Heater not working

Hi everyone,

I've recently become a proud owner of a wee Hijet Camper (Fran) who I bought on the cheap with a blown valve. I have since lovingly restored the cylinder head; reground all valves and seats, had it refaced etc. and of course replaced the broken valve. The engine is now back in with new a head gasket and valve seals and a nice change of oil. After initially running at a high temperature I bled the radiator and Fran is now running fine, needle never going over halfway. We've just done a 50 mile trip up the motorway (albeit in the slow lane) and had no problems.

However, the heater is not working. It is hot coming out the front at the windscreen but I can't get any heat from any of the other outlets. As it is now winter I really want to get this working!

I have little mechanical knowledge and am learning as I go along but am willing to try anything to avoid the hefty garage costs. I bled the radiator using a hose held up high with the nose jacked up as suggested. At the moment there's only water in it but will be putting coolant in it this weekend.

Any pointers on what could be causing this? I have read through a lot of the info on overheating but as this seems to be rectified now I don't really know what else to do.

Thanks!
Sara

Hi and welcome,

If you're expecting to get heat from the 'face' vents you're out of luck - they're always cold. Heat only goes to windscreen or feet.

Oh bugger! No way to get heat out of the ones facing you? I was relying on that for staying warm! Bloody hijet

Thats exactly the same hijet qwerk that I fell into when I got mine, welcome to the club/forum/hijet ownership. Not had an issue with mine with heat yet but remember you are sat over a hot engine and its not a small internal space so not expecting issues myself...but then again not done a winter in it yet!

Heater should be hot from the feet vents, I find mine can warm up the van no probs.

Ah great will give that a go soon. Slight setback (!) that the key broke in the back door and now I can't use the thing!!

Bloody Hijet

The key broke.... or you broke the key?

The key broke in the back lock! Really annoying. Just looking at how to get a replacement, I need to use it on Saturday and my spare is a fair few miles away! Any tips on replacement keys?

maralions wrote:The key broke in the back lock! Really annoying. Just looking at how to get a replacement, I need to use it on Saturday and my spare is a fair few miles away! Any tips on replacement keys?

I use CarKeyHelp, send them a picture of the key, they send you a key, and cheaper than Timpsons.

Think the problem is that half of the key he needs to use is still in the lock.

It's OK I managed to get one at Timpsons and got the end out after a battle. Just checked it and it's working. £10 wasn't too bad, not the best but not worth arsing around for a couple of quid. At least I can use it now and I'm relieved it broke in the drive and not at some service station on the M6!

And I'm a she not a he!


Sara

Oops sorry Sara, didnt think to check Glad you got it sorted, just had a spare cut myself today for that very reason, both my two keys looked as if they had twisted slightly at some point so thought better to get one before your problam happens first.

Yes there was definitely a twisting going on. Might carry the spare with me now or hide it in the car.

I would carry a spare somewhere, as you said, could have been services on M6!

I hid my spare in a magnetic box from poundland, covered it in blue same as the van and just stuck it behind the front grill so easy to get at.

I ALWAYS carry a spare door key in my wallet. I never leave home without my wallet so I have always got a key. If your ignition key is different to the door key then you can hide a spare ignition key in loads of places inside the van. Works for me!!

How did you make it blue, Waz? The one I got with the van is original black.

I always have 2 key-rings in my pocket and have keys for both vans on both rings as have been locked out a few times in the past. That teaches you how to get in without a key though!

Well I always forget to lock one of the doors so I'm halfway there already

PFM wrote:How did you make it blue, Waz? The one I got with the van is original black.

I always have 2 key-rings in my pocket and have keys for both vans on both rings as have been locked out a few times in the past. That teaches you how to get in without a key though!

I just covered it in blue electrical tape, not a match but good enough behind the grill, is it still there?
PS I resume the chat I sold the van to had to get at the spare so hence no tape on the box.

It was there when I got the van, it's now on my desk (not really sure why, pretty pointless place to have it!)

PFM wrote:It was there when I got the van, it's now on my desk (not really sure why, pretty pointless place to have it!)

I did not have the spare when I locked myself out, problem was it was on the ferry from France, one of the crew took us down to the car deck when we were in the channel and I managed to hook the door button up. Thats us at Pidou's in my avatar.

Just resurrecting this thread as the temperature outside has dropped, my heating does not seem to be as hot as it was when I first got it all up and running a month ago. The air is warm to the screen but not hot and not cold. Originally I had the heater on hot to make sure all was working and keep it running cool while I a) got used to it and b) wasnt sure how long ago it had been used regularly, and the cab area usually got quite warm but not so at the moment.
Its otherwise running just fine, not overheating, temp goes up, nears top, themostat kicks in, then drops down to just under half way and stays there usually ( traffic it climbs a little but drops again once moving or overriding the fan). Checked water in rad and full, but not sure of working of the heating system.

Any ideas either:

a) why its not as hot now?
b) is this just normal hijet behaviour (if so I'll just dress warmer!)
c) if a) what di I check and how do I fix?

It does rather sound like the heater has got air in it Raggy. When the engine is at normal working temperature if you put your fingers directly above the windscreen vents it is normally almost too hot to keep your fingers there.
Is it really hot, or does the air temp go up and down on the vents?

It used to be hot, almost too hot, but now its just warmish. Cant say it goes up and down as its not that warm, but saying that, it goes from cold to luke warm. How do I bleed the air out of the heater and is it likely to cause me any problems other than no heat till I sort it?

I will give you a call tomorrow lunchtime Raggy and run through the process with you. Its easy enough.

Thanks

Got any snow up there yet? It's a bit colder than of late here and the wind is getting up a bit, but no frost and supposed to be sunny all day according to Niton Undercliff Weather. Winter is on its way definitely.

only had a bit of snow in the night, not much, but Sheffield has has sone which is 25mile away. Its cold enough and we still got that strong blustery wind. Keeps blowing my little greenhouse down, good job not much in at moment, left it down till wind stops. Its sunny at moment, but got to brave cold wind shortly to take dog out...hes not botherd about it!

After some instruction from Woody I'm going to have to bleed the system so after a hour or so messing and searching (through DIY bits that I always knew I needed...at some point!) I came up with this watering can/radiator adaptor
Got too late (and cold) to finally bleed it, so thats tomorrows job. New rad caps in week as existing ones look original so time for a change.


Basically a 28 to 15mm adaptor, inner tube rubber around it for a snug fit in rad outlet then a 1/2 to 15mm adaptor on watering can end, threads screw nice onto plastic spout and spigot fits inside spout. Hosepipe is a snug fit inside 15mm fittings. Quite pleased with it, even more pleased if I get it all bled correctly tomorrow! Amazing what fun you can have with adaptors and hosepipe    (waits for comments from Logi   )

Slight misunderstanding there Raggy. What I meant was to wrap the insulation tape 3/4" from the end,forming a collar around the hosepipe to make a tight fit in the hole in the bottom of the Radiator filler neck, the one that the rubber seal of the rad-cap covers.
The hose needs to be loose in the filler hole as you are filling, to let the air in the header tank escape as you are filling the system.
Once the water starts to overflow from the neck then push the hose into the bottom of the neck so that the insulation tape collar then makes an air tight seal.
It will then push the water up into the heater matrix and then out of the bleed pipe.