Trying to get VW (van) Heater hoses off

they are quick fit connectors and should pull off, but then you may need o rings. take the hose off the fitting, that will be easier to get a flush hose onto in any case.

Good to know they should pull off anyway. I can't get the ****** hose clips off as they are pointing toward the firewall - well I could with force i suppose :-) thx

Does the end of the connector push in towards the elbow? Some quick connect fittings have a latch inside that is released by pushing the end inwards and the clip is in the gap to prevent the end going in and the fitting releasing when not wanted to do so.

Look up John Guest fittings, they might be similar.

you may find that you can twist the clip on the pipe to make access easier, there is a pipe clip tool that can slip down a very narrow gap and then release the clip. like this:

Thanks for the help. I got them off - eventually - needed much persuading, but as you said they "just" pulled off.. They are keyed so cannot be rotated at all to help free them. The (moulded 1 piece fitting + key) is quite long and the whole thing needs pulling in a straight line.

The mystery deepens though!

The reason for doing this was very little cabin heat. Turns out there was not much coolant in the heater matrix anyway! No idea why. The engine runs fine and does not overheat (so probably water pump is ok). Have changed the thermostat - that didn't fix it. If it's air trapped in the matrix it must be a hell of a lot of it!

It looks as if coolant is not being circulated through the heater rad! afaik there is no valve in that part of the circuit - I can't see one anyway.

I thought to join the in/out pipes with some plastic just to see if coolant is circulating.

If the heater rad is blocked then not a lot will dribble out. connect a hose to one side and see if water will flow very freely through. Then reverse the connection and see what flows the other way.

On Tue, 23 Aug 2016 23:25:02 +0100, MrCheerful >> It looks as if coolant is not being circulated through the heater rad!

Thanks for the advice ok - I did the reverse flush last night and the old coolant it flowed out - after a bit of delay. Will try the other direction in a bit.

Been searching for some kind of coolant control valve for the heater rad - no sign of any such thing! strange.

I once ruined the flow through the heater matrix on an ancient Avenger by using one of those bottles of radiator repair fluid. It just sealed it, while the heater was off :-)

A bit annoying to say the least. And bet it was impossible to remove the htr. It is on this vw caddy! I just finished several flushes (both direction) and kept getting grains of sludge out. Quite a lot really but suprised if it could stop *all* the heat coming through. Will see when it gets back together!

Well, we were still kids, and it was our first car - a £50 thing that we only expected to use for a year, so I never bothered. We ended up touring the south of England in it before it finally rusted to pieces :-) God knows how it ever passed MOTs.

Some makes just do temp control via air flaps, some control water flow (Fiesta springs to mind) the valve may be there but inside the car :)

If you took an old heater matrix apart you will understand it, the flow goes into a chamber with many tubes off it, each tube has a plastic swirler inside, if sludge is in the system then the lowest tubes get blocked and so on upwards, the highest ones will be the last to block and the dribble that they will let through is too little to conquer the air coming through. There is not usually much joy out of trying to clean one out.

A 1970's car that rusted? Surely not! ;-)

I bought a three year old ex-company Avenger in 1977 with 36k on the clock. I ran it as our family car for six years when it was close to 100k. Apart from consumables, it had a pair of front lower suspension arms, a pair of rear dampers, and exhaust system - and that was about it. We towed a small camping trailer four-up on lots of weekends. It never missed a beat, never failed to start, never broke down.

When I bought a new car in 1983, I gave the Avenger to someone who needed transport for a while. He put it in for an MOT; it just needed a small welding repair. He ran it for at least another two years after that, then I lost touch with him.

Avengers were much maligned, but that one was one of the cheapest to run cars I ever had.

Chris

Used to have one, can't remember it being problematic!...

'A small welding repair'? That's unusual they usually wanted a complete new body and chassis. Bloody things!

But didn't most all vehicles of that time?...

Except that they didn't have a "chassis".

Tim

...and judging by the fact that literally thousands sell through on eBay (g enerally as pattern parts) Ford must have made an absolute fortune over the years from the OEM versions sold through the main dealers at £50 a go .