Did a 're-adjustment' of my heater cables recently and the flaps now open and close (almost) properly. The result is that the heater, with blower on, is pushing out some very warm air but it does have a strange aroma to it. It may just be that it's different to an air cooled a/c heating system so what does your warm air smell like?? Has anyone tried to 'freshen up' the smell and if so by what means? Also, for some reason I only have one tube coming from my snail blower (1979 2 litre t4) - the other snail outlet has a cap on it (looks like the top off a spray can!!). Shouldn't there be a tube going from each side of the snail to each heat exchanger? There's no hole in the tin on the left hand side to accept a tube so maybe the heat exchanger is improper?? Must crawl under again and have a look.
They do tend to have a 'whiff' about them. Usually a slight oily smell that I call eau de'volkswagen. You can limit the smell by improving the crankcase breathing. Some people have it vent into the engine bay. Nothing wrong with that except the fan sucks in the smell and blasts it into the cabin. As for the missing pipe, as long as the hole is capped that's good but I suspect it's just a plate over the hole so it could be re-established. Post up some pictures of the engine bay and the heater tubes. Is there a pipe under the tinware that looks like it should go somewhere?? I will add that any open hole will haemorrhage valuable air from the already not-so-great hating system.
You'll need to fix any oil leaks in the engine bay, as the engine fan will shove these through the heating. Also as mentioned make sure the crankcase breather goes to the air filter. Also worth hoovering 30 years of muck out of your heating pipes. When it's all fixed, the air shouldn't smell of any thing. As the air's heated by the exchangers on the exhaust, it tends to be very dry, so worth getting your fresh air vents fixed as well.
