Heat problem

[jaydog]

I took my van out this weekend for it's first proper run and it was bloody amazing, My problem is this, The heat from the vents was fine all weekend until the last hour of my journey, I stopped for fuel and when i got back on the road there was no heat anywhere up front, it's an Aircooled van so no blower, anybody have any idea's what the problem could be, i haven't looked for anything obvious yet as it was dark when i got home. These vans are bloody miserable places to be with no heat.

Thanks in advance

[VWCamperfan]

Sounds a bit strange!
The fan is driven be the alternator belt so I would check that first. The belt could have snapped but the indicator led on the dashboard may not be working to indicate this. If it comes on with ignition though then I would have thought it was operating properly. Worth a look though. Check belt tension as well, could be a bit slack.
Also, check all plastic air ducts down to the black insulated pipe underneath and also check the security of the pipe behind the front grill where it enters the air distributor.
Try to check operation of heater flaps on heat exchangers as well but they don't usually just pack up like that.

Hope this helps.

[jaydog]

Thanks for that, i'll check tomorrow, all dash board lights are working though so i'm not so sure!

Cheers for the reply.

Jay.

[1664]

Just a stab in the dark really but since the air cooled vans get their heat from the exhaust system rather than a water filled cooling system, perhaps while you were filling up, waiting to pay etc the exhaust system / heat exchangers etc simply cooled down? They're exposed to the winter air and they're just metal which loses heat extremely rapidly compared to water.

Just a thought.............

[jaydog]

Nah i dont think that is it, i was stopped for no longer than 3 minutes, when i got back on the road it was warm ish but just got colder and colder, still no joy in finding the problem.

[dugcati]

Jay,
Have a look at the heater cables and where they connect onto the exchangers - if need be cable tie the flaps open. Sounds silly but check if any of the control cables have broken etc behind the dash.

As another thing to check look at the metal connector pipes from the heat exchanger to the blower fan on the alternator in case your loosing heat at that point

As a last resort run up the engine and disconnect the main heater pipe just after the y 2 into one piece over the gearbox to see if your getting warm air at that point - if so the issue is forward of the engine bay if not work backwards through the engine bay.

Doug

[jaydog]

Just tied the flaps open under the rear arches, They had been cable tied previously but these had snapped and the flaps had closed, (story of my life) Are the cables easy to replace as they well shot, And just one more thing, how can i stop the heat as it's now like a blast furness, not that i'm complaining!

[lloyd]

And just one more thing, how can i stop the heat as it's now like a blast furness, not that i'm complaining!

Cut the cable ties.

[CovKid]

The standard practice when I started on beetles, was to use choc-block connectors on what was left of the cables and coathanger wire screwed into other side, hooked around the flaps. If cables move and theres enough left at rear, that will often last a year or more.