Got no heat in my car. starting to get chilly. assuming heater core? old car, 190xxx, 1997 Audi a4 Quattro 5 speed. any ideas please help. thanks

 

I'd start with the basics. First flush and bleed your cooling system. This is the least expensive and many times it can correct the issue.

If you are still having trouble with heat I'd then look to the heater core.

Jason

 

The heater core is the highest point in the system. So if you are losing coolant somewhere, you will end up getting air in the heater core.

 

how hard is it to flush the coolant system? can i do it without a machine?

 

It's pretty simple. Just open the drain valve on the radiator or remove the lower coolant hose temp sensor and let the fluid drain out. Then you can refill the system with water. Run the engine for a bit then drain. Repeat this a few times (making sure your cooling system is full before you run the engine) and that's it!

Once you feel you have flushed it well enough refill with the proper 50/50 mix of coolant and water.

Jason

 

Here is a write-up on draining, filling, and bleeding the system. You can flush the heater core separately while the system is drained. Just take both hoses off the heater core and use a garden hose or air compressor to flush it. I'm not sure about the 1.8 but the 2.8 also has a bleeder screw that isn't mentioned in that write-up.

 

Thanks i will do this then let you all know.

 

You don't need to drain the radiator. You can just disconnect the input/output hoses and flush the core directly while leaving the rest of the coolant in the engine/radiator alone. Then when you are done you need to reconnect both hoses, but leave the output hose only partially on so that the drain hole on top of it is open. Then add more coolant to the reservoir and run the engine for a while until coolant starts dribbling out of the drain hole. In other words you are trying to get rid of air in the system. It might take a while to fully drain. In fact I think after I did the flush I did another air draining session the following day until I was sure coolant was coming out of the hole.

As for the flush, I've been meaning to post these pics I took last year. My tips are:

- Buy a looong stretch of 3/4 inch CLEAR tubing. It really, really helps for it to be clear so that you can be prepared for the bursts of crap that will come out of the tubes.
- Have a LARGE bucket for the output hose.
- Cut the tubing into two sections, one much longer for the output which will go into a bucket.
- Create a hose gun using the parts (or similar) in the pictures.
- Flush repeatedly in BOTH directions (swap hoses) until no more gunk comes out. I think I went back and forth at least 4 or 5 flushes. Took at least 30-45 minutes.
- Helps a lot to have a friend if possible. Lots of hose and bucket wrangling.

Doing this completely worked for me. I had no heat for like 2 years and ever since doing this I've been 90% back to normal. (Will never be 100% without a heater core replacement, which is a nightmare job.)

Here is a very useful older thread:

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/b5-...adings-201928/

 

THANKS! did this and now its hot hot hot in my car! considering it is now winter (boston) and I did it only a few days before we got our blizzard! now I don't mind driving out in the cold!