Hi Guys

i had a visit today from MARTIN (aka LFF64 from this Forum)
he was an absolute star and was at my house for almost 4 hours helping me do my headlights
also done many other little niggling jobs, so im as happy as a happy man from happy land 
i have learnt so much today from him that my head hurts! lol
he has an Omega thats in fantastic condition, engine is absolutely bloody sparkling!
made me extremely jealous  

anyway, lights working great now! the new headlights all fitted etc, thanks Mate!!


i now have another weird problem and were both "stumped" as to what it could be  

Martin noticed that a loose pipe wasnt connected to the top of the HBV, so he connected it for me
i had moaned about my Air-Con not being as cold as it used to be
after reconnecting this pipe, the aircon felt much much much colder  
we then said goodbye as he had to go home and see the missus

i took me car out for a 10 mile drive to PC World and back
before Martin left, i filled the car up with red antifreeze, a full 5 litres of it!
have done 15 flushes and drains this week, aint doing no more!!!! Grrrrrrrrr
anyway, i thoughts its best that i put the Heater on boiling hot onto MAX after doing the coolant change
shock - horror!!!  i now have NO heat whatsover
the problem seems to be that when that loose pipe is connected to the top of the HBV that as soon as the heater is on HOT its ok, and when i then switch to put air-con on this also is OK.....but when switching back from COLD to HOT the temperature does NOT change at all, to actually get the heat back i have to disconnect that recently connected pipe from the HBV!
i have now noticed that with the pipe completely off (as it was) i am able to switch between hot and cold with no problems, although my Air-con isnt as cold as when this pipes connected!  but, if i leave this pipe connected and i go from cold to hot, it just wont change back to hot at all!!!

what can be causing this guys? do i need a brand new HBV?
how much do they cost? and what if it isnt that? am i looking at another bloody horrendous expense?

i have a strong suction coming from this loose pipe when the aircon is on, but no suction when the heater is on hot

so at the moment, im driving round with a HBV with NO pipe attached on the top because otherwise i wont have ANY heat

confused? i know i am!  

hi mate

when can i come over?

Wayne wrote on 29. Sep 2007 at 16:41:

This evening before it gets dark?

PM me your "home telephone" mate

wil ring you right now and then jump in me car 

Had a look at the car now.  Once the HBV has been activated, it won't release, resulting in no warm air.

Further testing has shown that the HBV works as expected if I stick a tube on and suck.

With vac pipe to HBV disconnected, a vac is generated when cold air requested, and no vac when warm air requested - again, as expected.

However, with pipe connected, if cold air selected, then warm air, removal of the vac pipe to HBV results in a brief hiss as the vacuum is lost.


So it seems that once the vac is applied, it is not able to lose the vac when no longer required.


I guess the next step is to check the solenoids, but getting too late to start stripping the glovebox out.


Anyone know how it dumps the vac when no longer required?

Kevin Wood wrote on 29. Sep 2007 at 19:56:

Yeah, was hoping it would be obvious when we get round to removing glovebox....

Marks DTM Calib wrote on 29. Sep 2007 at 21:53:

Is it obvious which valve it is when glovebox removed. Or is there only 1?