Heres the problem. My heater has decided to intermittently work. I drive the car and it goes up to temp(stays steady where it always has done, even with spirited driving!), but the heater doesnt blow hot as soon as it used to. A couple of times I have squeezed the hose to the left of the rad (turbo side) as I face it, and it did seem to make the heater work, although I dont know if this is a red herring. I have checked both the coolant, whose level is not dropping and not contaminated (inspected by eye) and the oil is clean, no gloop in the oil filler pipe.
My guesses are most likely an airlock, where Im moving the air round with the squeezing of the coolant pipe, or the panel itself, where I have given it a bit of a whack to 'free up the movement!'. Last but not least, could the thermostat have gone **** intermittently, when my car was worked on last month, the coolant was replaced by the way.

Thanks for all your advice.

PS NO OVERHEATING WHATSOEVER!!

 

Anyone, same again today, the heating just kicked in when the car was well up to temp, no overheating again. DOnt think there will be any overheating.

 

You can remove the stat and check it by putting it in boiling water. You should see it open slowly if its working. At least that way you can eliminate the stat if its faulty.

If your sure its not an air lock then check the servos and rods on the heater/blower motor unit.
There are small metal rods that are connected to the servos that open and close the flaps.
ie when your turn your temp control dial depending on position the servo will turn moving the rod and opening the flap, venting heat from the matrix through the vents.
One servo controls the temp, the other control vent position and the last is recirculate.
These servo are fitted to the main unit behind the dash. You can get to them via both foot wells buts its a little awkward. Maybe one of the rods has popped out or the servo is dead.

If the above is ok then you know its an air lock. Just do a search on here for different ways of filling the system. Turbo coolant hose is one of them.

Ticky

 

Many thanks for that, it seems to just kick in late now, when the engine has got well up to temp, but I also have a frig with the heater control so that might be dodgy too. Ill look into all youve listed! Thanks again