Not getting any heat through car heater. Possible causes?

IAmATeaf said:
Doesn't brown sludge in the coolant point to maybe another issue? Like how did the contaminant get there?
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Dealership said nothing had broke, it was just corrosion/gunk from the pipes/tubes in the system. I've had the car three years and never had it flushed. Who knows if previous owner did? The technical breakdown stated "remnants from production".
 
If all they are going to do is to give it a flush, not an expert but £600 sounds way too much for this doesn't it?
 
Actually, thinking about it when it is cold, check the expansion tank to see if these is a bag in there with silicone granules in it. On some cars it has burst and the granules have blocked the matrix up.
 
I had this issue once and the coolant was below the level for the heater core to get flow... that was a nice simple fix to a problem I dealt with for a month lol
 
My sons golf has a similar issue, brown/ oily stuff in his radiator. Been into VW and they say it’s the water pump that’s causing the issue and needs to be replaced.
 
Brown oily stuff is usually a sign of lack of maintenance.

If the fluid had the correct anti-freeze/ corrosion inhibitor in it, it surely wouldn’t result in brown oily residue.
 
My sons car has now had the coolant drained and refilled, no idea if it was also flushed but the VW dealer did it for £120. When they had the car they pressure tested it and then said the water pump isn’t leaking so doesn’t need doing.
 
Got a similar problem on my seat leon.

Although it is only the drivers side that gets no heat. Will have a look at that heater flap issue to see if that causes it.

Noticed my coolant is an orangy brown colour, so looks like that needs changing aswell. Mine says it has got one of them silicone bags in the reservoir. It is supposed to help stop corrosion, hopefully it hasn't split.
 
fewfe3 said:
Noticed my coolant is an orangy brown colour, so looks like that needs changing aswell. Mine says it has got one of them silicone bags in the reservoir. It is supposed to help stop corrosion, hopefully it hasn't split.
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Many people on Forums are buying new expansion tanks without the bag in and fitted that instead. Personally I would take the old expansion tank off remove the bag and refit it instead of flushing money away. Do not try to remove it on the car without at least clamping the pipe as it if bursts you are in trouble.
 
So I got my coolant flushed but it turns out that wasn't the problem. The guy who did it reckons it's a broken electronic heater flap. He couldn't do it because he said that although it's an easy fix, you need to dismantle the whole dash to get to the part. Anyone know what kind of price I should expect for a fix like that? I'll have to ring around, but it would be nice to know a ballpark figure.
 
Usually you will have a couple of small hoses going in/out of the engine compartment firewall, these are the feed/return pipes to the heater matrix behind the dash and both pipes should be (very, may burn your skin) hot to the touch when the car is at operating temperature. Often there is a thermostatic bypass value that shuts this part of the cooling system off so that the engine warms up faster, they can fail which seals off the heater matrix from ever receiving hot coolant.
 
MatteH Oxford said:
Usually you will have a couple of small hoses going in/out of the engine compartment firewall, these are the feed/return pipes to the heater matrix behind the dash and both pipes should be (very, may burn your skin) hot to the touch when the car is at operating temperature. Often there is a thermostatic bypass value that shuts this part of the cooling system off so that the engine warms up faster, they can fail which seals off the heater matrix from ever receiving hot coolant.
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Is it a big job to get to and replace?
 
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