Heater question I have a question about the heater in my car. It blows with plenty of force--nice steady air stream. But it just blows cold. What would cause that? I thought that it used heat from the engine to warm the passenger compartment. Am I right? Why would it not turn warm? Y'all please forgive me for asking ten thousand questions over the next little bit. I just got my car, and I am sure that I will be FULL of questions for a while. Hope you don't mind---I'll just need a little guidance while we get Miss Frankie all fixed up. NOT that it is BAD--it's not. We love our car and are quite happy with it. She just needs a little TLC--that's all. Thanks. BTW--anybody have an opinion about the best place to get the gas cap with the horns on it? __________________ Sabrina
Is it a factory AC car? If not....the heater core is plugged. If it is...then the vacuum operated heater hose switch is locked in the "closed" position....or.......the heater core is clogged.
Not factory AC. (no such luck) Thanks for the guidance on where to start. I need to "figger" that one out quick! It's COLD in Virginia this time of year!
Your best bet on figuring some of this stuff out is to get yourself one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chil...96707QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW#ebayphotohosting Keep your eye on Ebay or used book store. I have found that the Chilton Manual is pretty handy-dandy when you use it in conjunction with the knowledge on this board. Just for instance with this heater thing. You found out from Craig that since you are not a factory A/C car it is likely that you heater core is clogged. Then you could look up the heater core int he Chilton Manual and it pretty much shows you where it is, what it looks like and what you have to do to replace/fix it. While on the subject though another thing that could be wrong is the cable that hooks to the slide switch that changes the temperature from Hot to Cool could be broke or loose at one end or the other. The Chilton Manual would also show you where to look to find the ends of that cable also. It could also be that the previous owner removed and/or bypassed the heater core because it was stopped up or leaking. Now until you get a Chilton or other repair manual. If you want to know where your Heater core is, it is up under the dash on the passenger side of the car inside of a black hardplastic box. if you look on the passenger side firewall looking from under the hood you will/should see two heater hoses that run through the firewall and they go inside of the car up under the dash. One is the hot water feed for the heatercore and the other is the return line that returns the hot water to the cooling system. Don't quote me on this for now and I will try to check a little later if I go out to the parking lot for a smoke later, but I think the heater hoses (feed and return) that go through the firewall are either 5/8 or 3/4 rubber heater hose.
Hey DaMadman--Thanks for the suggestion. I have been meaning to get us one of those for a while now. After reading your post, I went on ebay and found one on BIN for 10 bucks--seems fair enough, so I went ahead and bought it. Uh, oh. Look out now, y'all. I'm a woman on a mission and now I got Da Book!
Make sure the radiator is full,, plus correct mix of anti-freeze. If rad is full, I would drain the rad, inspect all the hoses, if hoses look so-so, I would replace. Take garden hose an run water in top of engine (take thermostat out an replace later) an let drain out of bottom rad hose. Take heater hoses of an run water threw on an watch what comes out of other. If blocked, nothing, hopefully just some rusty water then will clear up. Alternate between hoses with direction of water an flush out till only clear water. Before you refill with antifreeze, check right floor board an see if wet, if so, heater core is leaking an needs replaced. New thermostat, hoses if needed, antifreeze and see if heater works then. Also, slide your heat control up an down. If it feels real easy the cable is probably broke or off.
Thanks dkstuck--the sliding switch that changes it from cold to hot does seem to move pretty easily. Steve and I will get out there and flush the radiator, etc like you said. All of thses tips are things that need to be done for general maintenance anyway. Thanks a lot!
the cable can be loose on either end....mine was loose at the selector... there is a peg no the selector lever (inside) that an eye on he cable hooks over...sometimes when the cable gets sticky it will pop off the peg... ...just another thing to check... ......
My cable came off the lever last year and I still have not tried to fix it. Assumed it was broke and didn't want to mess with it. I'm able to barely reach over under the heater box and move it when I want heat. The only thing not mentioned (and I'm really really not trying to insult you here) is the engine has to warm up before the heat blows warm. Probably clogged heater core or temp adjuster cable is disconnected/broken.
My heater never really did get hot, and I've had the car for 35 years. The only thing that worked was to block off half of the radiator in the winter.
