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Hey guys. Just found this forum through the youtube channel. I’ve been working on my wife’s car trying to get the heater to work. Overall the car is in great shape. The other day I changed her oil and noticed the coolant was a little low and could smell a faint smell of coolant. The oil wasn’t milky or anything. I couldn’t find any leaks so I bought some Prestone radiator super leak stop stuff. Used it per the instructions and I thought all was well. Then she tells me the heater doesn’t work now. So I’m trying to get this fixed.
Here’s what happens. We have a new baby, he’s almost 3 months now. It’s cooling off here in Oklahoma, so in the morning we start her car 5-10 mins early for the cabin to warm up. It was doing this just fine. Now it won’t warm up much at all. I’d say luke warm. I had noticed some foamy gunky stuff in the coolant (I’m sure it’s the leak stuff), so I replaced the thermostat and flushed the per the instructions on the bottle. Essentially drain system, add water and flush, idle car to operating temp plus 10-15 mins, drain system fill with water and repeat, then drain and refill with coolant. That night it was blowing super hot air again. All seemed well.
Next morning. Same thing. Just luke warm. Checked the coolant and more gunky stuff. So yesterday I flushed it again. This time driving the car after every refill. Flooring it trying to make sure I got it all super clear. All looked well, and the coolant was clear with no more foam. Felt like I was driving around in a sauna. Thought I had it fixed.
This morning I check the coolant, it was a bit low, top it off, start her car, and on her way in she calls to tell me it’s not hot again. W-| I’ve been talking to my dad and a friend/co-worker (we all work together at my parents motorcycle shop). Anywho so I know I can get this fixed….. if I can ever get the problem pinned down. My dad thinks it may be a heater valve that controls the flow of coolant to the heater core, but I’m not sure it has one. I know there is still the possibility the core is still clogged. Anything else I’m missing???? Any suggestions on what else to try????? I need to get this fixed before I’m out sleeping with the dog in the dog house.
The only other thing I can think is if I got the thermostat in backwards. It’s in with the spring side facing the engine. Does that sound right? Also my wife has a very short commute in the morning and never gets over 35mph. From my experience it warms up better if you get up to 45-55mph, if that helps any.
Thanks in advance and sorry about such a long winded first post.
Matt
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Ahhh I know this situation all to well. Sir I hate to say it but if the coolant level is dropping and your seeing gunky stuff well that sounds like your heater core. There not cheap and there not fun. The thermostat shouldnt have much to do with that and plus its pretty dang hard to install one backwards. But otherwise yes the spring side always faces the engine in my experiences. Now heres the thing I would ask someone on here who knows about your vehicle a bit more on the subject of your heater core, cause the only ones i have had to mess with have been on a pontiac.
So I hope this helps a little bit-Nick
Hello and welcome to the forums!
It sounds that you may have air trapped in the system which seems to be a common problem.
Here is one of Eric’s videos that may help –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpXgAJ1gjU&feature=relmfu
However, if your loosing coolant, i would recommend using a cooling system pressure tester and try to isolate the leak.
Stop leak products usually cause more harm than good. There is no such thing as a ‘mechanic in a can’.
Also here is an ETCG heater core flush –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcL_0TWeZJY&feature=relmfu
And cooling system pressure test again by ETCG –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImI
Hoe these help!
I hate to say it but you might have clogged your heater core with the ‘stop leak’. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. You can make the determination if the heater core is restricted by getting the engine hot and feeling the hoses going into the firewall, they both should be relatively hot or warm to the touch when the heat is on, if one is hot and the other is cold or just luke warm then the heater core is restricted and in YOUR case will probably have to be replaced, stop leak doesn’t flush out that well unfortunately. Here is a video I did on the subject if you want to try it however.
Thanks for all the tips so far. I’ve been doing some more looking. Seems as though there is a bypass hose in the heater core hose and tube assembly. I’m thinking it’s letting the coolant bypass the heater core until it gets hot. And then it starts to flow through. I’m use that to flush out just the heater core and see what happens. I had found a pic of how someone else had done the same. Essentially he clamped the lines going to and from it. And then took the bypass hose off. Hooked a hose to each side and flushed it out. Anyone have any preference as to what to use? Air or water? I’ll let you know what I find.
disconnect the two heater hoses from the the engine side going to the heater core.take a garden hose and flush through the heater core to see if its restricted.
Well I flushed out the heater core. It was a little more complicated than the video, because there is some sort of manifold attached to the heater core that has a bypass hose built it. I say more complicated but it actually helped in a way. I blocked off the input and output sides and then removed the bypass hose and flushed through it.There didn’t seem to be a lot of gunk in there, but there was some and definitely some rust I flushed out. Topped it off and it seemed better, but I will wait until the wife thinks it’s better before I call it done. Thanks again for all your help.
Matt
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