Crappy Heater..

[Say..."Renno"]

Is the heater normally crap in the megs..03 model , our old clio heats up in a couple of mins. but the meg seems to take miles...and you need to put the blower to at least 2 to feel a baby's breath.....i've removed the pollen filter but its the same with or without....i'm ffrrrreeeezzing.

[cactusbob]

Minds quite quick, but then I think the Climate Control has a heater built into it

[elgammal]

mine 04 meg is having the same when using heater and/or the AC. it takes long time to feel either.

[IainMW]

You could have a faulty thermostat?

Where does the needle on the temp gauge get to when you are at full operating temperature (It should be nearly halfway)

As your's is a petrol engine it should take about 3-4 miles before it reaches normal operating temp if you are driving it at a reasonable speed?
Remember that the lower the outside temp then the longer it will take to warm up!

A quick test of your stat is to start your engine from cold and let it idle; keep checking the pipes in and out of the radiator, one will be stone cold until the stat opens (normal operating temp) when it will get warm all of a sudden. If they both start to warm up together then the stat is stuck open.

The other possibility is that you have a blocked heater matrix (mini radiator)

There have also been problems with the blowers on Megane's and heater controls; can you hear the fan when it's set to the 1 position? Mine was never very powerful on 1 and needed to be set to 2 or 3 to heat or cool the car quickly.

[Say..."Renno"]

Yeah i've done all the usual checks....Must be just crappy..as you say i'll just have to keep it on 3 or 4....

[TheFinn]

The newer (=more economical) the car, the colder it is. That's a fact of life you cannot work around.

Older cars were less energy-efficient i.e. turned more of the burned fuel into heat than labour. From that excess heat you had plenty to take from to heat up the interior as well.

Whereas the newer cars turn more of the energy in the fuel directly to labour without wasting energy to heat the coolant. Thus we're freezing our sitting-down muscles off in modern cars. And that's why the most economical modern turbodiesels need even some extra (electrical or diesel driven) heaters rigged up by the manufacturer to offer at least some sort of cow's breath to warm our freezing souls.

The difference is clear: I've had a Renault 12, two Renault 9s and a Renault 19. All were technologie d'ancienne but the cabins warmed up quite quickly. Then I moved to a new '00 Twingo with the 1.2 DIET engine and noticed it didn't work itself to comfortable cabin temperatures especially if only driven in town. And the same I've noticed in the Megane. All my cars are regularly serviced so none had sticking thermostats, blocked heaters or any such nasty stuff.

[IzzieBee]

I was just going to post about the heater.

I have a new Dynamique very eco friendly model and it takes forever to heat up - I was interested to read the pp's comments which do make a lot of sense!

I love my new car and that's the only problem I've encountered so far (apart from getting soaked when I open the boot everytime it rains and the water pours down on me!) - is that a known Renault problem does anyone know as my husband's old Renault 19 used to do the same!

[carlosthejackal]

My 54 Dynamique heats up way faster than the Focus I've just got rid of ever did. I will miss that heated windscreen though...

[RichG]

I know this is a really old thread but I have a similar issue and hoping to get some advice.

I have a 2004 megane 2, 1.4 16v (petrol) bought in June this year. As its getting colder outside I've started using the heater more and it blows fine on all settings (1 - 4) but rarely is there any heat.

If I leave home and hit traffic and end up crawling the blower heat in the car just never materialises. This is regardless of the heat setting on the dial.

Oddly, if I get an open bit of road on the journey and manage to get to 4th / 5th gear the heat will eventually come through.

I've never noticed the heat take so long before so it seems like a new development but I've only had it since June and through summer / autumn it could well have always been the same all along. So my question is, is this normal or could there be an issue?