ok lets pretend that this is my 'bird (which is actually in storage for the winter) anyway the cooling system was recently backflushed at work (valvoline, and I did it myself so theres no mistakes there). anyway the heat dosen't seem quite as hot as it should be, it gets warm but not hot. any ideas?

btw the car is actually a '98 malibu (my wifes car).

 

i would say check the radiator to see if there is enough coolant, perhaps a faulty thermostat?...heater valve or HEATERCORE...im still having problems with my heat and i just replaced the thermostat , im leaning more toward my heater core now ..

 

Low coolant, air in system or heater core is getting blocked. May want to flush that separately.

 

If the thermostat has failed or partially failed and is stuck open, the coolant would go through the radiator and never quite warm up. This is happening to my daily driver Escort. Thermostat's the cheapest...so I'm going to replace that first.