Just as the weather is getting nice

Is there anything I can do without replacing it? New car soon and the Puma will be broken up so don't want to fork out on a part when the car wont be around for much longer!

I can put up with cold air as I can just put another jumper on!

 

find a position where it lets a little warm air into the cabin, then disconnect the plug

 

Ł20 for warm or cold air and you wont spend that.....?

wow

 

More than that for a genuine part, the pattern ones are shit!

 

Ł38 for genuine

 

Could anyone give an explanation on how the heater control in a Puma works?
I can tell it's more complicated than for instance Sierra, where cables operate a flap that controls air flow, but what does it do, actually?
And why didn't they just stick to cable-operated flaps...

 

Basically the heater control panel (the hot/cold temp control) is a potentiometer that sends a PWM (pulse,width,modulated) signal to the heater control valve which has a motor on one of the connections.

Depending on the postion of the control, the motor is open/closed to regulate the flow of coolant to the heater matrix.

This can simply be tested by connecting a bulb into the HCV connector, with the car running, in the middle position between hot/cold, the bulb will flash about once a second, and with it either hot or all the way cold it will either stay on, or be off.

edit - engine has to be running!

 

If the motor is stuck open, disconnecting it won't do much.

Only thing to do is either disconnect the valve and bypass it with a piece of pipe, or block the pipe/connector where the HCV motor is.

 

Thank you!

That explains the delay in temperature change as well. And it means you have to have the heat on often in summer too, otherwise the matrix will get clogged up.

Oh well, even a car as smart as a Puma has to have one brain fart it seems. Or two, if you count the unfortunate tailgate showers

 

Fiesta 96> and Ka also have the same set up.

 

when i had mine on the fiesta we found that leaving it in a position where it was "just" warm and then disconnecting the plug had it working just fine until we could replace it

they will work intermittently but if you are hot and want to be cold or are cold and want to be hot, it'll stop working

 

Guess I'm lucky with my Puma, since I can get the temperature I want, even if it comes with a delay
Everything else works as it should do, even after years of neglect.
The build quality is especially impressive after the 'murican-made Cougar I had before.
No panel gaps, no wind noises, doors actually close fully and the engine just works - and of course, no matter how silly the HCV in a Puma is, it just doesn't even compare to the randomness of the semi-automatic climate control in the Cougar...