I got no heat... here's the story...

Only after the car is fully up to temperature (t-gauge at standard 9:00 position) and I'm moving (RPMs > 2500) do i get "some" heat...

As soon as I stop moving (RPMs drop) the fan just blows cold air.

I have a small antifreeze leak that I plan to fix as soon as my garage warms up, so 'til then, I'm just topping it off every-other day.

I'm sorta stumped. Any thoughts?

I can't search the site for some reason and I didn't see anything posted on the FAQ/DIY section, either.

Flame away!

 

PLZ dont be like me, i had a small leak to and i did exactly what u do (fill up every day or 2). while i was on the freeway i anitfreeze heated up and just busted out and within seconds my engine overheated and my head gasket blow out.
get the leak fixed right away or you gonna have some heavy spendnd to do if shiit happens...

 

If you have the electronic controls for the heat, set them all the way to 30C (or whatever it is in F?), at 22C on a cold day it just puts out luke warm air. Beyond that, you probably have air in the system. Its also possible that the heater core might be plugged.

I would take the rad cap off when the car is cold, then start it and let it get to operating temperature. If there is air in the system the level in the rad would go down gradually, so just top it up till it stops going down. Hope that helps.

 

is there a sticky about this that I missed?

 

Thats the cause of your poor heating. A low coolant level doesn't circulate well and lets air pockets form in the cooling system. Thats why you have no heat at low RPM's.

Fix your leak, bleed the cooling system and your heat will be fine.

 

The leak had been around for a month or so, the losss of heat just happened 2 days ago. Do you think that enough air has been entrained into the system to cause the blockage?

Bleed the system? Can I run it with the rad cap off to do this or is there something more specific? perhaps a sticky?

 

yes............

 

thank you very kindly...

i just bought upper and lower hoses, hose clamps, t-stat, front brakes and belts. plan on doing this repair tomorrow afternoon (as wells as brakes and belts).

planning on flushing the system then refilling & bleeding...keep all ya'll posted...

btw, how long should it take to bleed out the system? few minutes?

 

[QUOTE=mechanicaljoint how long should it take to bleed out the system? [/QUOTE]

Start the car with the rad. cap off. Let it warm up to operating temp, thermostat completely opens, with you heat on full blast. Should take 5 -10 minutes. Top it off just before you close the cap and bring the reserve bottle up to the max full line.

Please fix the leak before you do that or you'll just be wasting your time.

 

many thanks!

 

got heat!!! changed hoses and t-stat. made a mess in the garage with all the fluids. ack!

ran it for a few minutes and got the air bubbles out...still no heat...

put rad cap on and presto! heat!

thanks all!

 

Same leak developed. A few hours after I got home tonite, I noticed a small wet spot on the driveway...just like before...Drat...

Something is still leaking!!!! Any suggestions where to look? It's a slow drip...that runs down...Can't seem to find it...ACK!!!!

 

waterpump was shot...replaced it ... viola - problem solved.