Ok, I have my new toy, the 84 GSL wannabe Ferrari.

Anyways, I'm up here in like 10 degree Minnesota. Is it supposed to take FOREVER to heat up? Is that normal for these cars?

Also, I notice a faint bit of heat from the floor vents, when I have HEAT selected. If I have VENT on at all, its just cold air. Is it possible to get hot air from the dash vents? Or is that just for cool air?

And the little side vents on each side of the dash.......are those just fresh air vents? Or are those hooked to the heater, or what? Even with the HEAT option on, with warm air on the floor, if I turn those to open, the cold air will turn my left arm into a block of solid ice......

This normal, or is something broken? Or, am I just stupid? Or a combination of all 3?

 

I cover my left vent with a sponge during the winter because the latch that opens/closes the door is broken and is stuck in the open position...so I know all about the frozen left arm. I like to keep the right vent's door closed during the winter.

It's been about 10-20F in the mornings here in NJ, and my GSL will take awhile longer (say 10 minutes) before the choke springs back in.

My heat is working fine, but I would definitely say you would get hotter air from the floor vents rather from the dash. I am always getting a very small amount of fresh air from the AC vents.

 

When I first start up in the morning, it takes me about 5-7 minutes before I start to feel heat. By the time i'm on Hwy100, my car is nice and toasty. I suppose it could be something with your thermostat?

Matt

 

Try replacing the thermostat. It's like 15 bucks... It's been reccommended that you use an OE Mazda thermostat because they have some kinda bypass port or something...

I'm fairly sure people have used major name brands like Stant successfully.

 

I never notice it getting REALLY warm in the car at all.......just a bit by the floor.

Also, I dont recall the choke popping in by itself? It should do this automatically?

 

The vents on the far left and far right of the dash have a selector lever. One way vents fresh air from outside, and one way hooks it into the duct work fo inside the car. So, for example, it should have heat coming out of it if you have the vents turned on and the thermostat thing on hot.

I had some problems like what you are describing on my 85. It turned out to be one of the control cables behind the dash had popped off and even when I turned the ****, it wasnt moving the mechanisim. It felt like it had resistance, but my Dad climbed under there and hooke it back up, and boy does it work now, lol. I have a feeling that you may have a similar problem. Try checking the cables behind the dash and see where that puts you. Also, the choke shuts off automatically because of the sensor on the back of the water pump housing kinda by the alternator. Make sure its plugged in and has s good connection.

~T.J.

 

Hmm...

So are you saying the vents are 3 way? As in Off, Heat, and Fresh air?

Because, I am under the impression they are only OPEN, or CLOSED, and deal with the fresh air...?

 

My heat also totally sucks....Maybe after 30mins of being on full power the car will start to get warm. And it only come out of the floor vents...Heat anyways

 

Well, it was -40 (both C & F) here this morning, & my '85 GSL took about 15 minutes to get some decent heat. No, it'll never punch out heat like a V-8, but it'll do ya (or should, at least).

 

Yours is a GSL right? So you have the push button/electric heat controls vs the manual one that the GS and the S got. Maybe the little motor that selects where the heat should go isn't working right??

Also the fresh air thing... Look at your vents (the ones near the doors not the center one) there is a little lever that opens and shuts a door in there that directs either air from outside or air from the inside the car.

 

Yes,

I have the push button selector for HEAT, VENT, etc...

The doors work to open and close the 2 vents on each side of the dash, I was just wondering if they are only for fresh air from outside, or if they are supposed to work with heat?

 

In one position they let in outside air and the other it's like a regular car so yeah heat will come out of them

 

Normally my heater works good, but latley its been like below 10 degrees in the morning here so it takes forever to warm up and the heat sucks. The fact that I just swapped oil coolers, new radiator and installed an electric fan doesn't help much. the temp guage stays really low, haha its cooling too well now. man i can't win.

 

I'm thinking the same thing about the V8 vs the Rotary theory. I drive a V8 station wagan in winter normally, but drove my FB a few times when it dipped below 10F but clean out and it can not heat well at all compared to a V8 car. It must have too good of ablity to stay cool in really cold weather.

Some people up in the colder states put some cardboard infront of the radiator to keep the excess cold out of the engine bay.

You may want to try that or at least cover part of the radiator. Pull off the cover in front of the radiator and slide in some cardboard there. Its proven to help warm the engine faster on the go in cold driving weather since it blocks excess air cooling across the radiator/engine block.

 

Welcome to Bad Ideas 101, I'm your professor, Pele...

Okay, so in my old Honda Civic wagon, the thermostat had stuck open... This coupled with a bad, and henceforth bypassed radiator fan thermosensor, meant that the heat would never work, and the engine would stay in cold idle indefenately.

I couldn't get to the front of the radiator, as there is little space between it and the bumper, so I figured I'd shove something behind it. After all, air restriction is air restriction...

Cardboard is a great material... abundant, easy to work with, sturdy... Perfect for this application... Well almost...

Hondas have transverse mounted engines, and usually they have the Exhaust manifold on the front. On the wagon, with the short and extremely cramped engine bay, there was little room to squeeze my cardboard baffle in.

One trip down the highway and the car was nice and warm... Upon arriving at my destination, I inspected teh cardboard, as I had smelled it a bit on the way... Just a small charred spot where the oxygen sensor had touched it. Good enough...

However on the return trip, Very Bad Things (TM) started happening... IE Smoke from under the hood. Pulling over, and popping the hood, I saw flames come out... While fire under the hood is a Very Bad Thing (TM), not being able to unlatch the hood, nor pull out the flaming sheet of cardboard is worse. The Radiator fan adding air to the fire wasnt helping either. Luckily, I carry a leatherman with me at all times. I used it to unlatch the hood and pitch the flaming cardboard out. Everything was allright... Except it was cold again, and I had burned most of the rubber off my spark plug wires. But it still ran...

I ended up using a very large sheet of plastic and covering the whole front of the car, but it got sucked under the car and wrapped around the driveshaft.

 

Yeeesh! Your bad experience doesn't seem like luck, its all self-caused? First, maybe I don't have to say this, get a new thermostat, working cooling fan, don't put cardborad AFTER the radiator(between the radiator and the fan and engine, I thought that was common knowledge. Put it before the radiator only, never anywhere else) Never put any flamble material such as cardboard near a source of 250F+. Also, off the subject, but always keep a fire extengisher in your car. I always do after a sudden BIG fuel leak I once had. Finally don't put cardboard/plastic anywhere that it will come loose easily like a driveshaft.

The purpose is that this is a temp fix to keep the a properily working engine warm in VERY VERY cold weather. If you do choose to put cardboard on, it should be in the 10F and below range, working thermostat/cooling system, and put the cardboard infront of the radiator in such a way that it will stay put, not hanging in a way that will cause it possibly snag a moving engine part/driveshaft/ground. Also take it off when the weather moderates again past 10F. I've seen cars here in MN that do it all the time out in front of the grill for months at a time when the temp is 10F or less the whole time. There is just some common sense that needs to be observed, that I didn't mention because I thought it was dumb enough to just imply.

 

Ha, like right now. It -4! damnit!

And the part about the plastic wraping around the driveshaft, lol thats damn funny!

 

My '79 takes about ten minutes to fully warm up. By then, the cabin is comfortably warm and the car is running acceptably. I leave the controls on defrost all the time however. Defrost, full heat and full fan does the job for me. For comparisons sake, it was -33 Celsius here this morning.

Matt
1979 SA22C

 

My heater is totally non-existent. Seriously, I removed it. The valve that controls water flow next to the drivers right foot was not sealing correctly, and thus, when driving with the heater turned on, it would squirt a steady stream of boiling water on my gas foot. Not a good combination for driving, but did tend to keep my velocity down!

I bypassed the heater core with some heater hose that goes from the inlet side to the engine block (driver side, below the oil filter), and it's been very good ever since. Was thinking about changing out the heating valve, however, the location and cramped installation prevents working on it without removing the dash. Kinda wish I could get the heater core out of there and at least save the weight, but not worth the effort at this point.

Oh, and I live in Arizona. Cold here is not like cold anywhere else...

 

Well, I stopped by the local Mazda dealership here in Burnsville, MN. I talked with the parts guy for a few minutes, and then mentioned that my car doesn't ever seem to actually heat up, the temp guages stays really low........and asked what he thought could be the problem.

Without hesitation, he mentioned that Mazda's cannot use an aftermarket thermostat. (Stant) He stated that the previous owner probably had one installed, and that the aftermarket ones are missing some sacred Mazda valve or something, and the car would stay 100% of the time in cold idle mode.

This makes perfect sense, since the car never seemed to warm up, and my choke lever never would pop back in.

Now for the part where I get confused...

If the car is in cold idle mode, to warm itself up......its obviously running at a very high rpm to heat up quicker. Does that mean, all of the heat would stay contained in the engine, and not allow any to the heater then?

 

Its called a jiggle pin . Do a search and I bet youll find lots of info on it .
The engine and radiator both have water in them no matter what. However, the thermostat acts as a "dam" to stop the water flow. So, when the engine is cold and the thermostat is closed, water isint really circulating through the engine, no matter how hard the water pump tries. The heater gets its water from the block AFTER the thermostat. So the water wouldnt be circulating through the heater core either. Although, as the engine gradualy warms up, the water warms up too, which warms the "standing water" in the heater core. So you might get some heat before the thermostat opens, but not much. Once the thermostat opens, the water can now fully move through the engine to carry the heat to the heater core, or to the radiator. The purpose of the "jiggle pin" is to allow a small about of water to circulate while the engine is warming up...I think. It might also be to bleed off air as the water is pressurizing from the heat.

~T.J.

 

I know.. Like I said, it was a really bad idea... Actually, I did the termostat during the summer. It was actually a good Idea that I didn't do it in the winter. I broke the bolts that hold the thermostat housing together off in the lower half of the thermostat housing. I didn't really feel like working on the car in the cold.