87 Camaro 2.8 V6

Air blows on all settings low-high, and defrost, vent, htr, new Heater control valve, cold/hot air door works, new radiator, new thermostat 195, coolant flushed. I also took apart the A/C box..found some of the hood protecting stuff in there how weird...anyway vacuumed it all out and is super clean now.

Air blows warm after a 15 minute warm up.. air never blows hot. I am starting to suspect water pump or heater core. Any suggestions?

Other thing...I get a mean vibration when the car is either idle sometimes or reversing..I believe a piece of the harmonic balancer gasket seal is splitting outwards could this cause these symptoms?

 

What temp is the engine running at?

 

Get that harmonic balancer replaced ASAP!

 

Wish I could tell you...I have the stupid lights...no gauge.

I believe it is not overheating...fan comes on and off...

 

Could be that it's either not getting hot enough (thermostat is stuck open) which isn't likely since you just replaced it, or your heater core is somewhat plugged. If it isn't flowing like it should, it won't make heat. Also if it's a A/C car I believe there is a heater control valve that might not be fully open. But seriously, get that harmonic balancer replaced first thing before it comes apart and ruins everything under the hood!

 

I just bought the car from my girlfriend...lol...shes been riding with it like that for 8 months...It has A/C it doesnt work...I just replaced the HCV you spoke of. There is no vacuum going to the HCV when the heater control is on "HOT"

Can a clogged heater core be easily remedied? I have one of those Flush kits hooked up under the hood (I didnt install it though)

 

Just depends on whats clogging it. Go ahead and flush the system and see what comes out. 2.8's are well known for having the balancer come apart(especially the early ones), but the rubber part goes bad after many years due to age, oil, then the outer ring comes free and does it's damage. And when it does, you'll be replacing the radiator, belt's, pulleys, and the harmonic balancer. It's a whole lot cheaper just to have to do just the balancer! Trust me.

 

I don't know if it should or not. Better let one of the real experts answer that one!LOL!

 

I already got the answer with the search function..it should have vacuum when the A/C is on and the control is on cold...

When the heater is on and hot is selected...vacuum is cut off.

The HCV is only to make the A/C run cooler.

 

makes sense...

 

Flushed the heater core, it ran clear and had a nice flow. Reversed flushed it as well. Flushed the waterpump return hose, and the radiator (even though its new).

I started the car and the fan is on, the whole time...wtf...

 

OK well, update: Flushed cooling system...coolant was brand new green...last changed about 6 months ago. Cleaned blower motor housing and a/c box, checked blend door (works as it should), no vacuum on HCV when heater is on (good), HCV leaks slightly into top hose..(It's new so I think it is normal)

Recently took A/C equipment out of car (today) except the A/C compressor... cooling fan will not turn off after cold start. argggggggghhhhhhh

I think my CTS is going bad? or would that be the CT Switch?

Edit: I guess the A/C pressure switch needs to be grounded! Took me an hour to find a thread about it...so thats why my fan is on all the time...heat still sucks.

 

I believe the switch is for the gauge, and the CTsensor tells the puter if it's hot enough to run the fan. I'd replace the sensor if it was up to me.

 

No I figured it out, I deleted the A/C and apparently if you have a 87 or older model you need to ground the A/C pressure switch which will turn the fan on all the time if not grounded.

So now my fan isnt on all the time, but my heat still sucks...heater core has good flow, blower motor runs good, and vent door is opening closing properly. IDK I'll just wear a coat...lol

 

I'm still wondering how hot the engine is. I hate lights, I usually add a set of gauges to a car that has "lights"!

 

It is getting past 195 for sure...I let the car sit today after flushing to remove air bubbles...you can clearly tell when the thermostat opens you can feel the pressure in the radiator hose. I've torn apart just about everything except the heater core box...I know thats a nightmare...the A/C box is clean, blower motor, and vents do blow air, just luke warm.

 

The core can flow OK when it's halfway plugged. I've had cores do that and I just replace it and it warms the car right up. Good luck.

 

If the heater core has clean fins and a good flow how can it be bad? All it is composed of is a mini radiator...right?

It has a big flow of water coming out of the outlet pipe down by the frame.

 

Yes, but it doesn't take much deposits to reduce it effectiveness, just the same for a radiator to not cool the way it should. I've pulled many a heater core that I even kept around because I couldn't see anything wrong with it, but when I installed a new one, I had heat.

 

Well its going to snow...and I don't own a garage...so I will have to put my journey to a halt...anyway, I ordered $300 worth of parts...A new harmonic balancer, water pump, power steering pump, shorter belt for A/C delete (hope it works), transmission cooler, shocks, stabilizer bar bushings & links, tune-up kit, and alot of other crap...

Including valve stem seals...I noticed after a sit for a couple of days blue smoke comes from the tail pipe on start up.

Hope to get back into the heat issue after I replace water pump and balancer. I might invest in heater core.

Thank you for your time and help, I will get this fix! I hope

 

A not so obvious question:

Are you sure that the temp control door is opening to the full heat position? Does it seem that the heat control lever in the control head has a lot of slack or is rather easy to move (as in that it has almost no resistance)?

Pull the underdash panel and make sure that the cable is moving the control door lever at the bottom of the heater case...

PS... You need to adjust the position of the power steering bracket to work with the A/C delete belt properly...

 

I have no underdash panels...her mechanic took them off and never put them back on and she was clueless...I hate him! uhhh...Want my panels..

The cable has no slack, and the lever turns with ease, I even pulled the tried to push the lever further and it was at it's full positioning. I have pulled the heater unit out when putting in my new stereo and everything was functioning including the vacuum (you could clearly hear it, you know the hiss when you turn the lever). Yes, I have read your post in like 6 threads regarding the power steering bracket, what is unclear to me is how some people claim to have problems and others don't. I have a new tensioner, and I have removed the rear power steering bracket. Just waiting for my new belt in the mail and ill test it out. I am replacing, timing gears, chain, water pump, harmonic balancer, power steering pump, and alot of other crap.

Random question: What type of rear axle is in these cars stock? 87 Camaro 2.8

 

Stock axle SHOULD be the RPO GU6, axle code 2HL (stamped into the front of the pass side axle tube about halfway between the pumpkin and the shock mount), 3.42 open diff with, most likely, drum brakes...

When you swapped out the A/C evaporator case with the non-A/C case, did you also vac out the heater core side with the temp door open?

Other than that, if you can somehow get a temp reading using an IR thermometer or something, take temp readings at the various hoses and pipes. Anywhere there is a sharp drop in temp between 2 parts (other than the in and out of the heater core itself as that is to be expected) would indicate a lack of proper coolant flow between.

After this, the only thing left is to crack the heater case (remove the dash) and visibly check the heater core or replace it.

 

I didn't swap out the A/C box...I just took it apart to clean it and inspect. What do you mean by "with the temp door open," when I got the cover off, I was able to vac out the evaporator, the blower motor, and what seemed to be the outside of the heater core (I got that whole area as clean as possible with my shop vacuum). I did find alot of crap in there but that didn't solve anything. I might have to just suck it up and do the heater core.

 

That's what I meant, to make sure you have the air inlet side of the heater core clean from the engine bay side as much as you can reach.

Reason to crack the heater case is to make sure there isn't anything in the box behind the heater core (such as a mouse nest) that could be clogging it up.

 

What would cause the heater control to hiss constantly when switched from off to vent for the first time in a couple of hours? For example, if I let my car sit, went out started it; Turn the heater door from cold to hot, then went from OFF to VENT. Unless, I switch back and fourth from heater, defrost and then back to VENT sometimes once or a couple times it hisses. Not the normal hiss..it hisses for awhile.

Is it easy to pull the heater control out? Maybe it needs to be cleaned and lubricated?

 

Update: I'm not sure if the core was the problem but I dug into the car, removed the heater box cover, removed the heater core and replaced it with the vista-pro movable pipes model (hope its a good model). Anyway, the heater box wasn't on (in the grooves all the way) from someone who has previously tampered with it. The heater core holder was cracked in the upper left corner so I put some weatherstripping over it and put the three bolts in instead of four. Then I put the heater box cover on correctly including that top PITA bolt which was easy for me (my hands are scratched like hell) and assembled. It seems to blow much hotter then before, not sure if it was the core or all the little problems under there but I got the job done. The old core had a good free flow, and the fins were in great shape (so who knows).

Thanks for all the help, also changed the vacuum ball because it wasn't hooked up.

 

Well, now your car is blowing hot air . The vacuum controls for the system do tend to go bad with age, as per your other question. The lever is connected to another lever which turns a dial with rubber-edged grooves in it that regulates the vacuum flow to the various system motors for the doors. Unfortunately, the rubber can go bad and so does the plastic pin holding the 2 halves of the selector together. At the back of the HVAC control head, you will see a clear connector with all sorts of various colored tubes coming out of it. That is on the selector switch. The switch comes out with 2 screws.

 

How do you go about removing it for inspection? I always tried to remove the heater control unit but never had any luck to see what to remove.

 

You remove the control head and flip it over. The selector switch is on the bottom. It may be easier to pull the radio out as you go for more room.

 

My next project..woot..the list goes on, this car used to run like trash it's purin like a kitten now.