[bloomieno1]

 Hi all
Been browsing the forum for a while trying to get the bottom of this!

I’ve had no cabin heat for around a year now - was tepid but now completely cold.

Garage found a crack in the radiator and said no heat likely down to poor pressure (had to regularly  add coolant)
That has now been replaced but still no heat.

Checked all relevant fuses but not sure how or what relays to check.

Engine gets to temp and all pipes in engine bay hot/warm to touch - including through the firewall.

Went on the hunt for the ‘heater blend actuator’ and found that to be moving freely when the temp dial was moved.

Blower works on all speeds but when I removed the panel to check actuator I noticed this weird water(?) stain which I think is directly in line with the blower resistor!
Any ideas on what it could be and whether there is something there that needs replacing?

[eye30]

Have you had the air con checked?

Such as checking no leaks and the refrigerant is topped up.

[bloomieno1]

I haven’t, the aircon works a so believe it should - Ice cold last summer - would that affect heat getting to the cabin?

[eye30]

My heater was always cold so had refrigerant topped up and heypresto heat.

But garage should be able to check/test first before topping up to make sure you do actually need it as can be expensive.

Also, check compressor kicks in when air con switched on.

This can be done simply by at idle.
At tick over switch on and you should hear it plus the revs will increase slightly.

Has your car overheated while it had a radiator leak?

[bloomieno1]

Has your car overheated while it had a radiator leak?

No, never
I did run the car for a bit without an expansion bottle cap (no idea how long as went to check the coolant and it was missing!)

[The Gonz]

A rule of thumb for coolant systems might still be to feed as much coolant into the expansion bottle as the engine is willing to drink until the recommended (indicated) level is reached.

[BrendanP]

I restored the heating by reverse-flushing the heater matrix. If you search through my posts you should the one where I described doing it. It doesn't take much sediment to choke off the water channels in the matrix, and there's not much pressure to drive the hot water through it. It's a cheap and easy fix. worth a try.