well I've noticed that whenever I do drive it at speed during the night to get some heat into the van, I have to fill the water back up as it runs almost dry(the tank on top of the engine near the back). Also, if I stop somewhere and the van is ticking over, the temperature needle starts to rise the heater blows hotter again but as soon as I pull off and sit at around 60mph it gets freezing cold again..
This has only been a problem in the winter. In the summer the temperature gauge is always higher up. I took it to the garage I bought it from and keep getting told that the outside temperature would make a big difference and in the winter everyone's heaters dont get as hot! I'm smelling some BS there myself as my car has always been fine as have other vans I've had in the past...
Go figure..
Not sure how I check the coolant temperature to be honest and someone else has mentioned the thermostat as well..
That said, someone has also said it could be the heater matrix which sounds like a big job which I dont really want to go down...
Iggy, December 2009