When car heating stops working: right in the workshop
Yesterday I had to (not a car professional) unfortunately only "from a damage wise" become.
For a few weeks, the heating of my car did not work as well as it used to - and finally barely. Since that did not bother me so much with the current summer temperatures, I had planned the workshop visit only for the late summer. That was a mistake.
Yesterday, the cooling water warning light suddenly flashed. Then I drove straight off the highway and looked after: In the engine room escaped from an unrecognizable place some steam. The summoned ADAC angel discovered that a marten had gnawed the hose of the cooling system a bit. Not so bad that it would have dripped out, but still so that at higher operating temperature just always had some water vapor escaped - and so the cooling water level was slowly dropped over weeks - until he reached yesterday the "critical mark" and the indicator lit up.
The "Angel" explained to me that the heater always needs the full cooling water level and pressure to run perfectly and that you can take A WASTE OF HEATING PERFORMANCE AS THE FIRST INDICATION that something is NOT OK with the COOLING SYSTEM. Aha. He also explained to me that the cooling water warning display usually only lights up when the water level is already so low that it can quickly be "too late".
Conclusion:
If the car heater does not work / works so well, check the coolant level.
If not o. K. is, then - fill up clearly - but also check the reason for it as soon as possible from a workshop. Because if you recognize the indication "Heizleistungsabfall" and react immediately, then you may have to just replace the hose, which is not very expensive. But if you do not realize that, then you (like me) risk being stupid while on the road or even producing a radiator damage - that will be really expensive.
(PS: Well, men, do not scold us if we turn up the heat on frozen women in the car properly.) We just check that the cooling water system is OK.
