Mazda 3 2010 heater not working

FrankC21

Problem with my father in law's Mazda 3 2010 1.6 diesel, the heater isn't working, when I start the car the heating will come on but a few seconds it will immediately turn off and cold air will come out.

He brought it to the atlas garage they charged him €65 just for diagnostic but did not find the main cause, they advised him to go to a mazda dealer to run it on their computer because this could be an electrical problem.

He also noticed that coolant tank runs out often but no errors on the dashboard, temp normal. Could be a water pump problem they said will cost him €400.

Any suggestions?

greasepalm

First thing i would have looked at would be low coolant as when low=no heat inside car.Cant say 100% its the water pump as anything could have failed.Look under bonnet to see any damp stains or a lovely sweet smell of burnt coolant.If nothing seen it needs to be checked on a ramp as water can be spotted dripping underneath.Does that car have a timing belt and is it due for replacement.

FrankC21

greasepalm wrote: »

First thing i would have looked at would be low coolant as when low=no heat inside car.Cant say 100% its the water pump as anything could have failed.Look under bonnet to see any damp stains or a lovely sweet smell of burnt coolant.If nothing seen it needs to be checked on a ramp as water can be spotted dripping underneath.Does that car have a timing belt and is it due for replacement.

He said no damp or leak underneath, I will find out if the timing belt is due, sweet smell of burnt coolant is bad that's a leak in the engine. Really feel bad his still paying the car monthly. He bought it second hand from evramotors

greasepalm

A lot of cars use plastic which is lighter and cheaper to make but has a short life of cooling and expansion and leak after 5-6 years.Older cars had metal components which lasted.If no engine engine leaks are there rainbows on inside of windscreen due to inner rad weep?
Worse scenario is headgasket weepage and going into exhaust,a sniff test like a pregnancy test for headgasket can be done to see if exhaust gasses are present.