No heat in Mk4 Astra

Hi All,

My 1998 Mk4 Astra (S-reg) recently had a blown head gasket, it kept
drinking coolant and had to fill up nearly 1/2 litre per day in the
end. Everything is fixed now (ouch) apart from the fact that I've got
no heating in the interior. By searching in this newsgroup I found that
one of the most likely causes is air in the heater matrix, which can be
resolved by bleeding the coolant circuit or the heater matrix.

The question is: Where can I find the heater matrix (it's not behind
the glove compartment ) and how do I bleed the system. Do I get
myself a Haynes manual, go back to the repair shop or is it easy enough
to explain in a newsgroup post?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Bas

 

It is inside the heater box so you cant get to the matrix itself - the 2
pipes go through the bulkhead next to each other. These are usually quite
good at bleeding - try holding the revs about 3000rpm with the expansion
bottle cap off.

 

Thanks for the tip, will try in my lunch hour (though my car hasn't got
a rev gauge... but I'll figure something out).

 

Found the problem. A dodgy connector on the heater control panel!! The
three buttons (aircon, recirc and rear window heating) didn't work.
Apparently there's a bypass valve that stops air flowing through the
heater matrix (or hot coolant, not sure) in case the aircon is on. Once
the connector was fixed, I switched the aircon on and off, and the
problem was gone. I'm now lovely and warm inside my car.... thank
goodness, 'cause they're forcasting a horrible winter

Cheers