Yet another job to add to the list.
Heater isn't blowing all that hot. Had it set to "Hi" and although it's warm, it should be a lot warmer. Same both drivers and passenger side.
No book symbols.
Coolant level looks ok.
Any pointers?
Hoses to/ from the matrix piping hot BPSM? LPG reducer in series or parallel with the heater hoses?
If your blend motors aren't throwing a fault, then the problem is more likely to be on the "wet" side of things. Blocked matrix maybe?
dunno. lol. But i have a starting point now.
Never noticed before as i've always had heating relatively low. Only now that it's winter i need it.
Would make sense about the LPG reducer. Could be starving heater matrix. I know that the reducer gets hot as f**k. Burned myself a few times as it's right near my EAS box.
We talking heater matrix pipes under bonnet or dash?
I'll report back.
Low water level, lift the expansion tank up, stuff a rag under, top up the system
Under bonnet pipes will do. Feed to matrix is the one closest to and fed from inlet manifold. Return from matrix is the one that runs down to thermostat. Speaking of thermostats, yours isn't stuck open by any chance?
no10chris wrote:
Low water level, lift the expansion tank up, stuff a rag under, top up the system
Level is to the line. When you say stuff a rag under, is that to raise the height or mop up spilled water??
Orangebean wrote:
Under bonnet pipes will do. Feed to matrix is the one closest to and fed from inlet manifold. Return from matrix is the one that runs down to thermostat. Speaking of thermostats, yours isn't stuck open by any chance?
How do you check astuck thermostat? It won't blow cold?
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
no10chris wrote:
Low water level, lift the expansion tank up, stuff a rag under, top up the system
Level is to the line. When you say stuff a rag under, is that to raise the height or mop up spilled water??
Orangebean wrote:
Under bonnet pipes will do. Feed to matrix is the one closest to and fed from inlet manifold. Return from matrix is the one that runs down to thermostat. Speaking of thermostats, yours isn't stuck open by any chance?
How do you check astuck thermostat? It won't blow cold?
Easiest way is to check the temp of the pipes either side of it when your warming up - If both sides are warm before its fully warmed up then its probably stuck open.
More accurate way is to stick it into water and see what temp it opens at - but you'd have to remove it for that, and probabbly quite difficult to tell as you can't remove it from its housing anyway.
Thermostat is used to control when it allows water into the radiator - effectively used as a way of dumping excess heat. To get cold air from the blowers the heater will close flaps to stop the air going through the heater matrix (which is just another smaller radiator anyway).
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
How do you check astuck thermostat? It won't blow cold?
How it should work- when engine is cold, thermostat is closed and stops water from bottom of rad getting into circulation, effectively removing the radiator from the coolant circulation, so water comes out of engine at top hose and circulates through bypass hose instead of radiator.
When stat opens, bypass hose is closed water comes from engine into top of rad and out through bottom of rad.
If stat is stuck open, rad will heat up at same rate as rest of engine, and bypass hose will stay cool.
That was long winded and I'm not sure I've explained it adequately though.
BTW, what I think Chris meant was to unclip ex tank from front mount and use a rag or something to lift it up, top up, effectively giving a greater head of water, put cap back on and clip it back in again.
EDIT or maybe he meant leave the rag under there, effectively permanently raising the front of the tank. I did something like that ages ago on my old one- extended the clip by an inch or so to lift it all up.
Ok. Plenty to go on with there. Piano rebuilt so will get car in Garage tomorrow and have a poke about.
Thanks
If the LPG reducer is plumbed in parallel, then the coolant has a choice of paths it can take, either through the heater matrix or through the reducer, whichever is easier. If the reducer is getting really hot, then that is probably the one with less resistance. That is why I always plumb them in series and go from inlet manifold to reducer and then on to the heater inlet and leave the outlet alone. It's dead easy on a GEMS but the pipework on a Thor makes it slightly more complicated.
It could always be that the blend motors aren't opening up far enough. Poke the Prog button and it should go to maximum heat from the screen vents. If it isn't really hot coming out of there, it is the flow through the matrix, if it is, it's the blend motors needing calibrating.
Been out this morning and ran it at idle.
Both flow and return pipes to the heater matrix heat up the same. Top hose of radiator seemed to heat up at about the same rate maybe just a bit after.
Can have different temps at passenger and drivers side but still not hot. Just warm.
Pressed program button and air came out of windscreen vents. Not super powerful though and still the same temperature as the rest.
Here's a pic of where my LPG reducer is plumbed from.
Yeah, that's in parallel using Tee pieces so the coolant flow can go either way, reducer or heater. If you can work out a neat way of doing it, it's much better to have them in series so both get the benefit of full flow. If you have a look at the diagram in this thread https://rangerovers.pub/topic/231-lpg-vapouriser-reducer-plumbing?page=2 then you need to get the reducer in the hose marked 22. You might need to find a couple of L bends to make it neat and tidy and reduce the chances of the hose kinking and making things even worse.
There's always the possibility that you have a stat housing from the same batch as Sloth found on his.
not sure if follow.
Are you saying instead of feeding the reducer from the flow, feed it from the return?
Can i temporarily take the reducer out of the circuit to see if the heating then works?
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
Can i temporarily take the reducer out of the circuit to see if the heating then works?
Clamp one of the reducer coolant pipes to test.
You'll probably find reducer will freeze up and won't work, so do it on petrol.
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
Are you saying instead of feeding the reducer from the flow, feed it from the return?
No, feed the reducer from the flow but instead of connecting it across the flow and return as it appears to be at the moment using Tees, connect it in the flow only. If you look at the diagram in the thread I linked to, take off hose 22, connect the steel pipe that comes from the inlet manifold to the reducer and then connect the return from the reducer to the heater input. Leave the return from the heater going straight to the other pipe without anything in it.
As OB says, with it plumbed as it is, you can force all of the coolant to go via the heater by clamping one of the pipes to the reducer so no flow can go through it, it will all have to go through the heater.
Just clamped flow with a big ass clamp. No change in heating. Then i stuck one on return so both were clamped but still no difference.
Guess that rules that out?
Well you're now into the realms of having to take some temp readings from the feed and return pipes to the heater matrix. With the temp set on Hi Hi and the blowers on full there should be an appreciable temp difference between the two. Do it with the A/C switched to off.
Actually its probably a good time to get some hose temp readings generally and rad temps with car warmed up and gauge where it normally sits. You can then see whether the coolant is at its correct 90 ish degrees.
If you've got lpg software you can also get a temp reading from reducer.
Everything feels hot. Idon't have a probe or anything to take temps with so i'll struggle with that.
Plugged computer in and got the following.
Revs going between 700 and 725
Coolant got up to 90 degrees with gauge sat just off centre where it usually sits. Rose to 93 degrees while i was pratting about but putting a bit of throttle on quickly brought it back down to 90.
LPG reducer is flickering between 77 and 81 degrees. Appears to go down a couple of degrees to between 75 and 79 when you run the heating on Hi.
All those temps look about right.
I'm right in thinking you don't have dedicated diagnostics aren't I? You could get temps from various sensors/ HEVAC if you had...
If water at the right temp is flowing through the matrix, there's a temp drop between feed and return on the matrix blower fans are working properly and blend motors are calibrated and functioning as they should the only other thing that would reduce the temp of hot air coming from the heater would be leaks around the blend flaps internally on heater so that, in effect it's always blending cold air with the heated air.
No dedicated diagnostics. Just generic. Morat's closest to me with Nano.
Everything appears to work as it should, except the air should be hotter. It's warm, but set on HI, it should be unbearable.