Heater Problem

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428cobrajet

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I've had no heat in my 00 LS V8 all winter. After replacing the degas bottle, thermostat, and removing and cleaning the DCCV, I determined that my problem isn't one of the usual ones. The aluminum lines along the engine are hot but I don't think there is any coolant making it up to the heater core. I've bled the system mire times than I can count with no results. I had heat very briefly in December when I removed the lines from the firewall and filled it there, but once I started driving the heat was gone.

I suspect now that the heater core has gone bad. I noticed the other day what seem to be aluminum flakes in the interior of the car, near the vent. They are just tiny silver flakes. I have also been hearing a hiss coming from somewhere underneath the dash while the heater is on. The hiss usually only lasts a couple of seconds and occurs maybe one every ten minutes of so. There is a strange smell coming from the vents but it doesn't smell like coolant to me. Its not a familiar smell e.g. coolant, oil burning, etc... I also think that there was light smoke in the car after letting it idle for 5 min but it disappeared once I started driving.

My questions are does this sound like a bad heater core and if so is it possible to replace without taking the entire dash off? Has anyone done this? Could it be something else? I'd really appreciate help on this.
 
well it depends. When I filled the lines from at the firewall all three were hot until I had to replace something and drained the coolant. Afterwards only the bottom line would get hot
 
Thanks for the help. I don't think its clogged though. I've blown air through the hoses at the firewall and DCCV and had coolant and air come out the other sides no problem.
 
None. I had underheating problems actually until I replaced the thermostat. The only overheating I had was when the degas bottle was cracked and when the cap of the filler busted off but i replaced those months ago.
 
If they are, I don't understand why you wouldn't be getting heat.. You should be at least getting one side..

Unless the DATC is bad.. There is a way to run diagnostics on it but I can't remember how..
 
Is that the test when you push the defrost and auto? button at the same time? If it is I ran it last month and only got 1264 back. That is the lower heated door. Sorry I left all this info out. Thanks for spending your time on it. I'm going to go take it for a quick spin and see if the lines got hot.
 
Sorry more information I didn't give you. Last time I took the DCCV apart I took the control valves out of it so it was wide open. I may have left it unplugged too. I just reran the diagnostic and it just flashed 12 64 °C about 5 times.
 
Looks like the heater core.. Very unusual because the heater core on the LS doesn't commonly fail.. I would have it pressure tested (next step)..
 
I'd bet that the screen in the tee of the upper radiator hose is clogged. (I am assuming the the gen I plumbing is similar to the gen II in this way.)

If you've never had heat in this car since you bought it, it's possible that someone put a plug inside the return hose or the two outflow hoses to get around a problem with a defective DCCV.

I think it's very unlikely that both heater cores clogged, but not impossible.
 
No I had heat last winter. Next time I get it apart I'll check and make sure nothing is clogged but last time I checked in December, nothing was.
 
Joe, do you mean the upper rad hose as the hose that goes from the cross-over to the rad? Then, in the middle, it tees off and goes to the DCCV? If so, there is no screen there..
 
FASTLLS said:
Joe, do you mean the upper rad hose as the hose that goes from the cross-over to the rad? Then, in the middle, it tees off and goes to the DCCV? If so, there is no screen there..
Click to expand...

Okay. There's a plastic screen in the Gen II where it tee's off to the DCCV. It's a pretty fine mesh, so it's easy to picture it getting clogged.
 
Check the aux coolant pump. With the key on and temp set at 90 should be able to feel or hear pump running. Usually causes low or no heat at idle but I have seen it cause no heat at all engine speeds also.
 
Lincolntech said:
Check the aux coolant pump. With the key on and temp set at 90 should be able to feel or hear pump running. Usually causes low or no heat at idle but I have seen it cause no heat at all engine speeds also.
Click to expand...

That's what happened to mine.
 
With the key on, engine off, temp set to 90, and no fan I can hear a very faint noise coming from the area where the aux pump is. I tried to feel it but could only get a couple fingers on it so I couldn't feel anything. I don't know how loud the pump should be when it working so I can't tell if its good or not.
 
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