hi all,

I have a 2002 r53 with a problem with the heaters, there is no hot air! Its now starting to get really cold in the uk now so desperate for help!

I have changed the heater matrix for a second hand unit 6months ago. This helped the problem abit but has since stopped working again.

I then changed the thermostat which did nothing

I then changed the water pump which did nothing (took me forever aswel!)

My next plan of action is to flush the coolant system because im thinking maybe the second hand heater matrix has blocked up in the six months its been fitted.

Iv heard you can flush the system with a garden hose, whats the best way to do this to sort the no heat problem?

Any other bits i can try to get it working?

Cheers

 

Bump! Im freezing!

 

Prestone sells or at least they use to sell an inline hose insert to use the garden hose to flush. However nowadays with people more environmentally aware, flushing the radiator without proper capture and disposal is bad. Best bet is a shop that has the machine specifically designed to do this task.

 

Il have to check it out! I dont care about the environment at the moment. Not when im this cold in the morninhs

 

First try to bleed the air out ..
If that does not help, you will need to aggressively flush the entire COOLING system, then seal it, and likely replace the heater core AGAIN...
The COOLING systems are often neglected on these cars...resulting in debris from corrosion, rust, etc plugging the core...just change the core....and it will happen again...and again....
Remember the block is CAST IRON...so add water and coolant, it will rust once the additives are used up...and the bits of rust will float around...and collect in the low points, and narrow low flow parts...like the heater core....

 

Zippy is right, one often neglected task on many cars is the maintenance of the cooling system. In general, it's recommended that you flush and clean out your cooling system once every 36 months, or approximately every three years. Electrolysis - One failure mode associated with dirty coolant is known as electrolysis and can cause some issues. We have a coolant change here that goes over a lot of information about the cooling system. Some good info in this NAM thread here where an individual goes over the steps they did for flushing it and another here. Good luck.