So this may sound weird but im wondering are theyre any things i can check or anything to make the heater blow hotter air. It october in chicago and its about 40 or so in the morning and soon itl b colder and i hate the cold. my car takes a couple minutes to start blowing warm air but it never seems to blow HOT air. I mean its warm maybe close to being called hot but i want it HOT. Some of my friends older cars heat works great and is hot as can be. So any tips or sugggestions would b great. I also heard insulating the lines or something like that might help i dont know...

 

Replacing the t-stat may help..

 

bleed the coolant system and replace with fresh antifreeze (reverse that order)
my VEs didn't have a problem cranking out heat unless they were low on coolant.

 

Stop by my job and pay $170 for a coolant system power-flush and a new thermostat, guaranty(ee) it'll make air come out hotter. yo I'm hungry...just got home and I'm hungry dammit

 

pull both hoses off going to your heater core and flush them with your water hose with the valve set on "FIRE!!!!"
run it one direction for a minute or two, then go the other way.. back and forth for a while. you'll be amazed how much sludge and crap comes out of your heater core.

If that doesn't do anything, check your water **** to make sure its opening completely.

 

matt jw do u have a picture of said heater core and hoses? So wat your saying is once i take both hoses off use my water hose from the house or w/e and stick it against or into each one of the heater core hoses one at a time?

 

 

Thanks (as john would say) Greeny. w/o that pic i would have been lost thats not wat i was thnking of at all. so just one last clarification then il shut up, i do each hose one at a time and let w/e comes out fall to the groudn thru the engine bay? Will it cause any damage to hoses or rubber parts of doesnt matter?

 

Remove both hoses from the heater core pipes on the firewall,then spray inside each pipe with a water hose..

Just spray off the engine if it gets any coolant/gunk/crap on it..

 

thank you, i might even do this tomorow as i am off work for most of the day....

 

Another tip I use is place a peice of cardboard or thin wood in front of your radiator through the winter months. Has really helped on my cars in the past. Just remember that it's there and yank it in the spring!

 

How do you check the valve? Both my hoses are always hot coming to and from the heater core whuch leads me to think that the valve is always open.

 

Could be residual heat from the engine. I don't recall which way is open/close. However, check it's position when car off/cold. Then recheck position with car running, heat on.

 

I don't think residual heat is the cause. They are both very hot like coolant is going through them. So should I just take it off and see what it looks like?

 

It's already been suggested to take out the lines to clean out the heater core. However, removing the hoses to the water thing won't tell you if it's working. You're going to have to start the car and turn the system on, it works off vacuum. It is just that simple to see if it is working. Actually, it may even move just with racing your engine (mine does, not that I'm certian it is supposed to). Of course you'll have to do this under the hood so you can see it moving.

You may be right about it not being residual heat. Although, I don't recall right off hand the amount of flow that the thing allows for circulation, even when closed. Please don't make this more complicated than it truly is.

 

so how am i going to see if it is moving. i need to take the hoses off and look in it right? Or is there somewhere else that I need to look.

 

A few months ago I had the heater bypass hoses replaced by a mechanic. Here in southern California we don't have to use the heater too often, but the other day I needed to use the defroster and all that came out was cold air. I tried switching it to the heater only and same thing. Before anyone asks, the a/c was turned off! Earlier this year (Jan/Feb) everything worked. What gives?

 

Gotcha. If you look at the device, it has a vacuum cylinder which moves a small rod that opens and closes the valve inside the plastic tube that your hoses attach to. You should see that peice move, kinda like looking at your throttle cable move on the engine to tell you that your butterflies are opening up inside your intake.

 

WRONG!
your A/C was on. it turns on when you turn on the defroster.

 

not feet defroster, just full defrost. but yeah i have been driving a few times and been like "wtf why am i using so much throttle" and then remembered i had defrost on.

 

feet is not defroster. defroster is for the windshield
feet is heat

 

well there's the one between feet and fefrost, it's a down arrow and a minidefroster symbol..

http://btp.mine.nu/Jared/NewCam/Spee...r/IMG_1121.jpg

2nd from right

 

that setting does both, defrosts the windshield and sends heat to your feet.

 

I changed the the stat on mine and still no heat then i noticed I had knocked the vac hose off the valve that directs water to the core. doh

 

i think i need to bleed mine. I don't have heat when idling. I can hear water rushing in the heatercore too.

 

Based on what you describe, you are low on coolant. I agree that you should try to bleed it. The easiest why I have found is to park facing up hill, warm up the car so that the heater core fills with coolant and the air goes to the radiator. Shut off engine and after it cools down, fill radiator.

Look for where your coolant may be leaking. If you've done no work to it recently, then you may have a leaking/bad water pump. When warm/idling, look for coolant dripping beneath the crank.

 

raditaor is full and there are no drip and level doesn't go down.

 

No, when I turn on my heater (the AC is off when I do) it blows cool air. I've tried both the foot and upper vents and still the same thing. New radiator, new hoses, functioning AC, heater motor works- the only thing is that the air is cool at all times.

 

uh oh the newb is about to get edumuhkated

 

the defroster circuit activates the A/C in order to clear the windshield faster.
the "frost" or moisture on the windshield is removed by the A/C system. Many cars use this setup because it works very efficiently.

Do you have the fresh air lever on the left of the climate control head in the correct position?

 

what is the correct position? i just sorta leave mine up... i think my other ones digital has that lever too. so which is the right spot and what does it do?

 

i noticed that if you keep the lever down it sends hot air to the panel vents when you have the heat on. If you put it up towards the blue you get air that isn't cool as outside but not as hot as whats hitting the floow if you have it set to feet and panel.

 

Blue = cold outside air

 

Unless you got the temp selected on COLD IIRC

 

Last year, the heater worked without any problems, this year it only blows cold air. I may be a newbie, but I can handle the difference between the ac/ heater/ and defroster. Since my coolant level and blower motor are fine, is there any other reason why no warm air is coming from the heater?

 

thermostat can be stuck, its like $7 bucks at autozone or $15 at the dealer. takes some time and patience if you've never done it but its a DIY job as long as you've got time, tools, and common sense.

Lets see what other people say..

 

so i dont know if this is normal or not, or maybe related to the stat, but when driving home last night like 4am ish it was about 45 degrees maybe? Well i was in a mix of stop and go and highway (suburbs) and the temp wouldnt go above like a 1/7th of the way up. I had the heat on low but still. Iturned the heat off and put it in power, to keep the rpms higher for a while, and it seemed to help a bit but not much. Basically it doesnt seem to get into the right operating temperature when its cold out id say... any ideas?

 

Meh my solution for everything, you probably need a thermostat

 

flush, fill, bleed.

 

only? or after while changing the tstat?