not much heat

[Freeze]

just got done changing the water pump on my 91 talon and now sometimes ill have heat and other times it will only barely keep my car warm.... its almost winter in ohio and i need some input please! Thanks in advance

 

[ClevelandDSM]

Yeah this morning is the first realy cold day up here. As for your heat problem.

Did you change your thermostat when you changed the water pump?

What caused you to change the water pump? just routine?

Did you double or even tripple check your coolant level?

 

[mmmmbst]

I agree with clevelanddsm on checking your coolant level. Low coolant usually causes no heat inside the car.

 

[heckles]

make sure the heat is on while your filling the system

 

[XLR8]

You need to properly "burp" the car and check that your thermostat is in good working order. If you don't burp it you could have trapped air in the system. If the thermostat is stuck open it will take a long time for the car to warm up.

 

[steve]

One sign that the thermostat is stuck open is that the car will develop heat when stopped but not when it's moving. Assuming you don't have a front mount that's blocking the air flow to the radiator.

 

[doesitonall4rs]

does ## engine temp gauge work? i assume the car gets to opperating temp?

 

[99RedGs]

My money is on the thermostat. Had this exact issue last winter. Pulled the thermostat and it was in two pieces. Havent had a problem since.

~$15 part and 10 minutes of work

 

[Demon33]

I just got done changing all the belts, tensioner and idler pulleys, and water pump this past weekend. When the old pump was removed, of course, all the coolant drained out of the block. After installing the new pump, I could not think of a better was to replace the lost coolant in the block so, in order to fill the block and prime the new pump I opened up the thermostat housing and removed the thermostat. I could clearly see that there was no coolant in there. Obviously because it drained out when I removed the old pump. I could also see the coolant temperature sensors for the ECU and gauge and that they were completely exposed air due to the low coolant level in the block and thermostat housing. Without enough coolant in the block and thermostat housing, the temperature sensors will not heat up nor will the thermostat operate properly. All in all, I ended up adding about 1/2 gallon of coolant to fill the block and lower thermostat housing. I then reinstalled the thermostat and started the car. I let it run until the upper radiator hose began to get hot, indicating the thermostat was operating.

I filled it this way because my thought was that with the thermostat closed while cold, if I added coolant throught the normal coolant/radiator cap opening, it would just fill the upper hose and radiator and not necessarily the block.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes. Hope this helps!

 

[Demon33]

I also suggest checking the thermostat, as it's very easy to do. Just take it out and drop it in a bowl/pot of hot water roughly the same temperature as the thermostat was designed top operate at. You shold see it openening in the hot water.

 

[Freeze]

thanks i was going to say that it was the thermostat but i just wanted to make sure i didnt do something wrong the reason i changed the water pump was it went out on me about a week ago and all hell broke loose trying to put the motor all back together and everything 2 bolts broke going in...and they were fine when i took them out....