New Guy form canada saying hi

[blitzbuggy]

If you'd just read my posts, you'd get all the answers you want.

But i cant read! :neutral:

[Darlo]

He says as he responds to a post :p

[stefan]

Looks preety good for a manitoba car!

It heats up rather well for a small engine, in about 10 mins idling it was blowing warm air, it wasnt that cold here, it was about -9 but with the wind -19

Go to mazda and get a thermostat for a 1989 323 1.6
In the weather we have right now mine blows hot air in 2-3 minutes and the temp gauge is all the way up to half within 10 minutes

[blitzbuggy]

word

[sodikartracer]

since this thread kinda has two topics going on i would like to add that i dont think the US will ever switch to the metric system, not because the standard system is better but for the fact that ALL of the tooling in the US, machines and things for manufacturing, are all in standard units...

PS Metric system ROCKS!!!

[sasquatch]

^ thats right!!!!

its not a 302... its a 5.0

its not 3.28 feet it a meter

its not .621 of a mile its a kilometer

and its not stupid, its the metric system

[Darlo]

My temp gauge goes up to Half, but still blows luke-warm air......It is clogged! But I dont want to unclog it, as then it will leak! :crybaby:

[Aaronbrook37]

Looks preety good for a manitoba car!

Go to mazda and get a thermostat for a 1989 323 1.6
In the weather we have right now mine blows hot air in 2-3 minutes and the temp gauge is all the way up to half within 10 minutes

Yeah mine's pretty quick as well. I still have the OEM thermostat, but I did a pretty hardcore coolant flush including the heater lines to ensure nothing was clogged up, and it made a big difference. If I gave the heater core some attention and vacuumed out the vents, I bet it would be even better.

Just curious to Stefan and others, what's the temperature rating on those thermometers? 180?

[Bert]

Having driven 3 of these cars during the winter over a period of 6 years in Eastern Ontario I have to admit Festiva heaters suck an egg. Last week I completely enclosed the rad with cardboard expecting to realize some increase in heat at highway speeds but alas nothing happened. I suspect the heater core infeed comes from the 3 foot long metal tubing that snakes from the water pump, passes in front of the engine and over the transmission. Nearly impossible to insulate and the next best thing to a heat dissipator as you can get. If anyone has engineering solutions for this I'm all ears. Driving long distances with coat, gloves and a hat on is a nuisance.

[GenevaDirt]

Having driven 3 of these cars during the winter over a period of 6 years in Eastern Ontario I have to admit Festiva heaters suck an egg. Last week I completely enclosed the rad with cardboard expecting to realize some increase in heat at highway speeds but alas nothing happened. I suspect the heater core infeed comes from the 3 foot long metal tubing that snakes from the water pump, passes in front of the engine and over the transmission. Nearly impossible to insulate and the next best thing to a heat dissipator as you can get. If anyone has engineering solutions for this I'm all ears. Driving long distances with coat, gloves and a hat on is a nuisance.

I would look into flushing the system....changing to a different heat range of thermostat...ect....
I have no issues with heat in my Festy....in fact I have to turn it down when driving because it gets to hot for my liking.

[Aaronbrook37]

Yep, I agree with GD. The Festiva heaters are really quite good. A few things to look into:

-Ensure that your four windows, trunk, doors, and weatherstripping are all sealed properly.
-Check the condition of the coolant and give it a good flush.
-Ensure that the heater core/matrix is not clogged either internally by engine gunk or externally by nature junk. Some people do this with flush kits (aka garden hose adapters), others remove the core and clean it like you would a radiator, heat exchanger, or intercooler. Whatever works for you, mate.
-Ensure that your vent switches are hooked up properly. One of the junkyard Festivas I ran into had the climate control cables hooked up wrong, which assuredly prevented proper blowing on "2" and "3."
-Thermostat and gasket, as said above. Change your heat range if the rest of those things are up to spec.

I too get burned out by my heater on full blast, even without recirculating the airflow.

[Bert]

Glad to hear some of you think these cars put out heat. I already did as advised (hot thermostat, steam-cleaned system etc) and even with the window open a crack (all of my cars are so airtight you can't even slam a door) what I get isn't enough to do SFA at -20 (C or F). Now that I'm on the road 3 hours a day I will be taking a very close look to see if there is anything else that can be done. Will keep the northerners posted. Presumably the AC behaves similar in southern climes (if you have it).