Heater Issues - Corolla Verso 2.0L D4D

[GavinAber]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help with a problem with my 05 Verso heating system. I bought the car in February this year and have been very impressed with it. I've had an issue with the EGR value, but a quick look-up on google and some carefull cleaning sorted that one out.

Here's an outline of the heating problem,

When we first bought the car, one of the best things was that when you first drove off in the cold, early mornings, the heating system would pump lovely warm air into the car almost immediately (we're talking within a minute).

Now, with the cold weather appearing again, I've noticed that it blows cold for at least 10 minutes and no amount of fiddling with the heating controls will get any kind of heat out. After about 10 minutes, the heating seems to kick in and we're all lovely and warm again.

I'm guessing that there is a heating element somewhere which has packed up. I've checked all the fuses which I think are relevent and they are all fine. I'm suspecting that the car internal temperature sensor could also be faulty?

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Anything would be appreciated, to be honest...

[oldcodger]

Hi,

No , there is no heating element, all the heat comes from the engines cooling water.

It normally act as you first describe, where you get hot water / heat quickly because the thermostat remains closed, but if the themostat fails open then before you get full heat in the cabin it has to fully heat all the water in the system, so taking the 10mins you are noticing.

You could have a fault with the heating controls but they do seem very reliable.

Any garage should be able to cofirm the thermostat is faulty and replace it for a small fee.

The Stat costs from £5 depending where you buy / who supplies

The thing that might cost is the antifreeze used, normally you should have Toyotas Pink longlife coolant which must be replaced with the same when they have to drain some off the replace the stat.

[GavinAber]

Hi Oldcodger,

Thank's for the quick reply.

Ahhh, so no additional heater - well that's good news.

I'll get a thermostat ordered from the local motor factors, and perhaps a couple of litres of the pink Toyota approved anti-freeze. I can see that it's not cheap - ust shy of £10 per litre..!!!

I'll post back here to let you know the outcome.

Thanks again - greatly appreciated.

[evastears]

Well, it is quite simple but i am just asking maybe you have skipped it. Did you try to take the air off from the cooling system ? I had very similar problem as yours with my 1.4 d4d yaris. Now i have a 2.0l corolla verso 2002. After taking the air away, it heats the cabin faster also. In both cars it helped.

There is a small valve where you fill the cooling fluid. Just open it and it will release some air out, than close it. It should most probably say somewhere under the hood(small sticker) or near the cooling system somewhere how to take the air away.

[GavinAber]

Hi all,

The good news is that my heater is now working again, thanks to Oldcodger's advice. I had a mechanic fit the new threomstat as I wasn't comfy doing it - it's in an awkward place and as this is my only car, didn't want to bugger it up and be left without transport. Glad I did, as the thermostat supplied by the local motor factors turned out to be the wrong one!

Once fitted and the (flamin' expensive) coolant replaced, the heater still wasn't working very well. The mechanic swapped over the two hoses to the heater matrix and everything began to work. I started it up this morning and heat was happily flowing through the vents within a minute, which is great in this cold weather.

Evastears - I couldn't find a air valve on my car but handy thing to know for the future. I'll have another look when I'm next under the bonnet.