[Defender110]

Hi,

Thought I would join as I know forums can be a wealth of knowledge.
My Girlfriend decided to buy a Puma 1.7 (2001) after she lost the challenge of Golf GTI vs Deer.
I'm totally new to the vehicle as I usually chose larger vehicles ( tracked Armour and Military Land Rovers).
Today I spent two hours trying to sort the first problem of a broken bowden cable opening the bonnet. I had to remove the grill in the end, trying not to damage anything as I would be in trouble and open the bonnet.
The main issues, which I suspect are common place in the vehicles are as follows -

The heater always blows warm air. I assume this is the Heater control valve failure due to worn seals? keeping the warm water circulating into the matrix?

The second fault seems a bit more challenging. The temperature gauge seems to wander into the red and then return to the middle quite frequently. I took the vehicle for a brisk drive and it seemed to get very hot and return to normal with no real correlation to the engine speed. Upon further investigation I noticed the engine fan had been disconnected, this made me suspicious as it looked very much intentional.
It became too dark to work on the vehicle, so with the fan now connected and proving it worked after being at idle for 20 minutes, I set out for the drive home which is around 2 miles from the workshop. After around 1 mile the engine temperature seemed to rise from middle position to red and into the unknown off the scale. I stopped and the bonnet seemed cold, the engine didn't smell at all warm ( I admit I didn't open the bonnet due to needing a torch and a screwdriver to operate) I continued home and it then dropped very fast to the centre position once again.

I suspect there is an issue in the senders somewhere and that the indication on the dial is very much false.
Also the fan operates when the engine is on mid-position in temperature


Has anyone had similar issues or could offer help?

PS there are no signs of head gasket issues, oil level is good, header tank is full and clear and engine performs well... other than the clutch release bearing noise, but that's another story.

[happy-kat]

Hi
First I would change the HCV and buy a genuine Ford one. Cheap economy getting anything else they fail.
Then see how it performs though there are posts covering other heating issues and the Wiki has more info there too, but obsure stuff might be from searching once you have a list of what symptoms left.
There was a similar strange one a bit like your cold pipes and not hot though guage mad and it was the HCV though I have not search to find it to confirm.

[happy-kat]

Can't find the post I Was after but you might like this one.
http://www.pumapeopl...=1

[V4FRP]

I would agree with Kate change the HCV as when mine failed on the FRP the temp gauge went haywire. Welcome along by the way!

[gimmickyflea]

Hello Defender 110,

Yep, new HCV first stop. We now have two 1.7 Pumas in our household and both have needed a new (Ford) HCV fitted. The first sheared off from the pipes losing all the coolant in the process and the other jammed open so only warm air was blowing out. This one turned out to have already having been replaced by a previous cost cutting owner who didn't use a genuine Ford part and hence why it's needed replacing again Neither however have had any issues with the temperature gauges which have always stayed rock solid in the middle when the cars are warm.

[Defender110]

Thanks for the fast reply, guys.

I have ordered a genuine HCV, as that needs replacing anyway as the cab heating is jammed on.
I have been trying to diagnose the fault of the temperature gauge with very little success. It just rises fast and stays in the far right, then will suddenly drop again fast to the centre. The car smells hot, but my hand held temperature gun doesn't show anything alarmingly hot. The water temperature sensor does have broken lugs on the connector from the loom, which after a clean and refit seemed to solve the problem until I drove the car today, not sure if that's a coincidence or not.
I found the fan had been disconnected by the previous owner, which is odd. Now that's connected it seems to come on quite fast and when the temperature is in the centre position. I shall buy a new water temperature sensor tomorrow and see how that goes after I make sure it's good.
If not I shall try the thermostat and the housing, as I hear that breaks when you remove it! A process of laborious elimination is ahead.

I did pick up a genuine Ford Water pump for £5 on ebay, new. So that may come in handy!

Thanks for the links to other threads.., I have been reading up and hopefully will get to the end of the problem and post my findings.

Cheers

Paul

[Defender110]

Yesterday I replaced the water temperature sensor and the heater control valve- So far... It seems to be cured.
I at least have control of the cabin heat now and the it appears the AC also works which is a bonus.


So hopefully it's a cure.

Remember if you're buying a HCV buy genuine as the one that came out was also quite new and had failed, it was a crappy pattern part.

Cheers guys for the help, no doubt when the next bit falls off I will be asking more advice! ha

[johnpidge]

HCV - agree you must get a genuine one - replaced mine in the current green one but had several cheapy fleabay ones in my old Melina Blue 1.7