Half @s$ Heat

[inspire]

It's winter coldest months still ahead. I get in my car try to turn on my heat and it is not working. When I first bought the car the heat worked. I switched it on, flipped to see if the ac worked, heard a noise and that was the last time until it got cold that I messed with that switch again. I pulled down the glove compartment to take a look at what might be wrong. A mechanic at work made a suggestion that the "valve" or whatever switches it over might not be working properly. I found what appears to be the switching point on the underside of the dash board. I can push the opposite way and feel the air get from barely warm enough to tell to cold as hell. I checked the coolant system a few weeks ago, I am letting the car cool down now so I can go and double check to see if maybe the level isn't up to the point that it needs to be. I also felt the upper hose (it was pretty hot) and the bottom hose was (ice cold just like it is outside right now) I am wondering if anyone has had this problem before. All I could find when I typed in "No Working Heat" was answers that the heater core might be clogged. I am doubting that to be the culprit. When I pull the valve over manually and get it as far over as it will go it appears to warm up the air coming from my center vents, but it isnt enough to satisfy me. I want this fixed tomorrow so any suggestions, or help would be greatly appreciated. I am tired of driving 30 min to work when its 14 degrees outside with no working heat, or heat barely noticeable enough to make a difference in how it feels outside.

 

[luv2rallye]

Try a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to cover up 1/2 to 3/4 of it. Standard proceedure here in Mn for the last 100 years. In cold climates DSMs don't have great heat even when everything is working perfectly. Of course your thermostat may be stuck open also which doesn't help. Radiator needs to be full 50/50 antifreeze/water and air burped out of it too (squeezing lower radiator hose with radiator cap off). After filling, burping, and filling overflow bottle to full mark, radiator cap on, run engine till completely warm, then sit overnight without opening radiator cap. When completely cold, check overflow bottle level - a completely sealed system will draw water from bottle to top itself off as it cools. So if bottle is below fill mark you know it's sealed and working. Then open radiator cap, top off if necessary, refill bottle to mark and repeat entire process. Of course if your radiator, heater core, or hoses are clogged that will affect it too (in which case you'll have to backflush it with radiator cleaner or replace it).

 

[Lou98GSX]

if one hose going into the firewall is hot and the other one is cold then your heater core is plugged . try to remove the hoses and flush the core out .

 

[inspire]

The switch that controls when you want to go from ac to heat is not operable on the underside of the dash. I went to push over manually and it just goes from left to right easily. Before it would be hard to push over to the heat side. Both my heater core hoses were warm, coolant burped, and filled to top. Thermostat appears to be fine. How hard would this be to replace or fix and how do I go about doing this? Will the dash have to be removed, and is this a possibility because I am getting the tiniest bit of heat out of the vents. The airflow pushing it out is causes what little have to be cold when it hits my face in the drivers seat, rather frustrating at the moment. The level appears to have broken or gone bad. Has anybody had a similar problem. Seems like it has been moved before because I see a few controls that are not working the best, and some are even disconnected from the cables themselves. Half ass heater core reassembly?

 

[Lou98GSX]

the lever by the center vent that has a blue lable for a/c and a black one for heat . if that one doesnt work or if its stuck on a/c you will get cold air out of the vents . try to follow the cable to the heater housing sometimes it pops off . you can see it if you open the glove box .

 

[inspire]

I did that. When I went to switch the lever over from the left side (towards the steering wheel) to the right side towards the glove box behind the dash it does not flip anything it flops from side to side because I believe it is broken. Correct me if I am wrong. When I pushed it towards the glove box before it was broken I could feel a little bit of heat trying to come out the vents. I felt the heater core hoses both are hot, the car is not over heating at idle (today was a crazy VA day it was around 55 degrees when I drove the car, enough to cause it to overheat if something was not working correctly like the thermostat or so I believe.) Correct me if I am wrong, or is there another thing behind the dash that controls the door to direct heat through from the heater core? I am kind of confused. Excuse my stupidity.