My heater just recently started making strange noises. When I first start driving the car and the heat is on. It sounds something like water with air bubbles slushing through the heater core I presume. The heat and the air conditioner work just fine and maybe it made this noise before and I didn't notice it... (It's not very loud) Does this sound like a problem I should have the dealer look at, or is this normal?
2002 Passat 1.8T TIA, Tim
Telling us how many miles it has and any other issues, even those you don't think are related would be good.
Right now it sounds like you may be low on coolant. If so I would look for a leak, unless you have recently had the system open for some reason (see above about other ussues).
The car has 35,000 on it and the coolant level is between the min/max on the reservoir. No work has been done to system.. I noticed the problem after taking a trip from NJ to Myrtle Beach SC. The mornings were cold & the afternoons were hot.. I did use the Air Conditioner for the first time since last summer. Also while driving down It was pouring rain the entire trip.
Lots of good information.
I would not count out low coolant yet (that reservoir can be deceiving) , but let's start with some easy things.
I wonder if your drain from the heater/A/C could be blocked? There is likely a small rubber hose coming out under the car right in front of where the passenger's feet rest. Try blowing some compressed air up there. If you get a gush of water out, that should be it.
I also believe there may be some A/C issues that can cause the sound, but I will leave that for someone with more knowledge of it.
Do watch the coolant level. Also note if you see any air bubbles going into the reservoir when idling.
remove your battery and toss the cowl drain flapper as far as you can throw it. Sounds like the cowl is filling up with water and may not be fully draining.
Can NOT find the drain hose coming out from under the car.. I did run the AC for a while to see if any water is coming out. I did NOT see any water coming out anywhere so it might be plugged up. Then again it was one of those days with low humidity and around 70 degrees. I will have that checked this week by my mechanic when I have the oil changed.
Question on the antifreeze. The color in the reservoir is orange and I have some Preston from awhile back that is kinda green. Can I use this to top off the reservoir or is there a difference?
Yea. I don't know your car so I am not 100% sure where it should be or if you may need to remove something to find it, but it does sound suspicious.
I am going to beg off of this issue. There are so many different antifreezes out there now and I am not even trying to keep track of them that I fear anything I would suggest would be only a guess.
That's because you just about have to remove the trans to get to the drain!
I have the identical situation and symptoms. Please post back if the cowl drain fixed the problem.
Rob
Tim Burr wrote:
I have a Toyota Pickup that started making the same noise with no loss of heat/cooling. It started after the truck had been driven when the outside temp was well below freezing and not enough anti-freeze was in the cooling system. It quickly over heated because the water pump froze. I let it sit a few hours added anti-freeze and drove off. Since then I have had that noise when I start the heater. My guess is expansion of supply lines that won't let all the air escape as it should. Until the fluids are pumped through the heater core.
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