lack of heat? Try this!

[Meanman]

So I just bought my first Deli....a 90 exceed and it has some issues. One major one for me was the lack of heat. I tried flushing the system numerous times. I eventually cleared enough crap, rust and scale out to have decent heat at the rear heater but only minimal heat at the fron that would decrease in temperature at highway speeds.
So I started to dig....what I found was that my front heater lines (rubber hoses)were hard....as if they had a tin liner. The only problem was that if I squeezed the lines by hand there was an audible crunchy sound.

Well tonight after work with the thought of impending snow I decided to rip out the old heater lines and replace them. a Battle began with many multi-syllabic curse words. Anyway fresh lines in and on the highway tonight I had to turn the heat down as it was getting rather stufy in the van YYYEEAAYY!!

As a side note, I cut open the old lines and they were encrusted with rust throughout their entire length.

I will end up changing the thermostat in the near future and flush the system regularly to ensure that any rust in the system becomes a thing of the past.

Moral of the story is....if you too are experiencing heat issues don`t overlook the heater lines.

[fexlboi]

Thanks for sharing. We have the same problem with our Deli.
Where are the heater lines exactly? Where did you bought new lines?

[Meanman]

Thanks for sharing. We have the same problem with our Deli.
Where are the heater lines exactly? Where did you bought new lines?

Bought 12 feet of bulk 5/8 inch heater line and 4 clamps from Lordco. You can also get at Crappy tire. The lines run from the front heater core to the t junction block on the left side of the engine bay. If you lift the engine cowl and look along the inner fendewr you see the a/c lines and the 2 heater lines. The front heater core fiitings are accessed by going underneath the front and removing the metal "skid plate" . Its held on with 4 8mm fasteners (12mm head).

[Golf Cart]

Good tip Meanman,

Just out of curiosity, how is your temp gauge now ? Any changes to the position of the needle now once the engine is at ops temp?

One other item in the system - you do seem to get a build up in the rad itself. I replaced the t-stat and was advised to also recore the rad as well.

[Meanman]

Temp guage stays the same, I never had an issue with where the needle sat. It has always been just below half at operating temp. The previous owner had the rad done about 7-8 months ago so not concerned with that, although over the next little while I'll be doing regular system flushes to ensure all rust and scale gets out of the system.

[freestyler]

Out of curiosity, aside from prevention (flushing the rad on a regular basis), what else can be done to help remove scale without removing the rad and pipes? I know hot ATF through the engine will clear oil buildup and bits within the oil system, can something similar be done with the rad? As an example: could I rinse with CLR or even run the whole system with CLR for a few minutes?

*these are un-educated idears, which may result in sad feelings and hurt delicas*

[Chewy]

Nice work meanman! looks like I have something to do next weekend after all.

Freestyler. After doing some reading (because the idea sounded too good :P)CLR in the cooling system isn't a good idea, it eats away at aluminum and iron quite badly, and nobody wants holes in their sleeves.

[Meanman]

there are commercially available rad flush additives that can be used that work well. Check your local parts store. I use JB products which are only available for professional use. If there was enough interest I could do a group buy for any of the JB produt line (its not cheap but it's very high end and it works)
http://www.justicebrothers.com/pages/pr ... itives.htm

[freestyler]

I figure if it was that simple I would have heard about it on those damned CLR commercials, but it's good to know that someone can confrim.

As for that JB stuff, I'm interested... but more-so in the details of "not cheap". Meanman, hopefully you aren't a rep for the stuff... your doing a bad job of getting the 'hook' in from the start.

[Meanman]

Not a rep for the product....I'm a harley tech and we use some of their oil additives. I've used the oil flush, oil treatment, fuel injector cleaner products on a variety of bikes,atv's and vehicles alike all with outstanding results. Don't know much about the rad/ coolant products, however, I can imagine they are every bit as good as the rest of the product line. these products are not usually available to general public but are for use at the dealer level.
As for cost....don't know until I call the rep. The oil additives range in the $20 - $25 per bottle range but are worth their weight in gold. ( I have dyno charts for bikes to prove....and no you can't see them).