Heater problem on a LHD Hijet

Hi there,
The heater in my Hijet isn't working. (Yes, I know only feet and window vents give warm air)
I thought I should bleed the system, but it looks a bit different than what I see here on this forum. The bleeding pipe foor the heater matrix isn't near the radiator but underneath the passenger chair. I guess this is different because it is a LHD Hijet.
Does anybody know if bleeding with this configuration is also an issue, and if so how I should bleed this configuration correctly?
I don't have any overheating problems by the way, temperature always a bit above halfway.

Any help appreciated.

The bleed under the seat isn't for the heater matrix (which is at a higher level) and is present on the 1.3. The capped pipe by the front rad cap is on the 1.0.

The expansion tank is connected to the pressure cap under the left (drivers on LHD) seat - the hose in your pic going to the radiator neck is the bleed from the heater matrix.

You are bleeding according to the instructions, with the front raised? If so, your heater matrix might be blocked.

Thank you for the help! We didn't raise the front, how much should it be raised? And should we do anything with the bleed for the heater matrix?

Any raising will help - even driving onto a pair of ramps or using a convenient slope. The matrix will bleed through the radiator neck, as the cap will be off.

There are several threads on here about bleeding techniques, if you use the search function - many top tips from HighlyJetted and others.

In several posts there is referred to a good bleeding instruction of HighlyJetted, but I couldn't find it. Do you know where it is?

Try this

I've also found this post to be very useful, Guest(Woody) seems very adamant that jacking the front shouldn't be necessary and filling with the watering can (or funnel these days, he still posts on the Facebook group) from the rad should be sufficient, but covering all bases can't hurt! I worry his method doesn't account for airlocks in the block so checking the bleeding points at that end seems very pertinent, but he is one of the giants we stand on the shoulders of after all.

^^^ I agree - and do give the old gump my very best wishes if you'd be so kind, TRL as I'm not on the book of faeces faces

Thanks a lot for all the help so far, but without a good result.

We more or less used the method as described in the post TheRamblingLank referred to and shown on the picture from al kaline:


Instead of pulling the plug from the bleeder pipe above the radiator, we pulled of the hose of the little pipe at the radiator neck as it concerns a 1.3L. Added coolant until a steady flow of coolant came out of that hose. Which was pretty fast by the way, hardly any air bubbles. Reconnected the pipe after at least one litre of coolant having come out of the pipe, put cap back on radiator.

But alas, still only cold air coming out of the heater.

Does the thermostat have to open first before any coolant passes through the heater matrix? Not that I expect it hasn't opened, because we've been driving for at least 15 minutes, but just figuring out how the coolant system works.

The coolant came with a good flow out of the heater matrix bleeding hose and was clean, so I expect no problems with the matrix itself. Anyone any ideas what the problem might be and how to fix it?

My understanding is that when the t/stat opens it allows water to circulate through the radiator in order to regulate the engine's temperature. The heater plays no (designed) part in that, so should be within the loop with the t/stat closed. (IIRC HJ's advice is to leave the temp lever on hot AT ALL TIMES and just slide the position lever to dash vents in warm weather - it's what I do anyway. (You can always use the aircon*)

You don't need to pull the hose off the filler neck surely, as the coolant would just come out of the filler neck.

When driving without the heater blower working, do you feel warmth coming out of the dash vents and in the footwells according to the direction lever?

When you slide the temp lever, does it feel as if it's 'doing something'? Wondering if the cable is connected or even if the valve has seized.

*Passenger's window

PFM wrote:You don't need to pull the hose off the filler neck surely, as the coolant would just come out of the filler neck.

True but with the hose off it is easier to collect the coolant that comes out of the hose.

When driving without the heater blower working, do you feel warmth coming out of the dash vents and in the footwells according to the direction lever?

Not warmth, but yes I feel air blowing out the selected direction.

When you slide the temp lever, does it feel as if it's 'doing something'? Wondering if the cable is connected or even if the valve has seized.

Yeah, I think so but I'll check later on.

It feels like the lever is doing something, but the only way to be sure is of course to have a look. Does the entire dash have to come off, or just the part where the levers are?

Sorry I don't know the answer to that one, have never had a dash off.

I've had this problem, this week, after I chucked my van in the local indy garage to replace the cam cover gasket and spark plugs. A few days later I noticed the temp guage rising. I tried topping up and bleeding to no avail. Had a chat with Hijet guru Woody who was convinced it was air in my system.

I dropped the coolant (did you drain yours first, Bussie?) then refilled. Once coolant came to the cap under the seat I let it idle for a good while, squeezing the hoses to 'burp' it, seeing air bubbles in the neck on the pipe.

On a 1.0 you'd then continue filling until you get water out of the pipe by the radiator cap, put the rubber bung over that and top up the rad. Leave it to run for a bit then swithc off, let it cool, and top up again.