Disco Purchased

Hi All,

I am now the proud owner of a 1993 epsom green Disco and I am finding it
to be great to drive, but I would like to know if I can do anything about
the heater. It does get warm, but not as hot as I would like it to be one
of my mates said it may just need the thermostat chaging.
The other car that I driver is a Ford Ka which get hot very quick so maybe
I have just been spoilt with the heater in the Ka.
I have read that you can change the fan to a kenlowe electric fan and
this will help make the car quite a bit warmer.

Could someone let me know if there Disco has a problem with the heater
and if anyone has had the electric fans fitted and if it makes the heat
better as I am of to Scotland in early March in it and it is not the warmest
of places at the best of times.



Thanks

Mark

Not that I am aware of. My 94 Tdi is fine. Takes a few miles to get warm but is hot when up to temp.


Inclined to agree with your mate and go with the thermostat. If it is stuck open, then the water is constantly going through the rad and is being cooled by the fan and the incoming air.

Only about £15.00 for a replacement I would think.

Thanks for the info I will let you know how I get on.

If that doesn't work, try washing the heater matrix out. I once had one that blocked totaly hence no heater... I spent about half anhour with a hose washing it both ways, and it was great afterwards.

heater trouble .ive got a 93 v8.with no heater , motor is seized , but warm airflow is still good.has anyone changed a heater motor , looks like the car was built around the dashboard?

I had a look at a Tdi with a non working heater before I bought mine, the garage had to take the whole dashboard off to get at the unit. I should think yours would be the same. Gives you a chance to clean all those hard to get at things though!!

allan

Mine takes a few miles to heat up.

When i got it in November 04 my 1998 Disco ran at just above cold on the gauge which the garage of course said was normal. I put a new stat in it which was only about £6 and now it runs just below mid-way in the "normal" band on the temp gauge, takes 3 miles to get to temp and the heater now gets hot.


I have also covered the rad behind the front grill with a piece of plastic, cut to shape and tie wrapped on taking care not to block the intercooler or oil cooler sections. will probably remove it near summer time.

the heater in my tdi is great, the engine takes just about four minutes to warm up to a temperature that allows the heater to blow in a nice warm gush of air, the temp guage always settles at the same point on the guage within a few mill, it clears a misted screen in seconds, its never overheated and i think that its probably one of the best car heaters ive had. but everyone keeps telling me im lucky and it will not be long before it goes wrong...

I have a 95 and mine heater is GREAT I live in Pennsylvania USA and it can get -10 here and mine works great!!!!

my 96 300 tdi used to take time to warm up,i changed the thermostat also took off the viscous fan went to the breakers and got a complete eletric fan with cowling of a ford fiesta,fits great in front of rad brought the air con elbow for a 300 tdi and both thermo switches fitted both switches and wired it up through a relay and hey presto it comes on automatically when it gets hot only about twice now while stuck in london traffic,getting rid of the viscous coupling also saves about 7 bhp so more power for your money

Thats a good cheap fix mate. Much cheaper than a kenlowe unit.

What is the script with fitting the thermo switches?

well if you dont have air con the original elbow has just blanked off holes,so i got a aircon elbow/bolts onto thermostat bit with 2 10mm bolts,you need both thermo swithes that run the aircon 1 is just to block the hole both the switches have different temps stamped on the side from memory 1 is about 95c and 1 is about 108c connect the fan through a relay to the 95c switch only as the 108 keeps the fan running constantly which is what turns the air con fans on i wired throuhg a standars 4 pin relay and got live feed straight from underbonnet fuse box

Keep an eye on the temp gauge. If it is taking forever to climb up to the proper temperature, the stat has gone. Easy job to replace (I presume, not familiar with the disco yet!) and better than engine problems caused my not running hot enough.

My 96 300 has always been good on getting warm,i junked the viscous fan and ran with no fan the 300 has such a big cooling system it never seems to overheat,i have know fitted a made up eletric fan that has only come on twice thats only because i was stuck in traffic for over 2 hrs in london,some people i know run there td5s without the fans have not done them any damage.