given the amount of stuff that will be in the luggage area, which will effectively block rearwards vision anyway.

Has anyone already done this or a similar modification?

I was thinking of a bulkhead made from plywood, fitted to the dog guard, and covered in some carpeting over foam on the passenger side, to give the kids a softish headrest for the long, 12 hour plus journey. Is this likely to have any effect at all?

Any ideas before I start with a pencil, paper and tape measure?

[Steve King]

Personally I'd sort out the heater rather than start sawing up plywood!

I've no complaints about my Defender's heater (after the engine is properly warmed up that is!). In fact I keep turning the heater down as I dislike being too hot whilst driving! SWMBO however complains about being cold, so I bought her an electrically heated seat cover from Woolworths for a tenner!

Result less frosty missus!

Steve

[white90]

I'd look at the heater issue too, make sure the cables are operating properly and the

cooling system is functioning/heater matrix ok etc

mine works very well in a 90 with bugger all insulation,

what about a webasto heater or similar?

making the volume requiring heat smaller is a good idea can't see why it can't help.

heated seats are nice to have and fairly easy/cheap to install for the front passengers.

[Turbocharger]

Because I'm cold to the core, I've got a tarpaulin which I sometimes drape around the cage hoop behind my head to exclude the air in the back a little. Takes seconds to hold it up with clothes pegs and seems to make a difference on long journeys. So would sealing the vent flaps properly and making the doors fit the apertures, of course!

The Ninety heater is ok, but helping it with a truckcab or smaller hardtop can make it tropical inside

[Dr Goon]

Another thought has sprung to mind, regarding the thermostat.

My 110 was exported from new by Conrico to The British High Commission in Cameroon and spent its' first three years in Africa. I have owned it since not long after it returned and I cannot help but wonder whether it was fitted with a cooler stat to cope with African temperatures. I have never had the stat changed and have no reason to believe that it is not the original.

I have asked my trusty mechanic to have a look at it tomorrow as the whole cooling system has got to come apart anyway. I will also ask him to check the travel on the heater controls.

[V8CAMEL]

Another thought has sprung to mind, regarding the thermostat.

My 110 was exported from new by Conrico to The British High Commission in Cameroon and spent its' first three years in Africa. I have owned it since not long after it returned and I cannot help but wonder whether it was fitted with a cooler stat to cope with African temperatures. I have never had the stat changed and have no reason to believe that it is not the original.

I have asked my trusty mechanic to have a look at it tomorrow as the whole cooling system has got to come apart anyway. I will also ask him to check the travel on the heater controls.

My 110 CSW was freezing last year very luke warm air coming out of the heater. I had a "uprated" matrix in the garage to install ( been there about 3 years) so i changed it.

The difference was amazing, however i suspect that cleaning the dust and mud out the old one would have had much the same effect. The core was completely clogged with baked on mud.

Check the state of the matrix and clean or upgrade if ness i got mine from twisted performance.

[john cranfield]

Another thought has sprung to mind, regarding the thermostat.

My 110 was exported from new by Conrico to The British High Commission in Cameroon and spent its' first three years in Africa. I have owned it since not long after it returned and I cannot help but wonder whether it was fitted with a cooler stat to cope with African temperatures. I have never had the stat changed and have no reason to believe that it is not the original.

I have asked my trusty mechanic to have a look at it tomorrow as the whole cooling system has got to come apart anyway. I will also ask him to check the travel on the heater controls.

There's a very good chance that you have a lower temperature thermostat fitted. It is agood idea to have your mechanic change it for a suitable one.

John

[V8 Freak]

When running my 110 is toasty warm and I rarely have it on full temp for long...

If it's really cold outside I need to keep the fan on full to keep the back warm for the kids but I get ooodles of heat from the unit....

(You could always wear more clothes !!)

[Turbocharger]

It's quick and easy to check your thermostat, but it won't affect the warm-up time because it won't be open then!

To check your thermostat yourself you will need:

flat blade screwdriver

10 or 11mm socket, ratchet and extension

a bit of coolant, maybe a litre or two

It's literally a two-minute job, a new stat will cost you about £12.

[western]

IIRC a 300Tdi should have a 88degree stat fitted.

[Mark90]

When running my 110 is toasty warm and I rarely have it on full temp for long...

If it's really cold outside I need to keep the fan on full to keep the back warm for the kids but I get ooodles of heat from the unit....

(You could always wear more clothes !!)

That's cos you're running a proper engine. These deep fat fryers don't seem to be up to the job of powering a vehicle along let along providing enough heat for it as well.

[Top90]

Try a TD5 then..... absolute carp.

I can see why the 2007 transit model has a vastly improved heater.

Makes me wish I'd put off getting my new 110 for a few years.

Edited to add........ for some reason though my 2 300TDi's have much better heaters and warm up a lot quicker.

[western]

That's cos you're running a proper engine. These deep fat fryers don't seem to be up to the job of powering a vehicle along let along providing enough heat for it as well.

no reason why a Tdi heater shouldn't be as good as a VF8 one, my 200Tdi 110 heater works really well.

[Mark90]

In a V8 you have under floor heating too

[simonb]

Make sure the cables are properly adjusted at the heater end. With the control set to full hot on the dash, disconnect cable at heater end and check flap has moved fully to its end postion.

[BogMonster]

A Tdi or Td5 will (should) have a toasty warm heater after 5 to 10 miles. They put out more than enough heat on fan setting 2 to warm a whole vehicle, unless there is a problem.

I would try in this order

1) New thermostat (don't bother checking the old one, they are only a fiver and get a Genuine Parts one as some of the others are carp!)

2) Check full movement on control cables

3) Check the state of the heater matrix

You can also get an idea of how hot the engine is running by putting your hand on the top hose after a run, it should be too hot to hold which is about how hot your heater should be. On my 300Tdi 90, after 10 miles or so when you put your hand right against the footwell vent you start to think "ow" after about 15 seconds which is how it should be if all is well. I had a dud thermostat last year and though the temp gauge said it was ok, the heater didn't. New stat fixed it.

[SiWhite]

I've always been annoyed about how awful Landy heaters are. I've tried fitting new matrixes (matricies?), swapping new matricies from other vehicles and cleaning mine to high heaven. Not a busting lot of difference.

SWMBO has an oldish Micra - the heater is awesome! On full blast, I can't hold my hand over the vent for more than a second or two. I want a heater like that in the Landy!

I've always thought the problem is to do with the fact that the heater draws freezing air from outside the car. Most other cars have the facility to recirculate air from inside, through the heater, and back out again. That's got to be more efficient than trying to heat cold air.

One day I'm going to try and site a smallish heater (maybe from an old model Polo - they're small and easy to get at) inside the dash so that it recirculates already-warm air. I'll probably junk all the flaps-in-the-dash and make a box of tricks that can direct air between toes and screen via hoses. It's probably going to need a source of outside air to save eternal fugging of windows.

If you're messing about with heaters, a good mod is to get some side window vents from a beetle. These can be put into either side of the dash and defog the windows.

Might even try and remember to do a writeup!

BTW, heated seats are AWESOME! Get some!

[JST]

my 200 tdi heater is superb (granted its a truck cab so smaller area to heat) but it really pumps out some heat.

the td5 heater is carp and not helped by the fact the engine takes ages to warm up without the Webasto running.

yesterday in the td5 at full heater setting in standing/slow moving traffic for 20mins the engine coolant temp dropped from near vertical to almost off the scale going colder so at least i know the heater is taking some of the heat out of the coolant! it jsut doesnt blow much into the cab it seems!

strange how these topics come around about now!

[BigSi110]

My 110 300Tdi has done the same thing this week. I wait for about 10 mins on a motorway run from cold for the temp gauge to read somewhere near vertical (heater off and bl**dy cold it was too!!), then put the heater to full and full fan. After a few mins you can see the temp needle slowly fall. By the time I get home after another 15 mins or so, the needle is virtually back in the red on the left.

There's a thread somewhere on here that mentions the 300Tdi (maybe also 200Tdi?) rad fans are on from start-up, thereby cooling all the time, even when cold. The same thread also said that by altering the switch-on time (i.e putting in a delay on the switch), the Tdi's are fully warm inside a few minutes.

Maybe Td5's do the same thing?

Anyone verify that? I'll look for it, but that could take a while.

[Turbocharger]

I took the fan off my 300Tdi completely, warms up quicker now and it's actually quieter (although the viscous unit had died and locked up solid).

We used to joke that Series 3 bulkheads were full of dangerously pressurised air, because so much is sucked in through the wing vent, but barely any comes out to dribble halfway up the screen - it must be getting stuck somewhere in the bulkhead, pressurising it for all of time.

[BogMonster]

My 110 300Tdi has done the same thing this week. I wait for about 10 mins on a motorway run from cold for the temp gauge to read somewhere near vertical (heater off and bl**dy cold it was too!!), then put the heater to full and full fan. After a few mins you can see the temp needle slowly fall. By the time I get home after another 15 mins or so, the needle is virtually back in the red on the left.

There's a thread somewhere on here that mentions the 300Tdi (maybe also 200Tdi?) rad fans are on from start-up, thereby cooling all the time, even when cold. The same thread also said that by altering the switch-on time (i.e putting in a delay on the switch), the Tdi's are fully warm inside a few minutes.

Maybe Td5's do the same thing?

Anyone verify that? I'll look for it, but that could take a while.

Got to be a dud thermostat because when driving at speed (EGT up around 400-500 deg) it should warm up in a couple of minutes, it only takes a long time at 20-25mph when the turbo is off boost and hence EGT's around 200-250. Once its hot it should only cool down again (well both my 300s do) if the vehicle is stopped with the heater on full blast.

Any viscous fan is running all the time, nature of the beast. Td5s have one too.

I run my Tdi fan-less in the winter as it does seem to improve the heater output first thing in the morning.

[HoSS]

no reason why a Tdi heater shouldn't be as good as a VF8 one, my 200Tdi 110 heater works really well.

I think there is. Some of the modern Diesels really don't output much heat. that the way they are designed to be more efficient.

Wheras V8 seems to chuck more power out as heat than down the propshaft sometimes!

[madmatt]

I have a 130 truckcab, And despite checking the flap is in the right place etc, It still aint that effective, next stop is the thermostat. But in the meantime I have today fitted Waeco heated seat elements, they are fantastic a piece of cake to fit and by the time I am at the end of our road I can feel em warming up. On heat setting 2 they soon are to hot and I have to knock them down to 1. One of the best things I have ever fitted, only down side, two more bloody switches on the dash!!

[LS26]

The conclusion I came to was that a wooden bulkhead behind the rear seats may assist as it would reduce the volume of air that needs to be heated. I appreciate that a full bulkhead would render the interior mirror useless but I am not too concerned about that given the amount of stuff that will be in the luggage area, which will effectively block rearwards vision anyway.

Has anyone already done this or a similar modification?

I used bin-bags held up with duct-tape (I had to improvise with what was in my tool-kit and the camp-site shop) just behind the front seats once when I was on holiday in Scotland during -10deg weather; it made a remarkable difference!

Rog

[V8 Freak]

Wheras V8 seems to chuck more power out as heat than down the propshaft sometimes!

It's not true I tell ya.....

It should read "always" and not "sometimes"