Vitesse mk2 heater blowing cold

[dave.vitesse]

The inlet manifold on the Vitesse is partly heated by the hot  water from the engine.

If you can't unblock the manifold this will reduce the heat in the manifold and will weaken the mixture. It's more noticeable during the warm-up period.

I would use a combinations of water and a piece of stiff wire to shift the muck. Try a hose with some pressure one end and wire and water the other.

Do not try to undo the large bolt as this will break off leaving the rest of it in the manifold.

Dave

[Pete Lewis]

yes care over the banjo bolt  surprisingly the one on my 74 2000 un nipped and came undone with the fingers ...why ????   all pretty untouched since it left the factory as far as i know 

so they do come out  ....many,  many Dont 

it is  an area of mixed metals that attracts lots of corrosion

Pete

[dave.vitesse]

So how does it work. Extracts from an article I did a few years ago.

Dave

The hot water is passed through the inlet manifold to the heater valve. As with the earlier models, without the heated inlet manifold, the return from the heater feeds back to the water pump housing through the return pipe. The water flow is not at first obvious as all the heater connections are via a three way adaptor bolted to the inlet manifold. Inside the adaptor itself there a two of holes. The largest hole, Picture 1, is to feed the heater and small hole, Picture 2, is a bypass when the heater is turned off. The heater return is connected to the return pipe, Picture 3. The heat through the manifold is reduced when the heater is turned off. This makes sense as less heat is require in the summer and this is when the heater would be turned off. Picture 4 shows the banjo bolt with the water outlet holes used to feed the holes.

[Pete Lewis]

Dave   , a  good shot of the corroded banjo bolt it shows its weakness around the holes in its body where the thing parts company and gives you a right headache 

Pete

[dave.vitesse]

12 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

Dave   , a  good shot of the corroded banjo bolt it shows its weakness around the holes in its body where the thing parts company and gives you a right headache 

Pete

Yes I thought you would like the stretched holes. I think a new bolt is required there. 

As you say most part company and then require a bolt welding to the remaining section in the manifold. As we both know you have to use plenty of heat and oil this producing lots of smoke, plus much muttering, to get the thing out.

When fitting a new bolt I used plumbers mate or copper slip to reduce the corrosion. The plumbers mate appears to work.

Dave

[Robin]

Have tried again to shift the blockage but no luck - it’s absolutely solid from about a third along the inlet manifold from the heater valve. So I think the next step is to take the inlet manifold off and see if I can get a long drill to shift it as previously suggested. In case it all goes wrong, where can I pick up a new or good used inlet manifold?

[dave.vitesse]

25 minutes ago, Robin said:

Have tried again to shift the blockage but no luck - it’s absolutely solid from about a third along the inlet manifold from the heater valve. So I think the next step is to take the inlet manifold off and see if I can get a long drill to shift it as previously suggested. In case it all goes wrong, where can I pick up a new or good used inlet manifold?

Try Canley Classics for a used manifold, but Richard's suggestion re a drill should shift the stuff. Use some water as well.

Dave

[Pete Lewis]

Robin  if you get stuck you can drop it off at mine and i will have a look

I mean this  really qualifies as ........... essential travel  !!!   

Pete

[Robin]

2 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

Robin  if you get stuck you can drop it off at mine and i will have a look

I mean this  really qualifies as ........... essential travel  !!!   

Pete

Thanks Pete - have ordered a long drill bit so will let you know how I get on

[Pete Lewis]

needs an ultra sound  form maternity or where ever just to see if your manifold gallery  has a kink in it 

Pete

[Bobtaylor]

I had the same symptoms on my Vitesse 6, I took the heater switch off which was completely blocked with congealed sludge. Fitted new switch, job done, I now have a working heater ! Just in time for summer and lockdown!!!

Bob

[Robin]

Quick update ...

I finally took delivery of a 6mm x600 mm and an 8mm x 600 mm drill bit. I took the manifold off and put the 6mm down first of all and the blockage was absolutely solid. It took 3 or 4 goes of quite heavy pressure but eventually it gave way. I then put the 8mm down to free the rest and flushed everything until a good flow of clear water ran through. Connected everything back up and ran the car up to temperature and hey presto the heater now works! Thanks to everyone for their advice and support.

But .. I now have a carburettor problem which I’ll post in the fuel section

[daverclasper]

On 19/04/2020 at 11:39, dave.vitesse said:

As you say most part company and then require a bolt welding to the remaining section in the manifold.

Hi Dave. Do you have to be carefull if welding a bolt to remains, (I think the manifold is alloy) of not melting the manifold?. 3 or 4 tac welds, or maybe tac welds, all the way around, to reduce constant heat?.

Cheers, Dave

[dave.vitesse]

12 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Hi Dave. Do you have to be carefull if welding a bolt to remains, (I think the manifold is alloy) of not melting the manifold?. 3 or 4 tac welds, or maybe tac welds, all the way around, to reduce constant heat?.

Cheers, Dave

Hello Dave,

Good point, It's OK with a Mig if you tack weld. The inlet manifold is made to sit on an exhaust manifold which gets very hot anyway. You do need heat, plus oil, to free the remains of the bolt.

Dave

[daverclasper]

Cheers Dave. It's a spare, though worth a mess with to get it road worthy I reckon.

[SpitFire6]

Hi,

 Can you not dump the alloy manifold in phosphoric acid? Good-Bye Iron rust?

Asking for a friend.

Cheers,

Iain.

[NonMember]

8 hours ago, SpitFire6 said:

Can you not dump the alloy manifold in phosphoric acid? Good-Bye Iron rust?

Hmmm... a quick Google showed up two completely contradictory pages. One said that phosphoric  acid "strongly attacks aluminium", suggesting that would be a very bad idea. The other said it's "no good to prepare for painting" because there is an impermeable layer of aluminium oxide which phosphoric acid has no effect on. Perhaps, as all good scientific papers conclude, "further research is called for"!

[daverclasper]

I wondered about putting the end in vinegar for a few days, as had results with siezed steel parts, though wondered if this would attack the alloy, even though it's pretty acid weak?.

[SpitFire6]

6 hours ago, NonMember said:

Hmmm... a quick Google showed up two completely contradictory pages. One said that phosphoric  acid "strongly attacks aluminium", suggesting that would be a very bad idea. The other said it's "no good to prepare for painting" because there is an impermeable layer of aluminium oxide which phosphoric acid has no effect on. Perhaps, as all good scientific papers conclude, "further research is called for"!

Hi,

 I have a rear slave cylinder that has a seized piston. I can clean it up & grind several alloy surfaces to expose clean areas.

If I dunk the above in Phosphoric for several hours. Would this be valid?

Cheers,

Iain. 

[Dick Twitchen]

4 hours ago, daverclasper said:

putting the end in vinegar for a few days

Definitely worth a try.  I had a heater leaking heater valve that all the usual culprits would not free up, including heat, despite the length of purchase applied; cautious of the later being too great as I have a spare manifold with the valve sheared off.   Wrapped around the joint in a rag regularly soaked in vinegar for several days and it came out by hand. 

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, SpitFire6 said:

I have a rear slave cylinder that has a seized piston. I can clean it up & grind several alloy surfaces to expose clean areas.

If I dunk the above in Phosphoric for several hours. Would this be valid?

That sounds an excellent line of research. You're a proper science type 😁

(Although I don't expect anyone here to get the oblique Japanese anime reference)

[SpitFire6]

Lots of Hydrogen.

Been there for an hour now.

[SpitFire6]

Hi,

All after pictures.

The dark one is before washing off the phosphate? coating.

After 18 hours, only rust & corrosion gone.

[NonMember]

Interesting. The surface does look quite heavily micro-pitted, suggesting that the acid has attacked the alloy to some extent, but it's not obvious that it's a problem.

[SpitFire6]

Hi,
 Unfortunately, I never made any photo’s of the slave before I immersed it. It looked in a bad shape; seized & doing no work. Had been through a lot of MOT’s seized.

 The pits are more apparent on one side. Its placement has caused corrosion depending on orientation?
 I did rotate while in solution though.

I can immerse it for another day in fresh acid.

 

Cheers,

Iain.