Heater problem - confused
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Buzz Buzz Buzz
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,931
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From: Melbourne, Victoria
Heater problem - confused
For those of you who live in Melbourne, you realise just how cold it has been the last couple of days.
Well, last night, I start my car after work and turn my heater full on for the first time in a while and expect my car to be getting toasty in the minutes between putting my case in the boot, having a chat to a colleague and sitting in the drivers seat.
Suffice it to say, my expectation was not satisfied.
So, I take to driving home, and notice that to my left, from the passenger side, there was a nice temperature increase (but again, it failed to meet expectations as the climate control was all the way to hot and the fan was on setting 3).
Has anyone experienced this? Hot on one side of the car and freezing on the other?
Well, last night, I start my car after work and turn my heater full on for the first time in a while and expect my car to be getting toasty in the minutes between putting my case in the boot, having a chat to a colleague and sitting in the drivers seat.
Suffice it to say, my expectation was not satisfied.
So, I take to driving home, and notice that to my left, from the passenger side, there was a nice temperature increase (but again, it failed to meet expectations as the climate control was all the way to hot and the fan was on setting 3).
Has anyone experienced this? Hot on one side of the car and freezing on the other?
yhea ive had the same problem and so have others. there is a thread on this issue. but trying to find it sux. anyway try flushing your coolant system, espically the heater core a few times. you can access the heater core via hoses in the engine bay. i think you are rhd so i dont know how different the layout is. on my lhd the hoses for the heater core are on the pass side below the washer resivoir on the firewall
Thread Starter
Buzz Buzz Buzz
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,931
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From: Melbourne, Victoria
Thanks mate.
I did some more digging and found this:
From here:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/05-rx-8-heater-blows-cold-187497/
Though not particularly specific, I think it'll do for now.
I did some more digging and found this:
I'm reviving this thread in the hope that it will help some poor schmuck like me :-)
My RX8 is one of the finnicky ones... engine recall? yep. clutch pedal snap? yep etc etc... so I'll just chalk this up to that as well.
Last year I was having the same problem as shadetreephil. I tried to flush out the heater core and it didn't work - still had cold on driver's side, lukewarm on passenger's side. Quotes from dealers for a new heater core ran from $1000-1800 and it wasn't clear if this was even the problem. I chattered my teeth and dealt with it last winter (in Boston - COLD).
This year, we finally hit the 30's and I was reminded of how miserable the winter in my car is. So I tried again.
I was having the hardest time understanding why it was warm on the passenger's side and cold on my side. And then I realized - the heater core still allows fluid to pass from the top tube to the bottom bypassing the rest of the core. So the heat I was getting was simply from the tubes and not the core itself.
I disconnected the tubes to the heater core (easy to access, below the windshield wiper fluid reservoir under the hood) and using garden sprinkler pieces hooked up my hose I flushed it out. There was lots of rust colored fluid out like last year and it took multiple flushes to get all the small rust pieces out. This time, I also did two treatments with LimeAway, each for about one hour each. This apparently is risky - looking on the web, there are people warning of it wearing away at the metal and leading to a catastropic leak... but most people reported that they didn't have this problem. Just make sure to flush VERY thoroughly after using to get out all of the limeaway (or CLR, etc).
The other thing I did differently this year was to flush in both directions. I also filled with coolant from the tube closest to the passenger's side, which is the top of the core (if you look under the dash you'll see the tubes cross so it is not immediately clear which is the upper and which is the lower tubes).
Then, I drained the whole coolant system. I had never done the basic flush, but it was much easier than I imagined - put the car on ramps, undo the screw which is accessible through a hole on the panel under the front of the car, replace screw, fill... that's it. I filled with distilled water, drove around, and drained it two more times before the final fill with 50:50 coolant:distilled water.
On the first drive around, I noticed that the driver's side heat was much better than before - and by the third time, I couldn't even hold my hand to the vent for long because of the strong heat. Believe me, this is a major improvement and will make this winter much nicer (I'm a reluctant Southern California to New England transplant).
If you need any more details, feel free to PM me.
My RX8 is one of the finnicky ones... engine recall? yep. clutch pedal snap? yep etc etc... so I'll just chalk this up to that as well.
Last year I was having the same problem as shadetreephil. I tried to flush out the heater core and it didn't work - still had cold on driver's side, lukewarm on passenger's side. Quotes from dealers for a new heater core ran from $1000-1800 and it wasn't clear if this was even the problem. I chattered my teeth and dealt with it last winter (in Boston - COLD).
This year, we finally hit the 30's and I was reminded of how miserable the winter in my car is. So I tried again.
I was having the hardest time understanding why it was warm on the passenger's side and cold on my side. And then I realized - the heater core still allows fluid to pass from the top tube to the bottom bypassing the rest of the core. So the heat I was getting was simply from the tubes and not the core itself.
I disconnected the tubes to the heater core (easy to access, below the windshield wiper fluid reservoir under the hood) and using garden sprinkler pieces hooked up my hose I flushed it out. There was lots of rust colored fluid out like last year and it took multiple flushes to get all the small rust pieces out. This time, I also did two treatments with LimeAway, each for about one hour each. This apparently is risky - looking on the web, there are people warning of it wearing away at the metal and leading to a catastropic leak... but most people reported that they didn't have this problem. Just make sure to flush VERY thoroughly after using to get out all of the limeaway (or CLR, etc).
The other thing I did differently this year was to flush in both directions. I also filled with coolant from the tube closest to the passenger's side, which is the top of the core (if you look under the dash you'll see the tubes cross so it is not immediately clear which is the upper and which is the lower tubes).
Then, I drained the whole coolant system. I had never done the basic flush, but it was much easier than I imagined - put the car on ramps, undo the screw which is accessible through a hole on the panel under the front of the car, replace screw, fill... that's it. I filled with distilled water, drove around, and drained it two more times before the final fill with 50:50 coolant:distilled water.
On the first drive around, I noticed that the driver's side heat was much better than before - and by the third time, I couldn't even hold my hand to the vent for long because of the strong heat. Believe me, this is a major improvement and will make this winter much nicer (I'm a reluctant Southern California to New England transplant).
If you need any more details, feel free to PM me.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/05-rx-8-heater-blows-cold-187497/
Though not particularly specific, I think it'll do for now.
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 10,880
Likes: 339
From: Australia
Coming in late here Cromax...But..
There have been quite a number of Heater Core issues and replacements in the US for being "blocked" !! FFS??, I am having trouble understanding "how" it gets blocked if one is using FL22 coolant or similar which stops any corrosion.
Now the possibilities are that owners have renewed coolant a few years back and used a brand that was incompatible for some reason, or debris (bits of core metal/solder) coming off and blocking the core??.
Yes, the Heater Cors are different for LHD, but the RHD is the same design principal.
Pipes are just on the other side of the RHD Core, that is all.
Yes, it is bloody cold here too....how did you get on??
There have been quite a number of Heater Core issues and replacements in the US for being "blocked" !! FFS??, I am having trouble understanding "how" it gets blocked if one is using FL22 coolant or similar which stops any corrosion.
Now the possibilities are that owners have renewed coolant a few years back and used a brand that was incompatible for some reason, or debris (bits of core metal/solder) coming off and blocking the core??.
Yes, the Heater Cors are different for LHD, but the RHD is the same design principal.
Pipes are just on the other side of the RHD Core, that is all.
Yes, it is bloody cold here too....how did you get on??
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1
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Heater Core hose confirmation??? newbie help pls.
yhea ive had the same problem and so have others. there is a thread on this issue. but trying to find it sux. anyway try flushing your coolant system, espically the heater core a few times. you can access the heater core via hoses in the engine bay. i think you are rhd so i dont know how different the layout is. on my lhd the hoses for the heater core are on the pass side below the washer resivoir on the firewall
+1. I need this fixed asap as well and can't determine which hoses the procedure needs to be done through
definitely not a "new" issue but we don't have a lot of data on the exact procedure... beyond what has already been referenced.
I have the same problem and plan to address at some point soon as it is cold as @#@#$ here too.
I have the same problem and plan to address at some point soon as it is cold as @#@#$ here too.
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