Heater

[puckhead]

I have been having trouble with my heater lately.

The rear heat is no where near hot. Been that way a while now.

The front just doesnt warm up like it used to. After a good time of driving it still blows luke warm air. Enough to get warm after a bit but not hot.

Where should I start looking/replacing things?

Thanks guys!

 

[chauncey0337]

Last winter I was having the same problem with my front heat, warm but not hot. Ended up being heater core was plugged with gunk. It happens with dexcool. So, I did a reverse coolant flush with a kit from o'reilly's and some radiator flush fluid and now my heat blows hott.

 

[JonnyTahoe]

It may or may not be the Dexcool. could just be that the system needed to be flushed more often or lots of short trips over many years too. Regardless not a big fan of the Orange stuff, I'm sure many on here will have a different opinion. My '95 was ten years old when I bought it and the coolent was rusty brown and took over an hour to flush clean. '95 was the first year GM used "Dexcool" there was a label with all the original paperwork in the glovebox Warning the owner of the New type of coolent and not to mix or change it but to only use the new type of coolent. I changed back over to Prestone 5 years ago and the coolent stays clean and the cooling system works fine with no problems reported.

 

[puckhead]

Where is the heater core located? Is it something I could pull out and clean real good if I drained the coolant?

 

[chauncey0337]

Buried behind the dash on passenger side. It's a pain to get to. I think it would be easier to do a flush. If you do a flush, it's a flush of the whole cooling system, not just the heater core. The heater core lines go in the firewall on pass side under the hood. Maybe you could trace them to block to see if you can disconnect them,if you just want to do just the core, but I'm not sure.

 

[puckhead]

Thanks again bud! I wonder if one of those power flush from a local oil change place would be good enough or if I should do it myself and do it real good.

 

[chauncey0337]

I would hate for you to spend the money to have a shop do it and then find out it's not the problem. But if the system's never been flushed might be a good idea to do it anyways. Not very difficult to do it yourself either. In any case, hope this fixes your heat problem.

 

[puckhead]

I have had the system flushed twice before at shops. When I bought it around 75xxx and then around 110xxx I think. I will probably do it myself if it gets warm enough one of these days. Thanks!

 

[JonnyTahoe]

You can "Power-Flush" the Heater Core with a Garden Hose is like 2 mins. What do you have to lose but a little coolent.

 

[puckhead]

Yeah, thats what I was planning on doing. If its warm on next days off that is what I will be doing.

 

[NJTaho]

NOOOOOO!!!! Don't waste you money on one of those local shops. They won't flush the core. Take a saturday morning and do it on your own with a garden hose a bottle of Coolant system cleaner, about 3 bottles of 50/50 premixed Dexcool, and a couple of buckets. I had a flush done at pepboys just last week and when I left the heat was on and somewhat warm, which was way better than the cold air it was throwing out before. The next day not even a hint of warm air was coming out anymore, not even on the highway. A buddy of mine helped me out this past weekend and we drained everything out, ran the hose in and flushed it out until the water was clear and then filled up the system with water and the flush cleaner and let it run through the system for a while and the heat started working again. We drained it again and started running the hose straight through the heater core and alot more crap came out. Finally we ran the hose through the whole system again and after all the crap was out we replaced the thermostat and filled it back up with 2 and 1/2 bottles of 50/50 Dexcool and she's hotter than ever!!!
I also did have another problem with the heat. The Blend Door Actuator is shot and I need to replace it. This is the actuator that makes it hot or cold, just case anyone doesn't know. And it is located close to the middle but more on the passengers side under the dash, close to the floor. I'm replacing that this weekend. But once you flush the system it's amazing how much heat comes through. I put it on low and I need to open a window. I can't adjust the heat yet because of the Actuator so it's just on HOT all the time right now.

But Good luck with it


The picture below is what came out AFTER the Pepboys flush. So please don't wast your money on it at those shops.

Thanks again bud! I wonder if one of those power flush from a local oil change place would be good enough or if I should do it myself and do it real good.