bcullen

As a result of viewing this forum I successfully removed and installed my water pump which was making a great deal of noise and leaking. I've also flushed out the heater core by setting up a hose that went from the heater inlet and exited via the hose that goes to the t-stat. I then reversed the flow and did the same. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, very little of the mud/scale came out...water was running clear within 60 seconds, but still no heat. BTW the brown coloring in the pics is a result of the expansion tank leaking over time and spraying the "infected" coolant all over.

I don't think it's a t-stat issue because my temp is always in the low/mid range. Is it the dreaded blend door? Any other suggestions?

Thanks
BC

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chipset

have you bled the system ? The heater core is above the motor. If your heater hose are
scalding on both sides it could be your blend door. When did this start ? As in no heat ?
before or after you changed things ?

bcullen

Chipset,

Once I installed a new expansion tank, I kept the cap off until the bubbles stopped and then let it cool down and checked the fluid levels. Is that what you mean by bleeding?

The no heat issue was before I installed the new water pump.

BC

bluetaurus

Check all the hoses back there with the car warmed up. I had a "no heat" problem in my taurus, and I ended up having a blocked core AND outlet hose. Also, when you flushed it did you completely block the bypass hose? you would be surprised how much water can sneak by even a good pair of vice grips. You might be totally missing the core itself.

bcullen

do you suggest that I disconnect directly from the fire wall and re-flush? How is the best way to do that? Do I disconnect both inlet and outlet at same time or do one and then the other? Is inlet the top?

Which hose should be hot and which one should be cool?

BC

jwko

Start the car, turn the heater on hot, bring the car to normal operating temperature and feel both heater hoses. If one is hot and the other isn't, you have a blockage in your heater core. If both are hot, then you have a blend door issue.

bluetaurus

That is what ended up working for me. The outlet hose will be on the passenger side. I recently posted a thread about my adventure in getting my heat working again. To be honest if you want to be totally sure you get everything out you'll need to remove the entire hose structure and flush it all.

every hose back there should be hot

bcullen

I HAVE HEAT !!!!

After flushing several different ways without any luck I decided to go directly to the firewall (no issue with bypass) and flushed both metal tubes of the heater core. I also had an old metal cooking skewer that I bent at a 90 degree angle and loosened some crud. After about a 20 minute pulsating flush (crimped the garden hose in my hand) of the tubes and the actual hoses I buttoned everything up making sure to replace the spring clamps with the more conventional hose clamps, topped off the coolant, let it run up to temp - which took a very long time Hmm? - with the expansion tank cap off to clear any air out of the system and lo and behold I have HEAT!...Let's hope it stays that way through the winter.

Thanks for everyone's input...is the slow time it took to come up to temp enough of a warning sign for a new t-stat? It drove the rest of the day and normal operating temp.

BC