Well it turns out theres no heat in the mini, and by no heat, I dont mean very little, I mean zero. So since I'm still waiting on my Haynes manual, my limited experience with heater systems in the past and my knowledge of mini heating systems, theres 3 possible areas to look at, a. the heater ****/cable is bad (wont pull in or out, stuck all the way in b. the heater valve is in the wrong position, or c. the heater core has either been removed, or bypassed. Anyone see any faults with my line of thinking?

 

Nope. Do you have a Haynes Big Book of Lies... I mean "Service Manual"?

 

No Haynes yet, bought one on ebay, just waiting for it to arrive.

 

That will give you what you need... Not a bad first project - self contained and fairly simple. Have a voltage meeter handy to check the power supply to the unit - if it's not a mechanical issue like the cable, then you'll need to test the availability of DC current to the device.

In case you care, i've also seen some threads, mainly on UK sites, that show how to do a heater REPLACEMENT process, deleting the bulky OEM unit and replacing it with a much smaller unit. Makes the car look better and gives more space for things like stereos or other electrical accessories. Just something to consider if you need to replace a faulty blower unit or core.

 

It blows fine, and switches between the floor, and the defroster. The two problems I see so far is a inoperable cable, and no heat coming out.

 

Well, just got back from working on the car. Two things I noticed, may have been a combination, it was a little low on coolant, and the heater valve is REALLY stiff. I worked it back and forth for a few minutes, and got it better, left it in the FWD position, but it'll be replaced soon.

Also discovered one of the defrost tubes had come undone behind the dash, so I think I'm going to put a small screw in them both to make sure it doesnt happen again, and wrap the ends with a little bit of tape, to get that extra bit of air flow going in the right place.

 

Cable IN = hot water to heater = valve in forward position
Cable pulled out=hot water off.

 

Suggest you remove the heater valve and visually inspect to ensure that water/coolant can actually flow through it when the **** is pushed all the way IN. Or remove the hose from the valve and see if you get water flow. Messy but a reliable indicator. My bet is that the valve is NFG. (Presumably you've checked for heat when the engine was actually hot.)

 

My hot water valve was stuck open. Didn't know it for the first year I had the car. It was a hot summer...

After I saw on this board that the heater **** is counter-intuitive, I tried to pull it out. No go. A little WD40 on the hot water valve and it was good as new (I hope).

Old MGs and Triumphs actually had a tap that looks a lot like a garden hose valve. Want heat? Open the bonnet and turn the valve on.