Blowing only cold air

[Sgt_Lemon]

The blower from today will only blow cold air. A few weeks ago some foam had blown through and was behind the direction unit things. Also had a massive condensation problem arise which caused loads of moisture and ice on the inside of the windows. With no hot air I had to drive to work at 5:30 down the m3 with my head out the window freezing to death. Obviously with no hot air ever it won't clear after getting up to temp. Are these problems linked and what's the solution?

[Thom89]

Does your car have by pass valves fitted onto the 2 pipes that come of the back of the engine, and go through the bulkhead? these are troublesome, and can be discarded... reverting the car back to how it would have left the factory

Thom

[Sgt_Lemon]

Yes it does have this valve. Another symptom I have remembered is that occasionally the temp light would flash signifying low coolant (coolant is fine) or overheating which it's not. It will flash from first ignition till i get there without turning off but often if I switch it on and off it will go off and stay off. I had considered an air lock also so will try to flush that out now.

[caprigreen]

If you have bits of foam blowing out then it has perished and parted from the control flaps. Mine needs doing but keep putting it off as its a bit of a pain to do

[BoSelecta]

There was a fantastic guide to sorting this out kicking around on the forum, well worth a search. Full walk through with pictures...

[gazareth]

you can get at the main flap if you take out your centre console and remove the panel on the heater box. well that was on my 87 gti. not sure if later ones were different but worth a look.

[philstar]

I have the same problem on my '89 16v, I get a little bit of heat but barely any. I have fully flushed the cooling system. I also get the temperature light flashing at seemingly random times, yet I have no problems with overheating or low coolant. Does anyone have the link to the thread mentioned above?

[sparkplug]

heater matrix change guide ....>

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=33251.msg272617#msg272617

[Sgt_Lemon]

Is there any chance it could be an air lock?

[Gambit]

you cant just get an airlock. it sealed system. so it would have been airlocked & blowing cold air since the day you last topped up the expansion bottle. and if it is an airlock you can just burp it out by squeezing the bottom rad hose with the cap off when up to temp

cut out the bypass valves

then be prepared for the heater matrix to let go at some point if it is still an original mk2 item. and trust me you'll know when it goes, as your car will resemble a sauna with the steam blowing out of every vent!

they are not difficult to change - just annoying, fiddly and time consuming so book yourself a sat afternoon at it