Heater in car not as good as it was.

Littlehorny

Having a small problem with my car, its a Toyota Avensis 1.6 vvti. The car was involved in a small accident about 4 months ago in which the front bumper of the car was ripped off by another car. Got the car fixed anyway but when the cold weather came in i noticed i had to turn the heating up higher than usual so i checked the coolant level and it was low, some must have spilled out when it was in the body shop because i have checked it loads of times since and its not leaking coolant.
Anyway any ideas what the problem is and what kind of money relevent parts would be? Many thanks to anyone with ideas, cheers Littlehorny.

TheBody

Littlehorny wrote: »

Having a small problem with my car, its a Toyota Avensis 1.6 vvti. The car was involved in a small accident about 4 months ago in which the front bumper of the car was ripped off by another car. Got the car fixed anyway but when the cold weather came in i noticed i had to turn the heating up higher than usual so i checked the coolant level and it was low, some must have spilled out when it was in the body shop because i have checked it loads of times since and its not leaking coolant.
Anyway any ideas what the problem is and what kind of money relevent parts would be? Many thanks to anyone with ideas, cheers Littlehorny.

Thermostat could be faulty. Cheap fix if that's the problem.

colm_mcm

Change the pollen filter while you're at it.

corktina

could be air locked I suppose.

TheBody

TheBody wrote: »

Thermostat could be faulty. Cheap fix if that's the problem.

corktina wrote: »

could be air locked I suppose.

If the temp gauge is going to halfway once the car is heated up and staying there both of these are unlikely.

biko

If the inside heat doesn't come or is low then maybe the coolant could be low/there are airlocks in the system.
Both of these are easy to fix.
First check that coolant level is where it should be.
If it's low or even if it normal try burping car.

Easiest way to burp is to park car facing uphill, drive around until you find a steep hill (air will burp faster this way).
Then remove cap on expansion tank (beware, hot steam will spray out. You can use a kitchen towel and cover the cap and tank so it doesn't spray in your face). Gloves are good too.

Then have ready mixed (50/50) anti-freeze and water (distilled if you can find it) in a two litre old milk jug or similar.
Remove the top bleed screw on the radiator.
While engine runs and heaters inside are on full blast and max heat, slowly pour the mix in until the coolant starts coming out through the bleed hole.
You may have to push the throttle a little to increase flow.
Once the mix coming out the bleed hole doesn't have bubbles you should be fine, it usually takes 1-2 mins and a few pushes on the throttle.
Replace bleed screw and the fill coolant to the designated limit.
Replace expansion tank cap.
Make sure both are firmly in place, there is pressure in the system and if they aren't firmly on coolant will evaporate. Don't break them though.