Ford Focus - Heater not working properly

Cartman78

Hi all,

Have noticed that my heater is malfunctioning lately - no heat comes through until after about 30 mins.

Not sure if it's relevant or not - but recently added an AUX cable in (which involved inserted a new lead at the back of the radio and feeding it out thru the glove box) - is there any chance that the foostering around might have knocked something out with the heater???

Cheers cm

Hal1

A faulty heater resister pack would be my guess. See pic, it's behind glove box. The blue box with cables attached. The problem can be caused by a leaky pollen filter scuttle panel allowing water to pass through it.

Cartman78

Cheers....
Far from a technical whizz myself & would probably immobilise the entire car if I go faffing about with something like this....how much should I expect to pay a mechanic to sort this out???

Hal1

There's about a half hours labour involved. I can't say what any of them charge .

no1beemerfan

Cartman78 wrote: »

Hi all,

Have noticed that my heater is malfunctioning lately - no heat comes through until after about 30 mins.

Not sure if it's relevant or not - but recently added an AUX cable in (which involved inserted a new lead at the back of the radio and feeding it out thru the glove box) - is there any chance that the foostering around might have knocked something out with the heater???

Cheers cm

Do you mean the heater blower works from the off and no heat comes through until you have driven for 30 mins or,

do you mean that the heater blower doesn't work and air only comes through the system after 30 mins?

Both totally diff problems and totally diff solutions.

Cartman78

Hi no1beemerfan,

Thanks for the reply -
The heater blower works from the off but no heat comes through until I've driven for about 30 mins:(

Plug

Cartman78 wrote: »

Hi no1beemerfan,

Thanks for the reply -
The heater blower works from the off but no heat comes through until I've driven for about 30 mins:(

Your thermostat is stuck open:)

Cartman78

Plug wrote: »

Your thermostat is stuck open:)

It's a thermostat problem alright - was out driving on Sunday and started losing engine power; the temp gauge went apesh1t and I was lucky to make it home without the engine going into meltdown.

The car is in the garage since y'day cos they have to wait for a part.....luckily it's still under warranty:)

Buford T Justice

Cartman78 wrote: »

It's a thermostat problem alright - was out driving on Sunday and started losing engine power; the temp gauge went apesh1t and I was lucky to make it home without the engine going into meltdown.

The car is in the garage since y'day cos they have to wait for a part.....luckily it's still under warranty:)

Odd, I would have thought that the car would have stayed cooler than normal with a thermostat stuck open......

Cartman78

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Odd, I would have thought that the car would have stayed cooler than normal with a thermostat stuck open......

From talking to mechanic (and taking into account my general lame car knowledge) it sounds like the thermostat (or a part of it) is actually worn/broken and the car isn't safe to drive until it's replaced

no1beemerfan

I'd say it was stuck partially closed so coolant wasn't flowing freely and then it closed fully, giving you the problem you had. Your lucky you didn't do any more damage to the engine!