I fear there is something wrong with my heater core, my car has climate control but even if i override the auto setting of a cold night, and push it up to 32c.. the air through the vents is just a bare warmth, by no means does it get anywhere near toasty in the cabin... there's no leakages or anything anywhere and my engine temp gauge gets up to just a tad before half way point within 5 to 7 minutes of a cold start/driving, and holds there so i think my thermostat is fine, plus the radiator's been flushed with fresh coolant around 3,000kms ago.

I know with some cars you have to pull the entire dash away from inside the car just to get to this heater core.... i pray to the heavens that this isnt necessary with our 3rd gen maxes?

Any ideas what else the problem might be? or is the heater core definitely the culprit here? might need replacing? my knowledge is useless and i may just pay a mechanic to deal with it but i'm scared he'll charge me $500+ in labour!

 

Your prayers were not answered this time

 

dumb questions, but did you check the coolant level?

Under the hood, near the firewall, between the brake booster(master cyclinder) and windshield washer motor is a "switch" with allows coolant to enter the heater core and you will see a hose going into the firewall and another hose coming out of the firewall. check the temperature of the two hose. Both hose should be hot meaning one hose go into the heater core and the other hose coming out from the heater core. If the hose going in is hot but coming out is cold, then either your heater core is clogged or the switch is not opening up.

Sorry to tell you, but the heater core is where you're afraid it might be.

 

Mmmmm, i feared as much

Thanks for the feedback, coolant level is spot on and also very clean as it was flushed only a couple thousand kms ago. I'll check the hoses you mentioned after a solid 15 / 20 min run next time i'm out and go from there.

 

In the pass, no heat from the heater doesn't mean bad heater core. Some of the usuall suspects are a thermostat and/or the cooling system needs to have the air bleed out. Start with a new t-stat and properly bleed the cooling system of air.

Then again if your heater core is internally cloged, then it's time to rip the dash apart.

 

There have been several threads about getting the air out of the heater system. Seems that there is a large air bubble that collects in the heater system, it being the highest point in the coolant system. First open the coolant priming bolt, on top of the engine next to the gold tag that says "Don't open Hot" (good advice), until coolant runs out. Open the heater control to full heat when the engine is hot and, for me, I just stopped uphill on a very steep street and reved the engine, but you may need to do the jacking up procedure mentioned in previous threads. If the heater core is not leaking, hopefully replacing it will not be needed. As I understand it you must field strip the entire dashboard to do this.

 

yeah........u pretty much beat me to it. I was just about to post this exact same thread last week. fortunately we are still in the summer here in the states, but winter is just around the corner and heat in my car during the winter is almost non-existent.
has anyone has their heater core replaced? and if so....how much?

 

one possibility is that since you have climate air control is that the little servo motor that controls the hot/cold flap my not be working. The flap works by closing off the heater core when you want cold and allowing the cold air to pass thru the heater when you want hot air. Its the reason why the temperature change is virtually instant. To tell if the motor is working stick your head down by the transmission tunnel and activate the hot cold buttons and listen for the buzzing of the motor. Dont get confused with the noise from the other motors that control the footwell/face level vents as they adjust to the temperature automatically. Good luck.

 

hey whats up i can add a comment to this and even picks of what it will look like to have to get to ur heater core been there done that bout to have to do it again as the max i juz recently bought the heater core is out in it the core brand new from nissan costs bout 158 or so and the work is extensive. the photo is a crappy one but none the less it shows how much has to be done sorry i took this with a crappy *** camera lolz but ur heater core is right in the center behind ur stero and climate control unit here is the pic. sorry the steering wheel is kinda in the way lolz but u get the point the job is not an easy one for those who dont know what they are doing like me when i did it but it is not all that hard if ur mechaniclly inclined

 

better pic...



what the interior looks like by the time you clean up everything that's damaged/affected by the heater core:



it's a few days late, but oh well.. I've been working lately.

 

Wow, i knew it was back there, just not THAT far back there.

 

do you think anyone asked him to check the fresh air lever on the dash board?

 

holy crap that looks like a LOT of work (and a LOT of $$$ on labour because im not mechanically minded) ..... i pray its not the heater core..

umm, fresh air lever? you mean the round wheel you can move up and down, next to each face level vent? i thought all that did was open / shut the vent... and when shut, NO air comes through it (inside produced air or outside)? correct me if i'm wrong.

I've done a bit of ringing around, and apparently there's a clever fellow not far from me who has a very smart trick of the trade for this type of problem.. if it is indeed the heater core thats died in the ****, he re-routes the piping to a new unused location somewhere under the hood (and easy to get to) .. then mounts a new heater core of his preference to that region, and bypasses the original heater core route altogether, this procedure is apparently a LOT cheaper and less time consuming, and means no ripping the inside out of your car... he also doesnt like touching dashboards because people often come back complaining about that new 'squeeking noise' or something of the sort which has occured from pulling things out and putting them back in... can be a NIGHTMARE to find such noises.

Whats your gut feeling folks? he's been doing it for 25 yrs.. says it works out to be around a quarter of the price (labour+parts)

 

The fresh air lever I am refering to is part of the heat & ac control panel that is above your radio. It is on the left end of the panel and moves up and down. The up position has blue wavy line and opens up the fresh air. The down position is where you want it to be normally.

 

Ah yeah now i know what you mean.... i'd have to go out and double check but im pretty sure its always been left on the down possy. Thanks for the tip all the same!