[jnance50]

A little background - it is morning, I've just started my Rover up, it is a lovely sunny day and 55 degrees Fahrenheit outside (according to my climate control's "EXT" reading), and my climate control itself is set on a nice 72 degrees and in "AUTO".

I drive for maybe 10 minutes and notice a cool breeze on my feet. I glance to the engine temperature and notice it fully warmed up, the needle dead in the middle. I reach down and sure enough my floor vents are blowing cold. I reach up and my windshield vent is blowing cold. I think "hmm, that's odd" and I increase the climate control to "HI" and both continue to blow cold. I think to myself "oh, wonderful" and keep a watchful eye on the engine temp for overheating.

Ten minutes go by and nothing, no overheating but no heat either. Then, suddenly, the rover opens the bowels of hell and I have piping hot heat again. But something else odd happened when the heat started back - it also decided to direct it out of the face-view vents. I've driven this thing all winter and when in "AUTO" it has never put heat out of the face vents - always the floor and the windshield.

Thoughts on my problem? Clog in the heater core that dispersed itself maybe? Lucas prince of darkness? I'm clueless.

As a side note, this is only days after I was having inaccurate readings on my external temperature sensor. I don't think this has any bearing (as it was still reading cold enough to require heat and had the vents set to the correct configuration to disperse heat) but I thought I'd mention it.

Thanks guys!

 

[kmagnuss]

check your coolant level, although in your case I doubt that's it.

 

[jnance50]

Yeah plan on checking it after work this afternoon, but as you said I doubt that is it as I should've seen overheating as well. I'm inclined to think it was an electrical issue as it was accompanied by the weird vent settings ... but it didn't have any warnings, not even a testbook on the climate control - and I'm not certain it couldn't have been a clogged heater core that resolved itself momentarily. Any one else to weigh in?

 

[kmagnuss]

... but as you said I doubt that is it as I should've seen overheating as well.

Not true at all. It's actually the first sign that your coolant is low (the no heat). But usually it's only at idle that there's no heat, and then it comes back on as you start to get the revs up some.

 

[RRToadHall]

Also keep in mind that your temp sensor is useless without coolant running past it. If your water pump is failing you will have little flow at idle. If your level is so low that the sensor is not "wet" it will not register an overheat. In fact I have seen them register cold when the engine is cooking. :?

 

[jnance50]

How can I be certain then that the water pump is not failing and I'm cooking my engine? Checking the coolant level is easy enough ... but the water pump is a different matter.

 

[kmagnuss]

Usually a water pump will start to seep drops of water when it starts to go. Other than that, I think you can check somehow by pulling off a hose or two, but I can't quite remember how.

 

[jnance50]

Well I would just be happy to get it home. It's about a half-hour drive from here and it's constantly moving - no stop and go. If I check the level and it's sufficient - is there anything I should keep and eye out for aside from a rising temperature gauge or smoke bellowing from the bonnet to just get it home?

 

[kmagnuss]

Nope.

Bring a couple gallons of water or 50/50 mix just in case.

 

[Selby P38]

G'day ,normally if you can feel or see a bit of movement in the waterpump its on its way out.
Coolent level important ,let cool down remove exspansion cap top up level and squeeze top hose ,should see back pressure tide up in bottle.
start car with exspasion cap off and let warm up carfully not to get hands clothing caught in belt squeeze top hose gressivley and se if fluid is recicling through return hose out of the small outlet of exspansion bottle. You should see it dribbling by itself. refit cap when happy ,if loose fluid replace exspansion cap with new and work from there. Check fluids daily.
Sensor on heater inlet pipe maybe stuffed common fault.
R17 and R16 fan relays replace they overheat contacts burn out and get hot ,R17 main colprid common note is intermittant book display and then a hard fault book display replacing these will sovle if you havn't cooked the fuse box terminials completly
Run system in manual mode and force your blend motors using manual controls feel both sides settings in LO and HI 50/50 as well to see if distrubution flaps are working ok running cold one side and hot the other and vise vera
Clean and replace recirculation filters.
Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Selby P38]

G'day ,normally if you can feel or see a bit of movement in the waterpump its on its way out.
Coolent level important ,let cool down remove exspansion cap top up level and squeeze top hose ,should see back pressure tide up in bottle.
start car with exspasion cap off and let warm up carfully not to get hands clothing caught in belt squeeze top hose gressivley and se if fluid is recicling through return hose out of the small outlet of exspansion bottle. You should see it dribbling by itself. refit cap when happy ,if loose fluid replace exspansion cap with new and work from there. Check fluids daily.
Sensor on heater inlet pipe maybe stuffed common fault.
R17 and R16 fan relays replace they overheat contacts burn out and get hot ,R17 main colprid common note is intermittant book display and then a hard fault book display replacing these will sovle if you havn't cooked the fuse box terminials completly
Run system in manual mode and force your blend motors using manual controls feel both sides settings in LO and HI 50/50 as well to see if distrubution flaps are working ok running cold one side and hot the other and vise vera
Clean and replace recirculation filters.
Good luck and keep us posted

Sorry meant to put R6 and R7, R7 being the main colprid

 

[jnance50]

So just as an update, I didn't get the chance to thoroughly inspect the car this weekend but here's what I can tell.

There is a high pitch whine, but only at speed, does not seem to be rpm related though as putting it in neutral does not affect the sound and cannot reproduce while sitting still - this seems like another battle.

My heat is hot again even when at idle - but when the RPMs get above 2k it will melt the skin from your hand (not literally, but it is a noticeable change in temperature) - I'm sure if this is normal or not.

I topped off the coolant and cannot see a leak anywhere - no seepage from the pump. I pulled the dipstick, oil cap, and spark plugs - no coolant to be seen or smelt anywhere.

So - this leads me to think it was either a clog making its way thought the system or the waterpump is on it's way out. You guys mentioned being able to see movement in relation to the pump, I looked, but I'm not sure exactly what should be moving and how much movement is normal - can someone clarify on this point a bit? Again, I didn't notice any seepage or noise, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be the pump. I will check all the hoses as someone else mentioned next weekend (I don't drive during the week) and let you all know - I'd like to keep this thread updated until a resolution is found in the hopes it helps someone in the future.

Thanks for all the help guys,
Justin

 

[jstephen]

I had this same problem this morning. I had no heat all the way to work. Over the past week & a half it has been pretty warm in upstate NY so I havent had the heat on. This morning i noticed cold air blowing ionto the car as well. The only thing I have done in the past week is unscrew the coolant resevoir cap. I have noticed that the coolant level was at the bottom of the container. When I unscrewed the cap did i let air in the system? I bought coolant to top off but have not had a chance to do it yet. Also a dumb question... Where would i add coolant? Directly into the radiator? I know on other vehicles thats where you add it while the car is running.

 

[kmagnuss]

I had this same problem this morning. I had no heat all the way to work. Over the past week & a half it has been pretty warm in upstate NY so I havent had the heat on. This morning i noticed cold air blowing ionto the car as well. The only thing I have done in the past week is unscrew the coolant resevoir cap. I have noticed that the coolant level was at the bottom of the container. When I unscrewed the cap did i let air in the system? I bought coolant to top off but have not had a chance to do it yet. Also a dumb question... Where would i add coolant? Directly into the radiator? I know on other vehicles thats where you add it while the car is running.

1. No. You didn't let air into the system.
2. Add to the resevoir.
3. No. Not to the radiator. There's no cap on it. You'd have to loosed up a pipe and add it that way...which you only need to do if you have to 'burp' the system.

 

[jstephen]

I see that you need to fill coolant in the expansion container. I have tried to attach the cooling system manual from the RAVE but the file is to big to post on here. If anyone needs it I can email it to you. Josh

 

[jstephen]

I unscrewed the cap before & there is a plastic piece with a spring on it. I couldnt figure out how to get it off? I started prying at it but didn't want to **** anything up? Any Suggestions?


1. No. You didn't let air into the system.
2. Add to the resevoir.
3. No. Not to the radiator. There's no cap on it. You'd have to loosed up a pipe and add it that way...which you only need to do if you have to 'burp' the system.[/quote]

 

[boardthis74]

G'day ,normally if you can feel or see a bit of movement in the waterpump its on its way out.
Coolent level important ,let cool down remove exspansion cap top up level and squeeze top hose ,should see back pressure tide up in bottle.
start car with exspasion cap off and let warm up carfully not to get hands clothing caught in belt squeeze top hose gressivley and se if fluid is recicling through return hose out of the small outlet of exspansion bottle. You should see it dribbling by itself. refit cap when happy ,if loose fluid replace exspansion cap with new and work from there. Check fluids daily.
Sensor on heater inlet pipe maybe stuffed common fault.
R17 and R16 fan relays replace they overheat contacts burn out and get hot ,R17 main colprid common note is intermittant book display and then a hard fault book display replacing these will sovle if you havn't cooked the fuse box terminials completly
Run system in manual mode and force your blend motors using manual controls feel both sides settings in LO and HI 50/50 as well to see if distrubution flaps are working ok running cold one side and hot the other and vise vera
Clean and replace recirculation filters.
Good luck and keep us posted

I think I'm having this problem, I started getting the intermittent book display. I'm also getting where the coolant temp sensor pegs out for a while (like really quickly) and then just goes right back to normal again (also very quickly) So not like it's actually slowly overheating. Where are these R6 an R7 relays, and how do I find out if they're bad?

 

[Farm Boy]

relays are in fuse box on fender well behind battery. when you take cover off there is a map on lid. Label on lid has picture on it. If they have discoloring on top like a burn mark they are probably bad. you can swap out relays of same color to see if they are bad. the spiking of the gauge sounds like low fluid.