This is like so not a boating question (like)

[kiki]

But this is the only forum I belong to - yes I am a billy no mates - maybe someone out there - and I know us boatie people are so resourceful can give me a hint here.

 

Ok - car frozen on inside, heating does not work so windscreen is frozen each monring. But big thing here NO CIGARETTE LIGHTER EITHER- so not possible to plug in any dinky little heaters.

 

Is there a widget/gizmo that works of battery or gas or pedal power or whatever that would work - sorry as I say, nothing to do with boats, but all my friends are inside my computer.

[denboy]

Only thing that pops into brain at the min is but a couple of tea light candles in it an hour before use? on something that wont burn the car out of course in fact going to try it in my truck as we speak

Edited December 10, 2008 by denboy

[John Orentas]

A brilliant little device, a match.

[Gary Peacock]

But this is the only forum I belong to - yes I am a billy no mates - maybe someone out there - and I know us boatie people are so resourceful can give me a hint here.

 

Ok - car frozen on inside, heating does not work so windscreen is frozen each monring. But big thing here NO CIGARETTE LIGHTER EITHER- so not possible to plug in any dinky little heaters.

 

Is there a widget/gizmo that works of battery or gas or pedal power or whatever that would work - sorry as I say, nothing to do with boats, but all my friends are inside my computer.

 

Putting a hot water bottle on the dash at night used to help with my old Beetle!

[Sir Nibble]

Spare key. Start the motor 10 minutes before you leave, switch on heater, lock car and go back inside forra cuppa. 10 mins later open car with spare key, all clear windows and snug and warm.

[Bones]

Spare key. Start the motor 10 minutes before you leave, switch on heater, lock car and go back inside forra cuppa. 10 mins later open car with spare key, all clear windows and snug and warm.

 

 

Or get a pot of water and slosh it over the car... clears the windows beautifully, and then wear gloves, hat scarf and jumper....

[Big Steve]

In the good old days, when I had to get up early for a living, I had a fan heated connected to a timer on an extension lead into the house,set to go off 1/2 hour before I got to it. |All lovelly and toasty by the time I was ready to go. 'Course it only works if the car is very close to the house.

 

You can buy things that go in the radiator hoses which warm the car up in the morning, electrical powered or diesel. I've not seen a petrol powered one. They aren't cheap though.

[PaulG]

Spare key. Start the motor 10 minutes before you leave, switch on heater, lock car and go back inside forra cuppa. 10 mins later open car with spare key, all clear windows and snug and warm.

 

Or, depending where you live, return to find a pile of broken window glass and some tyre tracks....

[jeb]

Or, depending where you live, return to find a pile of broken window glass and some tyre tracks....

 

And then smashed into a tree a 100yards down the road because the thief coud'nt see out of the windscreen whilst trying to find the fag lighter.

 

 

Edited to say, seriously a blanket or even newspaper on the outside of the windscreen will help with the frozen windscreen issue.

Edited December 10, 2008 by jeb

[kiki]

Or, depending where you live, return to find a pile of broken window glass and some tyre tracks....

 

 

Oh that is brillliant - yes its my daughers car, living in Eastlands, I can just see her returning to a chassis and some windscreen wipers. I like the idea of the hot water bottle, or perhpas the tea lights - at least it would look festive.

 

I know its a daft problem really, when we first came to the UK we had an old VW camper with no heating etc. Paul used to drive to work with the gas heater on in the back - not dangerous or anything.....OMG if I think of it now.

 

I suggested a fan heater from the flat, but its too far for even an extension - I suggested moving as well preferably to spain where her car wont freeze.

So to summarize, a blanket, a hot water bottke and in the moring - remove frozen hot water bottle, frozen blanket light some candles and slosh some hot water over it. We will try them all.

Thanks guys. - and it would help if the Princess could get out of bed a little earlier and do all this.

[denboy]

Update on previous experiment i now have a frost free cab

[kiki]

Update on previous experiment i now have a frost free cab

 

Right thats it then....tealights it is - combined with said hotty bottle and blankets. Now as I said, just have to get her nibs out of bed in time to light the candles. But its a brilliant idea and thanks so much, jokes aside, this is causing problems with her getting to work so will try anything, Will keep yo posted.

[Denis R]

Is it too much hassle to fix the heater? Sometimes it's more effort to treat the symptoms than the cause. We're nothing if not technical here, so you could treat us like a car forum and give us a chance to sort the heater itself?

[Odana]

Right thats it then....tealights it is - combined with said hotty bottle and blankets. Now as I said, just have to get her nibs out of bed in time to light the candles. But its a brilliant idea and thanks so much, jokes aside, this is causing problems with her getting to work so will try anything, Will keep yo posted.

 

 

May seem too obvious to point out but put the candles on something un-slip-off-dash-able and un-burn-through-able. They get as hot on the bottom as the top with potential to defost the car far too thoroughly...!

[kiki]

May seem too obvious to point out but put the candles on something un-slip-off-dash-able and un-burn-through-able. They get as hot on the bottom as the top with potential to defost the car far too thoroughly...!

 

 

Ah yes I had thought of blu tacking them down, luckily the Princess is doing a PhD so hopefully the fortune I have invested in her education will not go to waste and she might think of not setting fire to her car.

 

Now if Bagpuss was here I know what he would suggest - tipping hot ash over it - sorry private joke but I have a tendancy to tip hot ash onto things and set fire to them.

 

Getting the heating fixed is of course an option, but its alreayd a 15 year old car and has just passed its "last" MOT, the Princess moves into a more "leafy" suburb from early next year and with doorstep rail links the car will have to go so am reluctant to spend more money on it. The Much Beloved is very practical and had a look at the heating himself but was flumoxed (spelling??) so unless I can track down a tame mechanic I might give up on that one. Annoying thing is by 10 its thawed, but it starts work at 9 so timing is everything.

 

Is it too much hassle to fix the heater? Sometimes it's more effort to treat the symptoms than the cause. We're nothing if not technical here, so you could treat us like a car forum and give us a chance to sort the heater itself?

 

Any insights into the heating of a 15 year old renault Clio - it is tempting to find a mechanic to be honest, although with the age of the car its like buying a skateboard for granny, the car is on its way out, but I might just call my local friendly mechanic and see what he can do. Just trying to save the pennies like everyone I suppose. Sad that we tend to only spend money on the life saving things, in times like these, and neglect the more basic functions of the car, like heating the flipping thing !!!!!

[Tim Doran]

When i bought my car i did not have a 12v socket to I have installed one. It was very easy to do. I have made a walk through on http://timothy.e.doran.googlepages.com/corsa12v

[kiki]

When i bought my car i did not have a 12v socket to I have installed one. It was very easy to do. I have made a walk through on http://timothy.e.doran.googlepages.com/corsa12v

 

 

Timothy E Doran - you are a scholar and a gentleman!!!!! That is just brilliant. I am going to nag the Much Beloved until he cracks under the strain and does this. Thank you thankyou thank you

[starman]

A lot of cheaper cars have a blanking plug where the lighter goes on more up-market models -- pull it out and behind you'll find the wiring already exists for the lighter. That's what I found on daughters's Nissan Micra. Went to accessory shop, bought lighter (it's generally a universal fit) for about £6-7, took 5 mins to install.

[Tim Doran]

Timothy E Doran - you are a scholar and a gentleman!!!!! That is just brilliant. I am going to nag the Much Beloved until he cracks under the strain and does this. Thank you thankyou thank you

 

You are very welcome. Just be careful about how many amps the heater pulls. I used 20 amp cables, which are slightly larger than the wires going to the radio.

 

Another alternative which should be quite easy would be run a suitable size cable directly from the battery through to the car.

 

Here is a heater i found a the top of a google search clicky

However this uses 200watts and therefore 16.16 amps (200amps/12v) which might be too much for the cables.

 

Tim

[kiki]

You are very welcome. Just be careful about how many amps the heater pulls. I used 20 amp cables, which are slightly larger than the wires going to the radio.

 

Another alternative which should be quite easy would be run a suitable size cable directly from the battery through to the car.

 

Here is a heater i found a the top of a google search clicky

However this uses 200watts and therefore 16.16 amps (200amps/12v) which might be too much for the cables.

 

Tim

 

Thanks will print off your message - the MB is an electrician so I suppose he knows wat a watt is......thanks a million

[Sir Nibble]

Any insights into the heating of a 15 year old renault Clio - it is tempting to find a mechanic to be honest, although with the age of the car its like buying a skateboard for granny, the car is on its way out, but I might just call my local friendly mechanic and see what he can do. Just trying to save the pennies like everyone I suppose. Sad that we tend to only spend money on the life saving things, in times like these, and neglect the more basic functions of the car, like heating the flipping thing !!!!!

Most likely the motor. If I recall it's located under the dash above the passengers feet, pull down the soft cover and there it is; one screw and it's out (fnaar fnaar). Best test is to turn on the heater and give it a belt with a screwdriver that normally makes it twitch and attempt to work confirming the almost inevitable worn out brushes. You won't get replacements and they will have taken the comm with them anyway but worth pricing one from a breaker.

 

Edited to add....

Memory plays tricks but, IIR the multi speed resistor is located close by and they have a little thermal cut out in that frequently fails open circuit and can be replaced with a bit of 15A fusewire.

 

There you go, two common faults on renault heater circuits.

Edited December 10, 2008 by Sir Nibble

[bottle]

Just one thing from a post long, long ago;

 

Do not use hot water to de-frost/ice a windscreen, it will crack, only use tepid.

 

To go Does hot water freeze quicker than cold?

[Barry]

Right thats it then....tealights it is - combined with said hotty bottle and blankets. Now as I said, just have to get her nibs out of bed in time to light the candles. But its a brilliant idea and thanks so much, jokes aside, this is causing problems with her getting to work so will try anything, Will keep yo posted.

 

Kiki - Odana has said it and you may have thought of it already but just in case you haven't I strongly advise you to get something thick and non plastic between your tea lights and the fascia

 

The Fire Service gets tipped out with monotonous regularity to fires caused by accidental mis-use of candles and tea lights are particularly bad for it - parhaps because they come in what looks like a dinky little ready made holder

 

They are quite hot enough to burn through the top of a telly and start a fire and will certainly easily set fire to your car

 

Double check to make sure that the candle holder you choose is actually glass - some look like glass but aren't, they are plastic

 

I know this because I set fire to my own front room one Christmas Day a few years ago

[Pretty Funked Up]

Whats up with the heater? does than fan work? only blowing cold air?

 

If just cold air get a mechanic to reverse flush the heater matrix, works a treat most of the time but on rare occasions can burst the heater matrix but this is rare.

 

If everything is kaput you could also try going to a chemist and getting the purest alcohol you can find and using it to clean the inside of the windscreen, this should stop anything forming for about a week, then you just repeat as necessary.

 

 

Edit: dont fancy the tealight thing myself much

the 12v plug in heaters are pretty lame and draw alot of current so if you go down that route be careful not to kill the battery (have the engine running while in use).

Edited December 10, 2008 by Pretty Funked Up

[Denis R]

Most likely the motor. If I recall it's located under the dash above the passengers feet, pull down the soft cover and there it is; one screw and it's out (fnaar fnaar). Best test is to turn on the heater and give it a belt with a screwdriver that normally makes it twitch and attempt to work confirming the almost inevitable worn out brushes. You won't get replacements and they will have taken the comm with them anyway but worth pricing one from a breaker.

 

Edited to add....

Memory plays tricks but, IIR the multi speed resistor is located close by and they have a little thermal cut out in that frequently fails open circuit and can be replaced with a bit of 15A fusewire.

 

There you go, two common faults on renault heater circuits.

There you go kiki, just like I said, we're a car repair forum too

In the unlikely event that it's not the motor and you're getting no heat from the engine into the heater matrix on the Clio it is usually:

Stuck thermostat - is the engine running normally, overheating or staying cold....?

Low coolant level - check this first then if it's OK.....

Air lock - there should be a bleed screw in one of the heater hoses

Blocked heater matrix - quite a favourite on Clios