GRRRRR........ZERO Heat

F

Fastbird

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Yup, absolutely no heat at all coming from the vents. It's been a slowly progressing problem and looks like it's finally come to a head.

I'm assuming that the heater core is clogged, but want to check around to be sure. I'm going to have the cooling system open anyway as I aparrently have a sticky thermostat going on too, so I figure I'll just back-flush the heater core while I'm at it.

Anything other than the heater core that would cause a complete loss of heat from the vents??
 
i would be surprised if the heate core is plugged to the point of no flow and zero heat. Possible, but pretty rare. The plenum could be plugged, leaves, debris, etc. Are you getting air flow? If so, ignore the plugged plenum!! Also, check the temps of the heater hoses in and out of the heater. Isn't there a water control valve on these? I can't remember. If so, I would look at that first.
 
Well, if I can get my butt moving I'm going to mess with it today. The air flow is fine, no problems noted there. But the complete lack of heat leads me to think clogged core OR secondary wp that went out, which wouldn't surprise me as before totally going out it wouldn't put out heat unless the engine was turning over about 2500 RPM's.
 
Well.........so much for DIY. I took it to the auto parts store which is less than 10 minutes from me. During the course of the drive the car started to overheat and I could actually hear it boiling coolant out of the resevoir. Get there, give and give it a chance to cool down as I'm inside. Guess what?? Parts store doesn't show a thermostat available?!?!?! WTF.

So, have to do a 45 minute drive home stopping and shutting the car off every mile, and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes to cool down.

I'm beginning to get disgruntled again. I'm waiting on a tow truck right now to take it to the stealership (different one this time, fortunately). We may look at trading it in and eating the negative equity on it at this point because with nearly 100K miles the problems are only going to continue.
 
This sounds like it's just low on coolant! If it's low, the car overheats, but there isn't enough coolant to flow to the heater core. This is VERY common with this situation...and I should have mentioned it. Once the car has cooled down, check your coolant level and fill accordingly.

Now, you need to figure out where it went!!
 
2001LS8Sport said:
This sounds like it's just low on coolant! If it's low, the car overheats, but there isn't enough coolant to flow to the heater core. This is VERY common with this situation...and I should have mentioned it. Once the car has cooled down, check your coolant level and fill accordingly.

Now, you need to figure out where it went!!
Click to expand...

Not low on coolant, already checked that.:)
 
Fastbird said:
We may look at trading it in and eating the negative equity on it at this point because with nearly 100K miles the problems are only going to continue.
Click to expand...


I don't know. My V6 is getting better with age. It turned over 120K miles yesterday. Being a 2000, it had a few minor teething pains, but it only let me down once. That was a blown by-bass hose.

My bet is the thernostat. They do stick, and a new one may also stick. Though rare, I have heard of this happening.
 
sounds like your water pump is shot. or possibly bad thermostat
 
I'm thinking water pump given the viciousness of the overheating. We'll see though. Diagnosis is set for Monday.

I've GOT to get a set of service manuals. I'd be a lot more inclined to work on the damn thing myself if I had a book of knowledge.
 
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