Internal heating problem with CX-5 2.2 auto deisel

[tinker14]

I have owned a CX-5 for over 3.5 years, (34.500 miles) and this year was unable to clear the windscreen on a frosty morning after 20 minutes of running the engine and was obliged to clear internal icing by scraping. I then drove the vehicle for another 10-15 minutes before any sign of heating from the system. I reported this to my local dealer who stated that this was probably due to the fluid (factory fitted) crystallizing and thus unable to flow round the sytem. This is apparently a known problem and was cured by the dealer by an overnight citric flush of the system. I would be very interested to know of any other owners who have experienced this problem as I have been obliged to pay a substantial part of the cost, I did receive a discount even though out of warranty. Hope that others can shed light on this problem. Thanks

[twabrigs]

Hi - sounds like an odd one. Having experience a few frosty mornings in Scotland with my CX5 I've never come across this problem.

[Anchorman]

I have.  I set off a short way to run an errand during very cold weather and dropped anchorwoman off for a short while. The heater actually went colder to the point I had to turn it off as I was freezing.  When up to temperature, the heater actually gets very hot but it isn’t a heater issue it’s something that all modern diesels suffer from.  A diesel engine is very “thermally efficient” and so most of the heat it produces is turned into energy and sent out of the exhaust. As a result, the more efficient they become, the longer they take to warm up. Petrols have poor thermal efficiency and warm up quickly as the heat is soaked into the engine block.  The diesel even has a 1kw electric heater in the heater intake to help take the chill off but still it struggles. There is nothing you can do except put up with it. Heated seats and steering wheel help.

[RichardCX5]

I had the same issue with a lack of heat (worse on the driver's side) which I managed to fix myself with a citric acid flush after researching online. So far, around 3 months later it's still working nicely!

[Anchorman]

Mine was a week old when it happened.  It doesnt need flushing.

[Trevor F]

I had same issue, was chipping the frost off the inside of the windscreen back in March as heater unable to provide any heat. Citric acid wash (at €180 approx) sorted it out,now nice and toasty again

[Tarkus]

This has just happened to me last week. I noticed the cabin fan powering up before the air was warm. The screen was slow to clear a few weeks ago which I thought nothing of. The cars nearly 5 years old and 68000 miles. I’ll see what the local ga age makes of this. Thanks for all the comments.