Car heater – need some suggestions/help

  • ms75449
    Lake City, MN
    Posts: 299
    February 26, 2006 at 12:20 am #1249048

    The wife’s car heater only seems to work (get warm) when she gets out on the highway… when she lets it sit to warm up (20+ minutes) only cold air. Any ideas as to what may be causing this? Thanks in advance! MIKE

    carpking
    Janesville, WI.
    Posts: 859
    February 26, 2006 at 12:24 am #424514

    Thermostat!

    sliderfishn
    Blaine, MN
    Posts: 5432
    February 26, 2006 at 12:29 am #424516

    See above post.

    Ron

    david_scott
    Twin Cities
    Posts: 2946
    February 26, 2006 at 12:39 am #424521

    Thermostat is likely it.. but dont overlook the heater core or cooling system in general if the thermostat doesnt take care of it. Heater cores do get plugged. Sometimes the hoses can be reversed to unplug it.. but change the thermostat 1st and see what happens.

    lenny_jamison
    Bay City , WI
    Posts: 4001
    February 26, 2006 at 1:16 am #424531

    As the above mentioned it is most likely the thermostat but if the radiator is low on fluid it will have the same effect. I would take a look at that first.

    luke_haugland
    Iowa City, Iowa
    Posts: 3037
    February 26, 2006 at 5:28 am #424580

    I replaced the thermostats on two of our cars..
    One a dodge…didn’t fix the heat problem-
    One a cadillac- did fix the heat problem…
    Haven’t had a problems with the powerstrokes lately, so that is good news
    I can’t wait to see what goes wrong next….

    josh_holliday
    Oxford, Wi
    Posts: 194
    February 26, 2006 at 1:40 pm #424607

    if the thermostat doesn’t fix it take the hoses off that go to the heater core and use a hose to push water through them in both directions. the reason it warms up on the highway is that the water pump is forcing coolant into the core and past the restriction.

    carpking
    Janesville, WI.
    Posts: 859
    February 26, 2006 at 4:03 pm #424642

    One last thing I should mention! What color and amount is your exhaust? If it is a white and pretty thick exhaust, especially as you drive you may have a coolant leak into pistons indicating head gasket or crack in block or scoring on head. This can happen as a result of overheating engine due to bad thermostat or plugged heater core, so dont hesitate to get your problem fixed.

    copper2006
    Posts: 7
    March 7, 2006 at 7:25 am #427356

    I had a water pump where the propeller fins were corroded. It was only when the truck was moving that the fins got up enough speed to push the fluid through the system.

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