No heat from vents-Hyundai Accent X3 1995 [SOLVED]

[Tiago Ferreira]

Hello everyone!

I am new to the forum and a only recently started watching videos from ETCG: amazing videos and content, I must say! Thank you very much!

A little background: I am from Portugal, 21 years old studying computer engineering. Although I have always been a tinkerer, only now I started with mechanics (but I must say it was an old desire). Until now I only did very simple things like replacing the brake pads and such.

What brings me to make a post in this (amazing) forum is a problem that I couldn’t solve so far.

My parents own a Hyundai Accent X3 from 1995. It runs on gas and LPG and we quite like it. About 3 years ago, the flap thingy that directs the air to the windshield (to defog) broke directed to the ground. Since the car has AC we could defog the windscreen anyway however not as fast. Also the air was never very warm (AC on or off).

So, two weeks ago on a Saturday I decided to try and unclog the heater core because, as I had seen in a few videos, that could be part of the problem. I could have done something wrong here so I’ll explain the whole thing:

Since the tubing going into the firewall has things on the way and I couldn’t reach it without disassembling those things (and I don’t feel very comfortable disassembling parts of the engine that could have LPG on it), I followed the pipe and that is as follows:

There are two pipes going into the firewall. Those pipes have a T connection on it and one part of the T goes somewhere into the motor. The other part goes into what I think it is the water pump.

Also: I must say that the engine has two other cooling pipes running into it (much larger than the other ones) that connect to the radiator.

So, I disconnected both pipes running into what I think is the water pump and connected a garden hose on low pressure on one end. The other end I directed to the ground (the car had no cooling fluid on it, only water and rust). I ran water trough both ends and the water started coming clear.

Later that day I drove the car for a while and noticed a difference on the temperature: the “fix” had worked.

On Sunday I fixed the other part of the problem. Long story short, I disassembled the dashboard, glued the flappy thing to direct the air to the windscreen permanently and called it a day. I tough the whole thing was done.

However, on Monday the air did not heat. And it never did heat again. It’s not even heating a little like it did before I tried fixing it. It is just cold. So I started thinking into what could have gone wrong. Here is what I tested and done until now:

-The car heats up normally and stays in operating temperature;
-The thermostat is fully working (tested on boiling water);
-I tough I had maybe clogged the heater core so I tried to unclog it again: connected the harden hose to the same previous pipes but I clipped, on the T, the part that goes into the engine. The water coming out was a little bit dirty but soon started coming clean. Also no result;
-Removing all the cooling fluid (this time I used cooling fluid) and re-filling again: I feel that the car is getting filled before it should be (according to the manual it takes 5.5 liters and I can only get around 3.5 to 4 liters into it. After it gets full I crank up the engine and let the thermostat open but it never drains so I can put more in;
-Since the flap that lets choose between hot and cold air is just under the steering wheel, I move it around but in doesn’t come any hot air, in any position.

So, after this long post: is there something obvious that I am missing? I really would like to fix this because… Winter is coming! 😛

Thank you all very much for your attention and answers!
Best regardings,
Tiago Ferreira

Topic

[Zen]

Ok, your diagram is probably wrong. Not sure how they build hyundais in Portugal but the water pump should be in the engine and where it says water pump that should say heater core. Anyway to me it sounds like you have air trapped in the cooling system and its preventing coolant to circulate in the heater core. Look in the manual and see if there is a special cooling system bleeding procedure. Also see if there is a valve on the heater core hoses and make sure its open.

[college man]

Sounds like air is in the cooling system from the flush job. The air will need to be burped.
follow this procedure to bleed the air.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-do-when-your-engine-overheats#SolvingCoolingSystemProblems

[Tiago Ferreira]

Hello!

Thank you for your answers 🙂

College man, I already tried that procedure 2 times but I can be doing something wrong 😛

Zwnmaister11 I am pretty sure my diagram is wrong 😛

What I called water pump is not the water pump. I don’t know what it is or what it does. All I know is that it has 3 hoses attached to it: 2 rubber ones that go into the T’s and the firewall and another one made from metal that connects to a place a little after the air filter (as far as I remember). Also, this part that I tought it was the water pump, has electricity connected to it. Maybe it has something to do with the AC but I don’t know.

I guess I’ll have to get my hands dirtier and disassemble more parts so I can see better.

The part that is on the way is the one that can be seen on this link ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Hyundai_G4EH_engine_3.jpg/800px-Hyundai_G4EH_engine_3.jpg ) and has ECFI written on it. Is there any risk while disassmbling this part to run accross LPG or something like that?

I’ll try to take some pics of the part in question. It is under the battery so I have to remove it and the panel that supports the battery.

Thanks in advance!

[Zen]

Ok, the ECFI, which I’m going to guess stands for (electronically controlled fuel injection) in your case (lpg gas ) since you converted . That on the picture with ECFI written on it is the air intake manifold. the fuel or in your case LPG should come in the fuel rail which is located in front of it toward the front of car. So if you have to take it off to access the heater hoses you can but you should get new intake manifold gaskets when you reinstall to avoid any vacumm leaks. If I were you I would avoid taking that intake off I see there is enough room from the sides to access these hoses with some long needle plires. Try not to do more dissasambly than you have to. There should be some sort of a valve allowing coolant to flow to the heater core , have you found it? Does your manual show it? make sure its open. When you put on the heat both hoses coming from the firewall should be warm and hot and have coolant in it. If they have no coolant in it that means there is air trapped in the heater core and is preventing circulation.

[Zen]

also take some more pictures of these hoses so i can help you identify them.

[Tiago Ferreira]

Hello everyone!

So I managed to take some pictures last night, I’ve added some captions so it is easier to identify what I’ve drawn and what I talk about.

I uploaded them to this link:

View post on imgur.com

In the manual I don’t remember reading anything about any special procedure or a valve. I couldn’t find that valve that would allow the hot liquid to flow to the heater core, yet. It might be there but I am not seeing it, ofcourse.

For some reason I didn’t take any pictures of the firewall and T’s. Ill try to grab them today.

I think I’ll also drain everything again, put the front of the car higher and fill again. I’ll also wait until the liquid drops down with the engine on (if it does drop down).

Ill get back in a few hours. Thanks in advance! 🙂

[Zen]

Ok , when you refill every thing with coolant, before you put the radiator cap on squeeze all the coolant hoses especially the ones going to the fire wall, might help get any trapped air out of the system. Also you will feal coolant in them if its getting to the heater core. Once you close the radiator , and bring the car to normal operating temperature the firewall hoses should be warm to hot

[Tiago Ferreira]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay in aswering. It was exam time at school 😛

So, this week I managed to get time to try a few more things.

I’ve noticed that the hoses going to the heater core were both hot so the problem was not in the water circulation.

So, I tought that the problem should be somewhere in the system that says from where the air is coming to the vents (hot or cold).

Long story short I removed the dash and noticed that a flap was stuck in the cold position. So there was my problem. The screw that holds it in place broke… Since the car is old and is getting a lot of problems everywhere we are going to replace it soon. I “fixed” the problem by fixing that flap to the cold position with a screw.

Also, after doing all of this I noticed that I could have fixed this without removing the dash. So, instead of a 3+ hour job, I could have done it in 15 minutes. Always try the easier thing first!

I’m just updating this post to let someone who might got into the same problem know how to fix it.

Thanks for all the help you gave me!

[college man]

The old screw in the flap trick. Thanks for the update and the fix. 🙂

[Author]

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