# Not enough heat



## fratri (Nov 25, 2009)

Hi there, I have a 2006 x-trail and it does not give off enough heat in the cab. I picked up my x-trail about 7 months ago....The engine temp, when warmed up holds steady at 90 C....so the engine temp is fine, I touch both heather hoses and they are hot, not super hot like should be, but both are hot....So heater core is not plugged. Engine coolant is at the right level. Thermostat seems to be working fine, holds 90C.... I read something about the coolant valve may be my problem? Anyone can help me figure out what to test or do next. Thanks Frank


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## aussietrail (Sep 24, 2004)

fratri said:


> Hi there, I have a 2006 x-trail and it does not give off enough heat in the cab.


Hi Frank, come to Australia and you wouldn't need to worry about this problem LOL


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## Revhead Kev (Apr 1, 2007)

Hi Frank,

Just because the heater hoses are hot (but not super hot as you expect) does not mean the core is not blocked.
Hot water from the cylinder head will feed to the inlet hose of the heater core and hot water from the radiator inlet will feedback to the outlet hose of the heater core. Hence while there is no water flow through the heater core, both hoses will feel hot, but not as hot as you might expect.

I would still disconnect both heater core hoses in the engine bay and give the core a backflush.


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## janarth (Oct 14, 2004)

X-trail doesn't produce enough heat when idling, some people have add a pump to heater core to produce more heat look it up in this forum. good luck


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## fratri (Nov 25, 2009)

I did disconnect the heater hoses and gave the heater core a flush and its still the same. Not sure how the system works but if my engine temp is hot enough something/valve? may be stuck not letting eneough coolant through the hoses to the heater core? Not sure what to do or check next.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Did you flush the heater core "both ways"? Use any kinda of cleaning solution or water only?
I've used straight "CLR" before with good results, but you have put only CLR in the heater core and let it sit for a little bit.
Word of warning...if your heater core is about to let go due to corrosion, CLR will basically eat away at the crud and might open holes in the core itself.


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## kaskas (Dec 16, 2010)

Hi.
In Russia (cold Siberia ) we have the same problems with not enough heat on low engine speed (RPM). 
It's because X-Trail's water pump gives low water flow speed on low rotation speed.

So to solve the problem we add additional electric pump "Bosch 0392023004" on heater supply.
You can see my pictures on our forum Click here (Text in Russian but you can use translate.google.com)
Electric power and ground easealy can be taken from 1 and 2 pins of ignition coil.


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## fratri (Nov 25, 2009)

Thanks for everyones help...I reflushed my heater core, made sure no air pockets and am going to try it out over the next few days... We are having a heat spell lol only -3 C. for a high... So won't really know how it will do until we get back into the minus teens again... I will keep you updated and once again thanks for all the help/tips... Frank


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## tbk (Dec 29, 2008)

Your other option is to pick up a higher temp thermostat. The flush won't do anything, these cars are just not designed for canadian winters. They handle it well enough, but the cabin temps when idling are terrible, warm up time is terrible too. You can add the thermostat, or block off some of the radiator as well. Tstat is available from canadian tire.


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## fratri (Nov 25, 2009)

Well after flushing the heater core again, the heat still is not good in the cab. I blocked a quarter of the rad to increase the engine heat but it still sucks... On those cold days, it still does not heat up very well even when doing hyway speeds, I guess I will just have to dress warmer...


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Only blocked 1/4 of the radiator? That ain't gonna do you any good.
Cover up the whole radiator and keep an eye on the temp gauge. If it over heats, well, do the obvious and take a little bit away.
I run all winter with the radiator completely blocked in all my vehicles ('88 Chevy Sprint, '97 Sentra, '98 200SX, '01 Dodge 1/2 ton). Haven't overheated any of them yet.


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## tbk (Dec 29, 2008)

by definition it has to do some good, and it has dropped my warmup time by a couple minutes. blocking the whole rad is a little sketchy. Just try to up the inlet temp a little at a time.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Well, sure, it will do some good blocking 1/4 of the radiator, but the fan is still able to grab air from the other 3/4 of the open area and pull it thru that last 1/4.
And as far as blocking the WHOLE radiator? Ask anybody who's lived up north for a number of years. Totally common practice. I'm in Minot, N.D. Come winter time, kinda hard NOT to find a car/truck WITHOUT any cardboard in front of the radiator. Ask anybody that lives farther up in Canada or Alaska. They'll tell you the same thing.
Sure, there are those that'll say things like (begin one of those nerdy voices) "Well, that's what the thermostat is for. The engine HAS to warm up to the thermostat temperature." (end one of those nerdy voices)
Well, that's all fine and dandy in a perfect world. Problem is, the engine still grabs cold air from underneath, around the radiator, around other parts of the grille and so on. And even though car engines are liquid cooled, there is quite a bit of air cooling going on under the hood too.
The trick is to keep an eye on the water temp gauge. Block it off completely with a big ol' slab of cardboard. If it leans towards overheating, cut a small hole in the middle of the cardboard to allow for A LITTLE BIT of airflow. If it still leans towards running too hot, cut the hole bigger.
You aren't going to hurt anything if you keep your eye on it.

Or keep on freezing while you drive. Totally up to you...


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## fratri (Nov 25, 2009)

Well I am going to give blocking all or most of the rad and see if it helps... I will let you know how its working in a few days... thanks again for the tips...


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Forgot to ask if your vehicle even has a temp gauge and if you're relatively sure that it's working properly!
If you've only got a "it's too late, your engine overheated and it's going to cost a billion dollars to get it fixed" light...well, again, up to you...
And even if you think you've covered up the radiator completely, chances are you probably missed a spot or two or three. I've got a chunk of hard cardboard that I use on my Dodge pickup...spent a couple of hours cutting it up just right so I could fit every edge just right and all that. And I can still see light thru the radiator when I put a spotlight in the fan shroud and shine it forward.


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## tbk (Dec 29, 2008)

jdgrotte said:


> Well, sure, it will do some good blocking 1/4 of the radiator, but the fan is still able to grab air from the other 3/4 of the open area and pull it thru that last 1/4.
> Ask anybody that lives farther up in Canada or Alaska. They'll tell you the same thing.
> Or keep on freezing while you drive. Totally up to you...



Yeah, thanks for that. I was born in Montreal, we are fairly familiar with cold temps. I am not against blocking most of the radiator, but if you go that way, it would be advisable to do it in steps. Part of the danger here is that most people do not live very far north, they live in sourthern ontario. And while it can be -20 occasionally, it can easily swing to +10, so you have to balance the possibility of warm temps and cold temps. So just telling people to block off 100% of their radiator is irresponsible at best.

Judging from your location, you likely do not even own an xtrail, unless you imported one for some strange reason.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

tbk said:


> Yeah, thanks for that. I was born in Montreal, we are fairly familiar with cold temps. I am not against blocking most of the radiator, but if you go that way, it would be advisable to do it in steps. Part of the danger here is that most people do not live very far north, they live in sourthern ontario. And while it can be -20 occasionally, it can easily swing to +10, so you have to balance the possibility of warm temps and cold temps. So just telling people to block off 100% of their radiator is irresponsible at best.
> 
> Judging from your location, you likely do not even own an xtrail, unless you imported one for some strange reason.


Lighten up Francis...:balls:


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## Northernlimits (Nov 15, 2019)

tbk said:


> by definition it has to do some good, and it has dropped my warmup time by a couple minutes. blocking the whole rad is a little sketchy. Just try to up the inlet temp a little at a time.


Live in ontario northern ontario at that and it hits minus 45 celcius here and almost all our veichle we cover the whole rad off some might over heat when sitting but it's mainly for highway speeds as the air is minus 60 Celsius hitting that rad it helps alot but my xtrail has barely any heat with this just bought a 205 thermostat hopefully helps a bit idk seems to just suck for heat


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Hopefully you have heated seats!


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

fratri said:


> Hi there, I have a 2006 x-trail and it does not give off enough heat in the cab. I picked up my x-trail about 7 months ago....The engine temp, when warmed up holds steady at 90 C....so the engine temp is fine, I touch both heather hoses and they are hot, not super hot like should be, but both are hot....So heater core is not plugged. Engine coolant is at the right level. Thermostat seems to be working fine, holds 90C.... I read something about the coolant valve may be my problem? Anyone can help me figure out what to test or do next. Thanks Frank


What you probably read about is the water control valve that's located at the back of the head. It is supposed to provide quicker warmup for the heater. This component is just another thermostat but not the same size as the main thermostat. From your description of the heater hoses not being super hot, it's possible that the water control valve may not be opening as far as it should; just something else to examine.


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