Chrysler Repair: 97 Concorde LX: flushing air in cooling system


Question
Just bought the car. Paid 80 bucks; thought was a good deal and so far is. Other than; there is no heat. Tried the self diagnostic on the temperature control buttons. Shows no code number after blinking. All the buttons seem to work; by that I mean the airflow changes location according to which button was pressed. Previous owner told me he recently changed the thermostat so; that led me to believe it might be an airlock. Pulled the cap off and let it go through a few cycles. Still no heat. Help??

Answer
Hi Adrien,
Check to see if the two heater hoses are equally warm after you have driven it until warmed up the engine. If so, then the blend door is not adjusting the balance between sending air over the heater core and the ac expansion core. If one hose is noticeably colder than the other then you don't have good flow through the heater core loop, either due to air or to frank obstruction.
To get air out of the system:
You would drain off several quarts from the system at the radiator drain cock, turning the cock by hand 1/4 to 1/2 turn counter clockwise by hand, collecting the fluid in a bucket for re-use. Open the lid on the overflow bottle, and open the bleed valve*.
To refill and bleed air:
The overflow bottle has a hose that connects the two chambers. You pinch that hose with a clamp. There is a coolant bleed valve* on the top of the engine which you attach a hose to that is long enough to reach to the front of the car for collecting bled cooling fluid for recycling, in a bucket. You open that valve and carefully/slowly add coolant to the overflow bottle (there is a special funnel, part 8195 to help with that task which has a divider to allow air to escape from the bottle as you fill it) and then keep recycling the fluid until it appears that all the air in the system has been flushed.   Close the bleed valve, remove the overflow bottle clamp and the hose. add coolant to the bottle to the indicated level. Then see is that improves the circulation.
*On the 2.7 it is at the water outlet connector at the front of the engine; on the 3.2/3.5 it is on the lower intake manifold, left of center, and below the upper intake manifold.
If that doesn't work then you would want to back-flush the heater core via the hoses.
Please read the PS (below) and respond to it.
Thanks,
Roland