It's cold and my van won't really warm up

[ValleyHappy]

It's my first winter with my van and I noticed my heater never gets really warm. My coolant temp guage is reading just above the low shaded area. It seems my motor is not properly warming up. Do I have a faulty valve that is sending coolant to the radiator sooner than it should? Does the vanagon have such a cooling system...that allows the coolant to circulate around the motor only, until it warms up and then can be circulated up to the radiator? I'm sure once I get a Bently I can answer my own questions.

Thanks
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09 Suzuki SX-4 Crossover

[funagon]

Your hunch is correct. The "valve" that allows hot coolant to run up to the radiator is the thermostat. It's in the engine compartment, in a black plastic housing attached to the cylinder head on driver's side. Lots of hoses attached to it.

Your thermostat has probably gone bad and its stuck open, so that coolant is constantly cycling through the radiator. That means your engine is running too cool and your heater never heats up.

If that's the problem, then new thermostats are cheap. Undo the 4 bolts on the thermo housing, replace thermostat (install new o-ring in correct location!), snug down bolts. You're done. You'll lose a little coolant but don't worry about it. Just top up the overflow tank.

The other possibility is that your heater control lever (on the dash) is not properly attached to the cable that runs to the heater control valve. The lever clamps onto the cable behind the dash (you can see it if you pull out the ashtray) and sometimes the cable slips in the clamp. But I think the result there would be heat on all the time, not heat off. So it sounds like you have a bad thermostat. Cheap and easy to replace. Put a new one in and see what happens.

EDIT: My description of the thermostat location is for the 2.1 WBX engine. If you have a 1.9 engine then I don't know that it's in the same place.
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1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[devesvws]

mine is doing the same thing. but fear prevents me from looking at the thermostat and changing it. just knowing the heads will start leaking once i do

[danno]

one thing I noticed after I took the leaky rear heater core out and put a loop in place was the heat wouldn't get very hot and so I took the loop out and plugged both lines and now it seems to get a lot hotter up front.

Dan
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Dan
Comox BC
86 Wolfsburg Weekender
92 Golf 4dr
93 Beta Synt Trials Bike.

[brooklynvan]

Thermostat is cheap. and easy to replace.
Mine was doing the same thing. now it's toasty.
_________________
1990 Vanagon "Plain Jane" Bostig in the Back
TRADED: 1967 Panel for 1976 BMW 2002
SOLD: 1984 Sunroof Vanagon with EJ22
RIP 1986 Saab turbo
and my daily commuter: a Bicycle

[ValleyHappy]

thanks for the replys...one thermostat coming right up. toasty sounds good.
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09 Suzuki SX-4 Crossover

[Chuck77]

About how long would it typically take for a 2.1 WBX to heat up from ambient weather temperatures like 30 degrees? I too may be dealing with this issue, but I wanted to see what a typical time frame was so I can compare. I am also considering spraypainting a piece of cut to fit cardboard and putting it in front of my radiator but behind the grill to get the brick to warm up a little quicker on my morning drive...

[ValleyHappy]

I can drive for 45 minutes and my temp only reads to the top edge of the shaded area on the low end. only in the summer did my gauge readfull warm-up temp.
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09 Suzuki SX-4 Crossover

[mordeaux]

Chuck,

I drive about 6 miles to work each day - 2 miles on city streets and 4 miles on a stop and go freeway. In that drive each morning, my 90 Carat gets well warm, warm enough to be uncomfortably warm with no front blower fan.

So, after 15 minutes driving in 30F temps, the needle on my gauge is just about at the LED. Maybe a hair below the LED.

[funagon]

My 90 GL (2.1 liter engine) has a new radiator and new thermostat. Front heater gets good and warm after about 5-6 minutes of steady driving in 30 degree F outdoor temps.

I've found that letting the car sit with engine idling won't get the coolant/heater warm, at least not fast enough. So it's useless to let the van "warm up" in the driveway, at least for the purpose of getting the heater going on a cold morning. So I start her up and drive easy (lower RPMs) until the coolant needle starts to rise, just so that I'm not working the little engine too hard while the oil is thick.

After 3-4 minutes the needle on the coolant temp gauge starts to rise and I have some heat at the front vents. After 6-7 minutes of steady driving, the needle stops at the light in the middle of the gauge, I have plenty of heat in the cabin, and I put the gas pedal to the floor.

EDIT: for those who care to compare how long it takes to warm up: this morning it was 18 degrees F outside and it took about 6-7 min driving before the coolant temp needle started to move and I felt a little heat. After 10-12 minutes of steady driving I had good heat coming out of the front vents and the needle rose to its proper position. It shouldn't take longer than that (unless you're sitting at stoplights and sitting in traffic).
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1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[tencentlife]

[McVanagon]

[fixedgear]

Thanks to ValleyHappy for the post. My situartion is somewhat similiar-little or no cabin heat. The main difference being that I am running the 2.1 at an outside temp. of around 0 degrees F.( -15C.). During the summer months the needle was usually on the lower side of the LED. In the present situation the needle is parked, and the most I can expect in a 50 K. (32 mile ) run is to get it to budge to close to the bottom edge of the white area.

I have the diffuser off and checked the cable, which seems to be secure to the front valve. I have flushed the system and have the coolant ratio around 50%. I have removed the thermostat and dangled it in boiling water to check the opening and closing function. The 87 degree thermo. seems to be working.

Feeling the pipes to and from the heater after 1/2 hour of driving, with the temp. guage needle close to rest, the best description would be lukewarm. The airflow from the footwell ducts with no fan is far greater than needed for the heat generated. The fan is not an option in this case.

I had read the posts that said that the thermostat's fuction was limited to warmup only. I infered by this that after 10 minutes or so of running in any temperature that the thermostat had no influence.

I wonder if the engine never achieves warmup over the entire 1 hour or so running time due to the themostat staying open (despite my test.) I cannot believe that the amount of heat I am getting off the front exchanger is normal, even for a vehicle designed to be recreational. The Germans are nothern Europeans after all!

In defence of the 2.1 though I have to say that I have never had a vehicle that cold-started like this. My storage preparation, last winter, next to the house was limited to oil change, gas fill-up with some stabilizer. The battery was left in can connected. No plug removal or defogging oil with manual cranking. Six times or so last winter I tried to start it, but not move it. It started each time and kept idle. Both my other vehicles would never be able to do this unless the block heater was working, and even then the draw-down of the battery would make it iffy, in not driven.

Sorry for the wordy post, Barnaby

[Chuck77]

[msinabottle]

It really doesn't take too long for a WBX to heat up. That's a LITTLE engine moving a LOT of metal around, surprisingly well. In the good old days, a 440 V-8 would be cold a half hour after you started driving it, but the little four cylinders heat up quite quickly given how much work they've got to do.

The drill I heard was to leave the heater off until the engine temperature indicator needle moved AT ALL. Then you could turn on the cabin heat while letting the engine get warm enough for operating temperatures.

Most engine wear occurs before the oil is warm enough to lubricate the moving surfaces of a running engine. The best thing I've done in this cold weather is to go down from 20W50 to 10W30 from October to March. I'll probably make that 10W40, but the van starts easily with the thinner oil and it does get lubricated quickly.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[tencentlife]

Rob, that's right, the absolutely fastest way to get the engine warming up s to leave the heater valves closed until the needle begins to register. That stops all flw outside of the loop within the engine itself. Then open the valve and it will deliver warmer water to the heater core.

Chuck77, have you tried closing your rear heater valve to see if you get better heat up front? If it gets better, it's possible that your rear heater lacks the flow restrictor that should be in the valve inlet port. If too much water flows thru the rear core too easily, there will be very little flow diverted to the front core, and your fan will quickly cool the core, with the result being anemic temps out of the front heater. If closing the rear valve helps (push the little lever rearward), you could just leave it that way, or just open it a crack in lieu of the restrictor.
_________________
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also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.

[Chuck77]

Not sure about the flow restrictor being intact or not in the rear, that would definitely play a big part in things. I did adjust the rear heater core valve, I will see what that does for me tomorrow. Thanks man.

[tds3pete]

FYI On my Audi A6, I have both a coolant temp guage and oil temp guage. It is interesting how much faster the coolant gets up to normal temp than the oil.....something like twice as fast. It seems logical since the coolant has a high flow rate, and is probably makeing a lot more contact around the cylinders and heads.

I don't know if this is typical, but it means reading a coolant temp guage might not be a completely accurate picture of oil temp, until everything has stabilized.
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'58 Westy camper-come and gone
'73 Westy-bought new in Holland,now gone
'86 Syncro weekender-come and gone
'79 Westy...Oscar
'95 Eurovan Camper/5 spd...Marsha Mellow

[tencentlife]

No, it's definitely not. Oil takes 2 or 3 times as long as coolant to get to full running temps, like 180F. The oil/water exchanger is a great way to make that happen faster.
_________________
Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.

[aguabonita]