raininseattle

I've got a 97 Taurus, and turned on the heat yesterday morning. The car temp gauge was in the normal range, but the heater was just blowing lukewarm air. After driving about 20 miles on the freeway, it started to get decently warm - but still not hot. I had the same experience this morning. Could the coolant level be too low?

big1

It's possible that your coolant is low, but this problem generally occur's when there's a lose of vaccum at the heater's blend door.
The most common reason for this is damaged vaccum line or a cracked vaccum reseviour.

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LunaticSVT

you can have the radiator and heater core flushed to see if that may help, but it is probably not going to do much good for you.

AND actually the air-conditioning/heating controls are not vacuum controlled but are controlled by electric motors in that year model. Sounds like you may be experiencing problems with the motor that controls the blend door.

You may also want to look at the thermostat. This can also be a cause of your problem. Usually though your temp gauge will be a little off.

Tauri

I also have this problem, in a 99 Ford Taurus Wagon. 3.0 Vulcan and about 90,000 miles. But also if I fill the expansion tank to half full it will overflow. It doesn't run hot but sometimes when it heats up in the morning the water temp gets just below the red line and falls to normal. I have replaced the thermostat but does not help. The blend door works as the air gets cold and then to lukewarm, you can hear the damper clunking and hear the airflow change. I am thinking the water pump has an eroded impeller. Any way of checking without taking it apart?