21 replies to this topic

[phenergn]

I bought a VX220 NA 4 days ago - the result of over a year of planning towards getting one of these cars. I love it to bits but I'm a little concerned about the internal fan. When I have the fan turned up to full whack I can't feel it blowing from the drivers seat, and even when I put my hand over the vent I can only feel a very gentle flow of air, and it certainly isn't very hot. I can hear the fan going quite loudly, but turning up the speed only seems to increase the noise! Even with the roof up it wouldn't warm the car properly on a not particularly cold day over a half hour journey. Is this normal or is there something wrong? Is there anything obvious I should be checking?

[p4cks]

Check the connections on each end of the silver pipe under the bonnet. Sounds like one may have become detached.

[JG]

TADTS You need to get a good coat for winter use with roof down.

[vocky]

what I found when I removed the complete heater box was a tar covered stone stuck in the way of the heat control flap, this meant it would not close fully to allow all the heat through I've just got back from a spin (with the roof on )and I had to have the window down because it was too hot with the heater on

[davemate]

Welcome to the forum and welcome to owning a brilliant car. you will begin to love it and convince yourself that "its all part of the fun". look around using the search function on heater mods to find out how to get a bit more heat out of it. there is a great solution using some tumble dryer parts. and an option that you can buy to get some more puff out of it. where abouts are you located, and are you going to come to the national meet?

[phenergn]

Thanks for all the advice. Since posting this I have removed my dunces hat, done a forum search and realised this question has been asked 1,000,000 times already! Seems that the heater is often crap, but I do feel that there should be SOME flow of air into the cabin even if it was cold, so i'll go through the air flow and search for blockages. It's not going to spoil my enjoyment of the car though, I've been looking forward to my drive home from work all day; even if I have spend much of it taking colleagues for drives I'm based in hertfordshire, so there's some great driving roads not too far from me.

[theotherjonnymac]

Another Herts owner. Where abouts?

[jaylin]

Hi there! What colour is your n/a?

[phenergn]

I'm based in Watford, but work in Hatfield. The drive in is surprisingly traffic free so i can (partly) make use of my new toy. Plus if I head north of hatfield there are some lovely quiet roads for a sunday drive. When I first picked the car up I had to drive through london to get it back - it was like the 7th level of hell, a shiney new VX220 and I averaged 4 mph during my first 90 minutes with it The car is blue which was my second choice colour. I wanted a black one, they look the absolute nuts, but the blue still looks really cool.

Edited by phenergn, 30 October 2007 - 04:28 PM.

[A2UL69]

I bought a VX220 NA 4 days ago - the result of over a year of planning towards getting one of these cars.

What colour is your n/a?

Welcome!

Any pics?

Enjoy the car!

[NickB787]

Just spent a few hours sorting my heater out also after removing the matrix box itself I opened it up and found the lever which moves the flap, was not connected to the flap at all it just went round and round. the flap was set to full cold. I repaired it put it back in and now need to test it All I need now is one of those new heater hoses with a filter in it

[SamVx]

How hard is it to remove the matrix? Would like to get mine off - but I'm a bit of a novice!

[NickB787]

How hard is it to remove the matrix? Would like to get mine off - but I'm a bit of a novice!

Clicky

Try this not to bad but need a 90 degree drill or if you don't mind break the cable holders off.
The worst thing was the second bolt under the break servo as it is a pain to get to , though it wasn't hard to re-fit because I forgot to put that one bolt back in

Edited by NickB777, 30 October 2007 - 06:14 PM.

[techieboy]

How hard is it to remove the matrix? Would like to get mine off - but I'm a bit of a novice!

Clicky

Try this not to bad but need a 90 degree drill or if you don't mind break the cable holders off.
The worst thing was the second bolt under the break servo as it is a pain to get to , though it wasn't hard to re-fit because I forgot to put that one bolt back in

Excellent. I'll drop mine round to yours first thing in the morning, then. I haven't felt as much as a draught out of my heating system since I bought it. Had lot's of crap come through the vents but nothing else.

[SamVx]

We should have some sort of heater matrix removal masterclass.... bet there's a couple which would benefit from a good clean!

[NickB787]

How hard is it to remove the matrix? Would like to get mine off - but I'm a bit of a novice!

Clicky

Try this not to bad but need a 90 degree drill or if you don't mind break the cable holders off.
The worst thing was the second bolt under the break servo as it is a pain to get to , though it wasn't hard to re-fit because I forgot to put that one bolt back in

Excellent. I'll drop mine round to yours first thing in the morning, then. I haven't felt as much as a draught out of my heating system since I bought it. Had lot's of crap come through the vents but nothing else.

Just a thought though as I was disconnecting the pipes (I used a wood working clamp on the soft hoses to stop the water leaking out, great idea of mine ) the actual heater matrix come out by itself from the rest of the housing it was only held in by pop rivets which came out. So you could change just that assuming you knew it was shagged without removing the whole unit. Also be glad it’s not a Lotus as it is a clam off job

[techieboy]

Just a thought though as I was disconnecting the pipes (I used a wood working clamp on the soft hoses to stop the water leaking out, great idea of mine ) the actual heater matrix come out by itself from the rest of the housing it was only held in by pop rivets which came out. So you could change just that assuming you knew it was shagged without removing the whole unit. Also be glad it’s not a Lotus as it is a clam off job

Good call on the clamps, Nick. I just read the instructions and was going to ask if you really needed to drain the system. Are any of the lever connections accessible whilst the unit is still fitted (looking for the lazier option of not having to remove everything)?

[jules_s]

what I found when I removed the complete heater box was a tar covered stone stuck in the way of the heat control flap, this meant it would not close fully to allow all the heat through

I've just got back from a spin (with the roof on )and I had to have the window down because it was too hot with the heater on

Same here...mines toasty when full on hot It does let all manner of crap into the cabin though

Best to check for the sock mod/filter being clogged up if there is no puff coming through....either that or a disconnected pipe

[Jimmo]

Heaters!! what heaters?

[NickB787]

Just a thought though as I was disconnecting the pipes (I used a wood working clamp on the soft hoses to stop the water leaking out, great idea of mine ) the actual heater matrix come out by itself from the rest of the housing it was only held in by pop rivets which came out. So you could change just that assuming you knew it was shagged without removing the whole unit. Also be glad it’s not a Lotus as it is a clam off job

Good call on the clamps, Nick. I just read the instructions and was going to ask if you really needed to drain the system. Are any of the lever connections accessible whilst the unit is still fitted (looking for the lazier option of not having to remove everything)?

The only bit which you can get to is the lever arm itself. When I removed the wire from the inside control unit (don't loose the spring clip . I have and can't find it anywhere!)I found I could rotate the lever continuously as if there was nothing attached to it, which was the case. If that happens it means the lever has come away from the flap which will only move through 90 degrees when working correctly. If it does rotate more than 90 degrees you will have to remove the whole unit to fix it. Drill out the rivets and you will see the lever has come adrift from the flap. It just sits in a channel about 2-3 mm deep and mine had popped out. It was slightly bent which I straightened and then put it all back together again Easy