Fiesta heating problem

[johnc86]

Hi. Hope someone can help me. I bypassed the heater control valve on my MK5 Fiesta by using 2 lengths of copper pipe in its place.

This was because I had no heat in the cabin and the control valve is the most common fault.

I did this this the engine switched off. I forgot to clamp the hoses .

When I unclipped the left hand side hose about half a cup or so of dirty orange water came out with a little pressure behind it.
Needless to say it hasn't worked.

If I had unclipped this with the engine running would more of this dirty coolant water have pumped out? Does what happened indicate a blockage in the matrix?

Have I caused an air lock?

Would running the engine with the cap off the water tank allow the air to escape and bleep the system?

Any help would be much appreciated as I'm freezing my nuts off driving without a heater! If we get more frost it could be dangerous. I dont want to put it into a garage as I like to be defeated, especialy once Iv started something .

Cheers

 

[Peter.N.]

Make sure the cooling system is full, start the engine and disconnect one of the heater hoses but leave it close so you can push it back on quickly, do this when a steady stream of water comes out with no air bubbles. Top up the system again and make sure that with the engine off you have water coming out of both ends of the pipe.

Peter

 

[MrTinker]

On a mk5 fiesta i wouldn't worry too much about letting a bit of air in the system, 99.99% of the time it will clear itself, just check your coolant level after it's been run for 10 mins or so(and obviously before starting it).
Rusty looking coolant is a good sign it's not got enough anti freeze in it,(anti freeze has inhibitors in it to prevent corrosion) so it sounds like the system could do with flushing out and refilling.

 

[xr4x4]

why dont you just replace the control valve?

 

[LooPrEvil]

why dont you just replace the control valve?

I did this on a fiesta just before Christmas (they cost from about £15 inc postage on Ebay for a non OE - I went for one of the really cheap ones, it failed after about a week, but they changed it and replacement has been fine, but I had to pay postage to return their original ).

I can recommend one Ebay seller called 'Remoco Parts4Fords' charges £24 but these are OE, which retail at about £35 from Ford. I would use Remoco next time, as I have dealt with them in the past and have had no problems.

 

[johnc86]

No need to replace the control valve right away. The fix I have in place allows heat into the cabin. I will replace the control valve soon but I needed the car today and it mists up without the heater.

Anyway its sorted now. Basically I just ran the engine with the cap off the water reservoir, kept topping up the water and then waited for the fan to kick in. Then it spluttered alot which I presume was the air escaping. I turned off the engine, topped up a final time and then put the cap back on the reservoir.

I think I let air into he system as well as letting a load of coolant out when I took out the controll valve and fitted the copper pipes

Lesson learned!

cheers.

 

[LooPrEvil]

For what it costs John you may as well replace the heater control valve, you will lose vey little coolant during the process.

I take it you now have NO means of controlling the temperature, which will mean you are on constant full heat? With your heat control mechanism now being a window!!