Winter Blues

I have a 93 Peugeot 205 but the car doesn't heat up enough in very cold
weather. I asked a friend if I should change the thermostat but he has
suggested that I should clean out the cooling system, is this a difficult
job to do? I know you have to bleed the cooling system once you flush the
residue out but I have been told that if I let any air into the system I
will have no heating in the car at all, is this true? I'm an OAP and can't
afford to pay a garage to do it for me. What is the easiest way to do this
job, any help given would be greatly appreciated.

 

check the pipes that run through the bulkhead into the heater unit to see if
they are getting warm,
its possible that the heater matrix may be partialy blocked if they are luke
warm or even cold, esspecially if there are no other apparant problems with
the cooling system, ie: the car isnt overheating, the temperature guage is
working correctly and the engine appears to warm up ??? the cooling fan cuts
in regularly when the engine is hot ?? etc.
try removing the pipes to the heater matrix and flushing it through with a
hosepipe.
if there is air in the cooling system it will eventually work its way to the
header tank.

 

Thanks, someone, I will try what you said, by the way my cooling fan has
never cut in when the engine is hot, I guess the engine is not heating up to
the right temperature?

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Thermostat stuck wide open? A new one costs very little and it's an easy
DIY. If you can feel warm air coming through the vents as opposed to hot
air, could be the radiator is cooling the whole system too much because of
the unrestricted thermostat.

 

clamp them first so you don't loose your anti-freeze mixture

 

Very likely, just as long as the fan is actually working, you could unplug
the fan switch, bridge the terminals, and see if the fan actually cuts in
just to make sure.

 

although it may be worthwhile changing it as the af mixture goes acidic with
age
also a high af concentrate heats up quicker than a weak one

 

What would you suggest should be the antifreeze mixture Mindwipe. I have
been told 25% antifreeze and 75% water. Does this sound right to you?
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which area do you live in cos you can run to 50/50 mixture where the temp
gets really low

 

I live in Rainy Scotland Mindwipe where it can get bellow freezing quite
often.
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in that case go 30 af to 70 water

 

and i would still put a new thermostat in there

 

<snip>

"> and i would still put a new thermostat in there.

My thoughts exactly Mindwipe.

 

Is it a petrol engine or a diesel engine? what size? we know it's a '93.
For Scotland (where I live) I would go for the manufacturer recommended
amount. In my Haynes Manual for a petrol 205 it does not specify a
percentage, but does suggest that you use enough to protect your engine down
to -25 % C. This does suggest that it should state what percentage is
required on the bottle of anti freeze that you bought and use the amount
accordingly.
However, in my Diesel Haynes manual for the 205, it suggests Antifreeze
content should be 50% to protect down to -35%C

Stuart

 

Stewart it's a petrol 1360cc and I've been told that we poor Scots are in
for quite a cold winter? I'm just wondering if there easy enough jobs to do
myself?
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