ok the heat in my 10ae sucks ***. i can let the car run for hours and the temp needle barely moves. if i leave the heat on for too long it will get the needle to drop to dead cold and it start blowing cold air. i did replace the thermostat and drained/filled the coolant system. do you think fluching the heater core will help or is it somehtign else?

 

Sounds to me like a bad water temp sensor.

 

BTW: just in case, the water sensor is located on the driver side block (rear) housing.... I bet thats your problem let me know!


Brad

 

i know the temp switch next to the upper radiator cap (88 t2 is bad. it shows a low reading all the time. but what would cause it to get cold? i couldunderstand the ecu not seeing the right temp but the fan should still be blowing hot air. it hasn't as long as i've owned it

 

im having a problem with the cabin heat btw. the car is an 88 t2

 

my TII would always stay in the lower 1/4 of the temp gauge when i drove it. the only time it ever went past there was when my water pump alternator belt snapped and sent the need to full hot!

 

by the way i had perfect heat in the car!

 

what kinda rims are those bkapold@aol.com they are phat!

 

That really sounds like a thermostat problem. There isn't a chance you installed it backwards?

James

 

i'll double check when i pull the motor next week but i highly doubt it

 

It is possible that your new thermostat is stuck open. But even with a open thermostat you should be able to build some sort of engine temperature.

But you may be chasing two different problems. The first problem would be your temperature gauge. The sensor that feeds the gauge in the dash is on the drivers side of the block near the oil pressure sensor. I have replaced that sensor twice in the race car and the gauge still does not act the way I expect it to. I have decided it is a problem in the wiring or in the gauge itself and not worth fixing.

The second problem would be a clogged heater core. I have had this in two different FC's I have owned so it must be fairly common. The one I did try to backflush did nothing and I decided it was not worth pulling the dash to fix because it was a POS car in the first place.

Try doing this:
Run the car at normal speeds around your neighborhood or on the interstate for 15 to 20 minutes (to be good and sure the engine should be at normal operating temps) do this with the heat on full. Pull over and pop the hood. At full operating temps the upper radiator hose should be too hot to hold comfortably with bare hands. If it is cold or barley warm then you have a thermostat problem. If it is hot and your gauge still reads low then you probably have the two different problems listed above. Also feel if the heater hoses are hot. If the inbound heater hose (on drivers side of engine) is hot and the outlet heater hose (passenger side; feel it at the firewall) is cold then you definately do not have flow through the heatercore.

Another thing to consider that the heater core might not be physically clogged but the valve controlled by the heat slider on the dash might be stuck or broken closed.

What ever you do: DO NOT open your radiator cap if you even THINK the motor is hot. I have seen one person get 2nd degree burns over almost all of their upper body (including the face) because they popped a radiator cap thinking the motor was cool enough.

 

i know the temp swtich is bad. everyone says it is on the side of the motor, if it is, what is the one right by the upper radiator cap (s4 T2)? i know if u unplug that wire the electric fan comes on and the gauge goes to zero. im leaning towards clogged heater core. i can move the lever to cold and it blows much colder. if i keep it to hot it will blow fairley warm for a while then get cooler (not cold but barely warm). i just don't think it's flowing like it should be. i can't test it at the moment as my vent controls just crapped out about an hour ago