SHOULD I BUY IT??

Hello everyone,

I ve recently looked at Porter 1.4D. At first, there wasn't any coolant in the cooling system (I found that out after the first test drive).I took it for a drive (full throttle as recommended Smile. The temperature got up to 3/4 but the heater didn't work. Is it normal? Than I stopped and the temperature rapidly fell down to cold (within a moment). Also if I wasn't doing full throttle, the temperature was at the coldest level too (It wasn't warming up). The engine seemed fine except for the issue with no heat from heater.

I stopped and looked at the coolant level and found out that there wasn't any. So I filled it up and took it for another round. But There wasn't still coming any heat from the heater. I checked the coolant level and it didn't loose any after the drive. There wasn't coming any "head gasket smoke" from the exhaust.

Is it normal, that diesel Hijets don't have heat from heater?Can it be bad head gasket? Or something else? Or just cooling system that needs to be bled because there wasn't any coolant in it?

Thanks for your opinions
Should I consider buying it?
Sorry for my poor English

matkeis wrote:Is it normal, that diesel Hijets don't have heat from heater?

No, but you'll only get heat through the dash-top vents and under the dash. The vents on the 'face' setting are always cold.

PFM wrote:

matkeis wrote:Is it normal, that diesel Hijets don't have heat from heater?

No, but you'll only get heat through the dash-top vents and under the dash. The vents on the 'face' setting are always cold.

Thanks for reply. Can I ask you if you think, that the case with temperature is normal? I mean the rapid temperature fall to cold when driving normally and when doing full throttle it increases to 3/4 warm?

Fall to cold when driving, or when stopped with the ignition off?

PFM wrote:Fall to cold when driving, or when stopped with the ignition off?

Fall to cold when driving normally (not full throttle). It wasn't heating up when you were driving normally. It was heating up only if you were doing full throttle. When you stopped and let it run, it fell down from 3/4 to cold within like a minute. Is it supposed to do that? This rapid cool down? How quickly should it warm up to operating (normal) temperature? Do diesel Porters stay cold the whole time when you drive them normally? This one that I tested was warming up only when you gave it full throttle.

PFM wrote:Fall to cold when driving, or when stopped with the ignition off?

Only when driving and ignition on. I know that if you turn off the ignition, the temperature will fall down automatically.

I've never had the (mis)fortune to have a diesel Hijet, though I have driven a couple. It sounds more like a faulty guage to me, but it could be that the cooling system hasn't been bled properly though.

PFM wrote:I've never had the (mis)fortune to have a diesel Hijet, though I have driven a couple.  It sounds more like a faulty guage to me, but it could be that the cooling system hasn't been bled properly though.

Why mis fortune? Are diesel Hijets really that bad? Do you think I shouldn't buy it?

If you can describe me why diesels are bad I would really appreciate it. What do you think is the best engine (most reliable) that you can buy a Hijet with?

They're not terrible, just very slow and noisy IIRC.

Both the 1.0 and the 1.3 are reliable as long as the cooling system is in good order.

PFM wrote:They're not terrible, just very slow and noisy IIRC.

Both the 1.0 and the 1.3 are reliable as long as the cooling system is in good order.

Thank you very much. What do you have to do to keep the cooling system in good order? How often for example do you have to change the coolant? How difficult is to bleed the cooling system? Is it possible to do it in driveway?

matkeis wrote:Thank you very much. What do you have to do to keep the cooling system in good order? How often for example do you have to change the coolant? How difficult is to bleed the cooling system? Is it possible to do it in driveway?

Seeing Matkeis commonly asked questions leads me to the thread I started in the "Site Related Issues" section earlier this month.
 https://hijet.forumotion.com/t4560-definitive-list-of-how-to-threads  I believe a reference list of previous "how to" links would aid our worthy experts once they identify a fault and avoid tedious repetition.

Hope you get issue sorted Matkeis.  Chris

I would only buy a 1.3. The rest are more difficult to get parts for.  The 1.3 still has it's own parts difficulties, however, there are many of them still on the road and used parts are still plentiful (not RHD headlamps though).  The diesel engine doesn't seem to last long and some perfectly good vans have been scrapped at a relatively early age because of lack of parts availability. Something must have led to the lack of coolant in the one you drove, so I would need to know what it was  if I intended to buy.

Jetcamper wrote:I would only buy a 1.3. The rest are more difficult to get parts for.  The 1.3 still has it's own parts difficulties, however, there are many of them still on the road and used parts are still plentiful (not RHD headlamps though).  The diesel engine doesn't seem to last long and some perfectly good vans have been scrapped at a relatively early age because of lack of parts availability. Something must have led to the lack of coolant in the one you drove, so I would need to know what it was  if I intended to buy.

Thanks for reply. Do you think it could be because the vehicle sat for about 8 years and didn't drive? I mean the situation with coolant.

Coolant loss is because it has found a way out somewhere. Something could have corroded during those years I suppose, especially as it may have had only water in it. Perished hose maybe? But you should be able to see a leak somewhere unless it is a head gasket leak. Then you can usually see pressure build up as soon as the engine is started.