I'm having a problem with my 1990 FRST where it ain't getting warm inside the car, when I first bought it in October the weather wasn't too bad so it wasn't a problem.

I eventually got around to changing the thermostat in November and it improved ever so slightly, it now gets 'luke' warm after about 30 mins of town driving. That's with the heater control on max, move it anywhere away from max and it's cold air it's blowing.

The car drives way better since I've changed the thermostat, the other one was totally dead and not opening/closing so it's improved in that respect. Although when driving between 0-50 mph the car does still seem a little lumpy as if the engine is still cold and it does seem to be drinking a lot of fuel.

I did 'lose' some water from the header tank 2 weeks ago but this it the first time since October I've had to top it up so I don't think I have a problem there.

The temp gauge inside the car rarely goes above the R on NORM even after 45-60 mins stop and start town driving.

From what I can tell (from my limited knowlege of the cooling system) the hoses from the radiator and to the thermostat housing are hot but not too hot you can't hold them (I did this with cold hands last night!), the 2 hoses that go into the bulkhead again are hot but I'm still able to hold onto them. Also the plastic cover around the matrix does feel warm and what heat does come out the vents feels cooler from the central unit than from the side units??

It's been suggested I have an air lock, a shagged matrix, a bust sender unit etc etc etc??

WHERE DO I START??

Many thanks,

Nick.

 

Try swapping the 2 pipes around that go into the bulkhead to reverse the flow of water, this may sort the problem

cheers

Rich