No Or Little Heat

[mayennaise]

We've got a Citroen Xsara Picasso 06 plate. The heater has suddenly stopped being effective! All we seem to get it a warmish puff of air rather than a nice blast of heat when we put the fan on! Not sure if it's connected but the electronic engine temp gauge suddenly seems to be taking and age to register any engine heat - it used to warm up pretty quickly. I appreciate the outside temp is pretty cold at the mo but it didn't do this last winter ? ?

[tonyav]

Sounds to me like your engine needs a new thermostat, mayennaise.

[mayennaise]

That's what Mr Mayo thinks but I thought I'd see if any of you lovely people had any other brainwaves!

[tonyav]

Maybe it could be something else, but I strongly suspect the thermostat is stuck closed seeing as the temp gauge is taking so long to register anything.

[SlackAlice]

tonyav

Stuck closed? Surely, stuck open?

[tonyav]

Ah yeah, stuck open.

[mayennaise]

When the temp gauge finally climbs it's way up to 3 bars, which is it's normal level, we're still not getting any decent heat in the car, even with the fan on. Could this still be a thermostat problem ? ?

[Buenchico]

I agree with the above posts but, when a car's heater starts playing up, the very first thing to check is that you've got sufficient coolant in the system. (If you haven't, the heater won't function properly).

[Hopkirk]

As a temporary measure you could partially block off the radiator, but if you do, keep a close eye on the temperature gauge to ensure it's not overheating.

[tonyav]

Could this still be a thermostat problem ? ?

Yes it could, mayennaise. But also check the coolant level has Chris suggests.

[mayennaise]

Coolant level is good - it gets checked every month.

[tonyav]

Thermostat then, mayennaise.