OK guys I have a problem which I guess its simple to fix but would like to get a second opinion anyway. My heater won't heat and its starting to get cold here in Utah and need to fix it soon if I want to survive on the road. In the past all I needed to do was to make sure that my coolant level was full so that enough hot coolant got into the heater whatever you call it so that heat could then be transferred into the car. This year nothing is happening even though I have plenty of coolant. I would think its something electrical. I checked all my fuses and they are all intact. Whenever I move the switch all the way to the right to the hot position nothing happens. How does this switch work? Could the heater core be faulty?. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Aight, few things to check.
I just replaced my heater core (where the coolant goes through and warms up the car), and there could be few probelms that you can check out.
First, check outside on your A/C box and see if everything is plugged in, all the electrical stuff.
If it is take the heater controlls out and see if everything is properly connected, if so you might want to check if your hoses from the radiator are going into the hoses of the heater core.. I know its dumb but sometimes people bypass the heater core due to a leak or what not.
Now if you hear the blower go on but no heat is coming than its more likely to be a vent problem and you should check it out by pulling the controll out and looking at a little cable on the bottom that is the same as the hood release cable, see if its still attached.
Let me know what happened!!

 

I had a similar situation that I fixed today. The first thing I did was start the car and let it warm up. I turned on the heat and waited about a minute for the lines to/from the heater core to heat up (under normal conditions, they should get hot pretty quickly). The lines didn't heat up at all, so I knew the problem was getting water to the heater core.

After checking for vacuum and that the valve that controls water flow was functioning, I looked inside the car. It turned out that the selector cable fell off the selector arm (like what xlwhellraiser said).

Your heater core probably isn't broken unless you can smell/see coolant inside your car.

 

Thanks Gummie for your information. I was just thinking about that and went under my dashboard and checked my heater core and pulled the heater control module and stuff. It turns out that all the cables are attached!. So I let the motor run until it got hot and kept checking things both under the dash and on the motor. On the motor, the hoses going into the heater core are connected right and seem to have coolant flowing. I pressed the hose going in with my hand and could feel the pressure and temperature. Next I got under the dashboard and felt the heater. The heater core was not hot at all!. This shouldn't be, right?. The blower, and the selected switch controlling the vents seem to be working fine but what baffled me is that the heater core is not getting hot at all. How could this be if coolant seems to be flowing?. Could the heater control module be faulty. In regards to the control module, whenever I selected the ventilator, heater or defog settings, air keeps coming out from the same place which is from the floor. That is the upper switch seems to be a little faulty. ANd the air that comes out is not much, The lower, switch, the one that switches from cold to heat has the cable attached and seems to be working fine. Still, if the heater core is not getting hot, even if the vents were working properly I would not get hot air. Any suggestions?. I am freezing to death late at night here in Utah!. I just have two questions: The heater core should be heated up by the coolant, right?. What else coulkd obstruct coolant fromn getting in the core. You can put your hand on the core and its dead cold. Second: Could the problem be in the control module, what is causing the switch the changes air from vent, to heater (floor) to not do anything. Is this cable controlled, or some electrical device to channel the air through the ventilation system. This is really ticking me off!!. Help, please.

 

sounds like the heater control valve isn't working or getting vacuum to it so it can work. that is the little black thing that sits above your pass side valve cover, right behind the a/c. 2 lines and a vacuum line going to it. if you were getting warm coolant thru your core, obviously it wouldn't be cold. only way a core can "die" is if it leaks or suddenly clogs and the latter of those two isn't likely. if you're not getting vacuum to that valve, that might suck, but the valve is a piece of cake to change.

KAM