Simple just do what we all do in Mn. Place cardboard in front of 1/2 to 3/4 of the radiator.

Ha.... thats one way to warm up the car more.... it could be your heater core is on its last legs... ive also found that these cars just "dont get warm" if i idle it wouldnt blow really hot, when i drove it would.

Bluefire16 said:

Ha.... thats one way to warm up the car more.... it could be your heater core is on its last legs... ive also found that these cars just "dont get warm" if i idle it wouldnt blow really hot, when i drove it would.

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Yes these cars do take a bit to warm up if you're trying to do it at idle. Best thing to do is idle for a couple minutes, then start driving. Once you put a little bit of load on the engine it should warm up if everything is functioning properly. If the gauge in the dash show's it's warm then you should have heat. If you don't have heat it's a heater core problem, which is a bi*** to replace. If your gauge doesn't show any heat, then something is wrong with coolant flow through the engine

Are you familiar with the phrase "The DSM Heater". As in "My wife is still cold even with the DSM heater." The DSM heater is one of the best known to man! I regularly have to turn mine down in order to keep from burning my legs.

In any case... The DSM heater is a good unit and should always run hot!

feel the heater core hoses, if it is hot/warm then.. you have a clogged/pinched hose or stopped up heater core. if it is cool/luke warm check for cooling circulation ie. water pump vanes etc.

if everything checks out, look for a sticking/binding blend door not switching it from cold to hot, vice versa.

how did the old coolant look?

hope this helps a bit.

Also make sure to check the radiator cap. Had that happen to me too. I bought my car not running and had just gotten it fixed when I took it over 15 miles away for the first time, get to where I'm going only to see smoke coming from under my hood. I couldn't find a leak so I put water in and hoped for the best. Well I made it home and went to work(advance auto) used the tester we have and found out that my radiator cap was not holding any pressure. Slapped a new one on and haven't had a problem since. My problem might have been extreme but before this incident it wouldn't heat up either and I just threw it of has the previous owner had just stuck a lower temp thermostat in but now it holds heat just fine.

well i unplugged the fans today and drove it around, and it still ran kind of cold... if i drive it and let it get as warm as it will get and turn the heat on, its warm for about 5 seconds, than just blows cold basically...

ill take a look at the lines running into the heater core, than let you guys know how that goes... i know all the Hvac controls are working, i checked all that out very well...

if there was a block somewhere, wouldnt the car run hotter? not colder?


and lastly, i drove it for over an hour non stop today, than took the rad cap off, and the water was pretty hott, but no steam or anything, like i would assume i would get when opening the cap literally right after a 1hr drive...


thanks for the input, any more help would be greatly appreciated!

Have you checked the cap? Its simple, cheap, and probably the most over looked problem. Most part stores that rent out loaner tools have a cooling system tester. You could take your cap up there and test it there.

Turn the ac/heat switches. Is the air coming out of the right vents? The dsm climate contols are cable controlled. Make sure you feel resistance when you move the switches. Otherwise the cable might have come disconnected. The air location and hot vs cold switch are cable. Make sure the cable is still hooked up.

Are the lines to the heater core there? Alot of people loop those lines.

Something very simple is often the most overlooked.....THERMOSTAT!!!!!!!! Thats what I would check first.

gsxferko said:

so i changed the thermostat, and completely flushed the system, and put fresh coolant in it, filled to the top...

did not fix the situation...

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What temperature thermostat did you use? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe stock thermostat temperature is 190-195 degrees.

I went to the Auto parts store, I told them I needed a thermostat for the car and I used what they gave me...

I checked all the climate controls, all are working fine.

..figured it was a T-stat that got stuck open .... a no-brainer thing there.

Well if the thermostat is stuck open, or bad rad cap, or bad heater core/hoses, or coolant system low, those certainly may be or contribute to your problem. But know this: even when I bought my car brand new, it never gave much heat in winter here in MN. Again, check those other things but if they don't work out, put cardboard in front of 1/2-3/4 of the radiator. It's a standard, cheap, time honored solution up here that everyone's been doing for 80 years.

new run down...
-thermostat is good
-cap is good
-when the heat is turned on, all lines get hot, feed/return to rad... feed/return to heater core
-all Hvac controls work properly, i checked all the connections behind the dash
-nothing is broken lose inside the heater at all
-all fuses/relays pertaining to anything with the coolant,heater,A/C system are good and working
-whole system was flushed, and new coolant added, about a 75% coolant to 25% water mix

the temp gauge on the car only goes up to a little below half, the heat barely gets warm, if you can even call it warm.

sittin still after driving and getting it as warm as it will get, all lines get very hott, but still not real heat from the Hvac system. even in a heated garage inside from the cold weather

You have checked everything to be checked. Their has to be an issue some where that you missed duing your checks. Both heater hoses should get hot and be equally hot. If one is hot and the other is extremely hot, then you probably still have a heater core issue. If both hoses are getting equally hot then you have to have an issue with the the blendoor. Could be the door in the box is broken. I almost foregot; make sureyou have no air bubles in the system. Good luck

goes up to a little below half, the heat barely gets warm, if you can even call it warm

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..heater core plugged then ... (maybe), but if a heater hose has been replaced, take it off at the firewall end to see if the tubing that connects to the core isn't all smashed in, for I was experiencing the same problem of low heat and had to replace a heater hose.

The one end was halfway smashed in by the previous owner. I reopened that crushed end and got more heat out now.

luv2rallye said:

Simple just do what we all do in Mn. Place cardboard in front of 1/2 to 3/4 of the radiator.

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check your thermostat...most likely it is either stuck open or has come apart...you can pick one up at any local auto part store. also a little test for ## heater core, unhook both lines from the front that go into your heater core, and put an air compressor on it and blow it out. if you get alot of junk in it or it gets clogged then that will blow it out. if little to nothing comes out other then coolant then thats not your problem, however if alot of stuff comes out then that was most likely your problem...

maybe a dumb question, but what is the best way to get air bubbles out of the system, thats the only thing i could say i was unable to check.

Bubbles should be out of the system within minutes of running. I've always just filled the coolant, let it run while adding, and not had to worry beyond that. If you are getting bubbles then the first thing I would check is that the seals on the cap are not rotted out and sealing correctly and that the coolant overflow is functioning to allow the car to suck coolant back in when it cools down. If all that is fine then the only thing that can allow gases in there are a blown head gasket.

well thats how i filled it, so i shouldnt have an bubbles than... and i checked everything for leaks/rust, and its clean as it gets... the car was a florida car, just came to PA about a year ago

nomore ideas???

(I've posted this before...) If the T-stat has a wiggle valve on the flange, it will "burp" itself and get rid of the bubbles.

What you do is fill to the lower seat of the filler neck, then fill the overflow bottle between the "L" and the "H" mark. Make sure that the tubing is connected tightly between the overflow bottle and the connection on the filler neck.

After a good run and when the motor is cooled down, pop the cap off to see where the level is in the filler neck and top off if necesary.

Good luck-DSM

gsxferko said:

new run down...
-thermostat is good
-cap is good
-when the heat is turned on, all lines get hot, feed/return to rad... feed/return to heater core
-all Hvac controls work properly, i checked all the connections behind the dash
-nothing is broken lose inside the heater at all
-all fuses/relays pertaining to anything with the coolant,heater,A/C system are good and working
-whole system was flushed, and new coolant added, about a 75% coolant to 25% water mix

the temp gauge on the car only goes up to a little below half, the heat barely gets warm, if you can even call it warm.

sittin still after driving and getting it as warm as it will get, all lines get very hott, but still not real heat from the Hvac system. even in a heated garage inside from the cold weather

Click to expand...

My temp gauge only gets up to about half. I think that's pretty normal for a 190 degree thermostat. So assuming your coolant temp is up to the proper temp, but you're not blowing hot air from your heater vents, I would look towards the heater core and related parts as the problem.

The factory service manual for my '90 states to check for the following when there is insufficient heat from the heater

• Obstructed heater outlets
• Blend air dampers improperly adjusted or binding
• Thermostat malfunction
• Obstructed heater hoses
• Improperly adjusted control cables
• Plugged or partially plugged heater core

My parents Expedition just had the cool heat part of your problem. They had to get it backed flushed, which is only flushing the heater core out I think. Their hea works great now. My dads Toyota also had no heat. We flushed out just the heater core on his truck and now it has heat.