Heater not hot!

[SHOstuff]

My heater isn't getting hot like it should. The system has coolant in it and the doors actuators works because I can hear them. Can anyone tell me why this is? It's just warm now. It gets warm every now and then though but I don't like that.

 

[93rev2sev]

Better double check your coolant level.

Once warmed up, if you sit at idle for a long time, how does the temperature guage act?

 

[SHOstuff]

Checked the coolant level and it was up to the brim. At idle it sits around the AL.

 

[93rev2sev]

So the guage needle is fairly solid and doesn't move too much as you sit there?

 

[SHOstuff]

no. not that much anyway.

 

[SHOstuff]

Guys? what do y'all think?

 

[gmail]

i think you should not hear your blend door moving, if you do then that indeed is your problem.

the blend door works as a slow moving motor on a tiny plastic gear which the grease used easily gets gunked up and then over the years the door moves slower and less and less until it gets stuck.

this is a extremely common problem for the SHOs when it comes to heating issues

 

[SHOstuff]

Well not like that. Its when I turn the car off, there's a flap.

 

[rubydist]

there should not be a flap when you turn off the car. that suggests that there is a vacuum leak on the control circuit. there is a vacuum canister that should store vacuum to keep the flaps in the selected position even after you turn off the car. the apparent vacuum leak can be keeping the hot/cold door from being in the position that is commanded and therefore not heat that much.

 

[SHOstuff]

So does that mean I have to tske off the dash again to diagnose it?

 

[gmail]

the vacuum is indeed as ruby had said it. running a into a vacuum canister. but the blend door which is cold/hot is ran off a electric motor.. the vacuum you hear shutting and opening is for the parts that change direction of air flow like dash or floor etc.

see inside the eatc there is 4 vacuum pumps which create the vacuum and store it in the canister so when you change direction it will move faster... without the canister i would assume the direction change would take awhile.

heres something that might prove to you what im saying.. turn the heat all the way down after the car has warmed up inside to a reasonable temp, then shut it off and turn it back on see if it got colder... then turn it all the way on full heat see if it gets warmer after a few tries..
reason i say turn it off is because i have this issue on my 92 and i noticed when it would be shut off in the one extreme when i turned it back on it seemed to work.. not everytime mind you but it did make a difference..

now if im right and its the blend door you will be pulling the dash to change.. the motor that moves the blend door sits on top of the box where the blower motor sits and its a pita to get to because of the location of the top bolt.

while you are in there change the heater core and blower motor so you dont have to get back there for a long time.

 

[SHOstuff]

I'll give it a try and post back.

 

[SHOstuff]

Ok. I did some looking under my hood to check this heater problem. What was strange to me was the heater core hose coming from the block, which is on the left if you're looking from the top, was way hotter than the hose coming from the thermostat. It was hot to where I could just touch it quickly and the other was just warm to where I layed my hand on it for some time. Could that be a sign of a half way open thermostat or what? By the way, I let the car idle long enough for the water at the radiator was foaming hot.

 

[rubydist]

that is good - it suggests that the heater core is actually removing heat from the coolant (which is what you want, if you want the cabin air to be heated) so now you need to determine why that heated air is not getting blown into the cabin.

 

[SHOstuff]

But what I'm asking is why one hose is hotter than the other if it suppose to be circulating? To me, I think thats why I'm getting warm air.

 

[SHOstuff]

Does anyone know why?

 

[SHOstuff]

Can someone please help me on this?

 

[rubydist]

that is good - it suggests that the heater core is actually removing heat from the coolant (which is what you want, if you want the cabin air to be heated) so now you need to determine why that heated air is not getting blown into the cabin.

if the heater core is removing heat from the coolant, then one heater hose will be hotter than the other. that means to me that your description of the heater hoses is exactly normal.

 

[SHOstuff]

Ok...thats all I needed to know. I don't know exactly which way the coolant flows. Thanks for answering my question.

 

[SHOstuff]

if the heater core is removing heat from the coolant, then one heater hose will be hotter than the other. that means to me that your description of the heater hoses is exactly normal.

Ok...somethings not right here. I actually had a chance to think about this plus I talked it over with a mechanic friend of mine. If coolant is circulating throughout the engine, through the heater core, both of the hoses from the heater core are going to be hot. There's no way a heater is not going to remove heat that much to have one of the hoses warm. For one, the heater core doesn't remove heat, the fan blows heat from heat to get heat. So there must be a slight blockage somewhere in my system. This explains the warm air. Don't some of y'all agree?