TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:58 pm

So the winter arriving slowly, and here in so cal it gets real cold. not really.

Anyways, I have a 66 bug and I have the heat working great...but only comes out from the back. I do not understand why it is not coming out through the front where my feet are. The levers work great and the heat is good too, i just want my feet warm.

No, the covers are not still on.
No there is no rust AT ALL.
No they are not welded shut.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:08 pm

Have you taken the rubber hoses off under the back seat ???
....Run a wire through the heater channels...????
Have you seen any mice around your bug ???

Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:13 pm

If everything else is working then something has to be blocking the heat from going to the front. Can you see the flap closing on the rear vents? I've removed the heater boxes and taking a shop vac and sucked back through the inlets with the rear vents plugged. I'm my area there are cotton wood trees everywhere and the cotton can build up in the channels over time.

Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:58 pm

I had a bug back in '74 that was the same. I ran a hose from the rear, under my seat and into the foot well. Also placed a 6v motor in the line to force warm air up front...after a few winters of that, I bought a "winter car" with great heat, a 1959 Volvo 544 and did not use the bug all winter.
In 1982 when I got married, I bought my wife a 1969 bug. It had great heat.

Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:14 pm

Check the two "Bermuda Triangles" under the hood at the left and right sides. Follow the defroster hoses down and see if they are clear and connected. WATCH OUT for rusty nails poking through from the carpeted side of the panels.

Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:30 pm

It sounds like an odd suggestion, but drive down the highway with shorts and no shoes. I had some serious breezes down around my feet coming in past the seal to the trunk and then shoots down that channel behind the fender and out the access hole. Didn't really notice until it got cool enough to turn the heater on. The heat never made it all the way to the feet because the breeze was blowing it back. I pugged the holes and that help a lot.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:30 am

My heater boxes still have the original padding on them. The cable works on the latches it opens them perfectly. I'm thinking of lifting the car, taking the tubes out and then stick a coat hanger to see if theres anything in there. I don't want to remove the heater boxes under the seat because they have that padding and i don't want to mess them up. Is there any way to check right there if there is connection or something?

Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:17 am

tryin2buildit wrote: My heater boxes still have the original padding on them. The cable works on the latches it opens them perfectly. I'm thinking of lifting the car, taking the tubes out and then stick a coat hanger to see if theres anything in there. I don't want to remove the heater boxes under the seat because they have that padding and i don't want to mess them up. Is there any way to check right there if there is connection or something?

The left lever controls the flaps for the back seat heat. If it is pushed all the way forward the air cannot come out of the two tubes. They only open for air at the back, half the air will still come out of the heater channel foot outlets, or at the windshield. It is not possible to have all the air at the back and none at the front, if the system is in order.

The right lever controls the flaps at the engine, and so the overall injection of air into the cabin. If it is all the way down, no air should come at all from any of the 6 outlets. Pull it up, and air should come out, some at the windshield, some at the foot grilles and some at the rear seat outlets, if the left lever is pulled up. The flaps at the heaterboxes only divert the heat into the car or out in the open. If there is a plug in the system inside the car, the air will just leak out of the heater boxes.

So if you pull the right lever up and the left lever down, and hot air comes out at the back, there is something wrong with the cables or the shutters under your rear set. If no air comes out neither at the back or at the foot grilles, the rear shutters work, and the air channel must be plugged between the rear seat shutters and your foot grilles. Try to remove the grilles and pick out the obstruction from the foot grilles. The chances of both sides clogging up simultaneously is very low.

There is a tutorial for the heating system of the beetle on this forum, do a search and read up. It is not NASA technology.