Asking for a friend: 1.9 DG engine, early version (1983) - the choke does not come off, there seems to be no movement at all from the bi-metallic coil. It has power, has continuity through the heater coil and we've tried a direct earth from the unit but cant see any action from it at all. I would "assume" that even if the electronic heater element is duff, the water being pumped through the unit would heat up enough to wind the coil up (albeit slower) - but after 15 minutes or so of running it's not budged. Anyone have any expereince of these, or pointers to try? I'm wondering if he's staring down a water pump fault also, as the fan has stopped cutting in (rad is only warmish) - the fan does work when the switch is bypassed and bridged directly, and a new switch is on order - but this would seem to tie in with the choke issue as well.....maybe. thanks!
Do the pipes connected to the choke get hot? If they do then the choke unit is sticking, if not, then you have a coolant flow problem. Check the pipe coming from above the thermostat is getting hot. I had one in recently that wasn’t flowing properly, turned out to be a bunged up radiator.
Thanks, everything is "warm" - but not especially, however the van has only been sat on tickover with a bit of revving so not sure how hot I'd expect this to be? The coil does move easily by hand.
You can get it hot enough to kick the fan in without driving it, but it does take a while, with spells of holding it at 2000 ish rpm for a slightly uncomfortable amount of time. All pipes should feel hot rather than warm when the temp gauge is in the middle. undo the bleed screw at the top of the rad, and make sure nice hot water comes out. If you get air bubbles, leave it loose until all the air is expelled.
