Car sucks at heating up and defrosting

[RGdsmNewb]

Sorry i'm new to working on my own car, and it's minus 40 where i live right now with the windchill...... so having a car that doesn't defrost well nor heatup really bites. It's weird though because my side vents blow hotter air than my 2 front ones. Is there anything a new mechanic could try to aid this situation? thanks

 

[tranman91]

Does your car get to normal operating temperatures after awhile or no? I'm not sure if you just mean that you want your vents to work better or not.

 

[RGdsmNewb]

after an unusually long time it starts blowing hot air, but it takes honestly at least 20 minutes

 

[tranman91]

Just a thought, but your thermostat might be sticking a little and staying open.

 

[91 Turbo Mitsu]

Another thing that might be your problem along with the t-stat is that your heater core might be plugged up. If you follow the two hoses from the back corner of your engine to the firewall they go to your heater core. Start the car and let it warm up and feel those two hoses. As the car warms up these hoses should feel about the same temperature. If one is really hot and the other is cool or barely warm your core is probably plugged. The easy fix for this is if you can disconnect the two hoses from the motor and take the one that was cooler and use a water hose and blow water back through the core to flush it out. Flush it for a minute or so and then reconnect your hoses and top off your coolant and try it to see if you get better heat. It probably wouldn't hurt to just replace the t-stat just for the sake of doing it. They are cheap and easy to change and also they are cheap insurance against overheating. Hope this helps and keep us posted. Travis

 

[hewhoisknot]

Honestly how long does it take the car itself to warm up? Or does it even ever get to proper operating temp? If it doesn't then like tranman says your t-stat is sticking, and with a t-stat sticking open and not allowing the engine to warm up your heat will not function properly, I had the same problem, swapped the t-stat and bam, heat!

BUN

 

[96gstdsm]

i have the same problem. Haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet either. But the heat for me blows only moderately warm even after heated up and the rear defrost only operates on the first two rows. Is there a way to replace or fix the rest of the rear defrosters?