Chrysler Repair: 1999 Chrysler Cirrus: insufficient heat, domestic water supply, chrysler cirrus

Question
I was wondering if flushing the cooling system would possible fix our heat problem. We are only getting cold air blown into the car, fluids are good, blending door seems to be ok, thermostat is new, water pump is new, we are at a lose of what to do, its cold here in Michigan and we have a 5 month old that rides in this car.

Answer
Hi Amy,
It is never unreasonable to flush the cooling system periodically. But if the engine isn't running hot it might be more productive to consider the heater core for flushing first. You will find two hoses that go thru the fire wall to that core, and these hoses should be touched after the engine has been driven for a while with the heater turned on. If the two hoses are equally hot that would show you have flow thru the core and that the issue is the blend door. On the other hand if the outlet hose is a lot cooler than the inlet hose (it doesn't matter which is which for this purpose, just compare the two hoses' temperatures by touch) that would indicate that the core is not flowing freely. You can then remove the spring clips that hold the hose to the core nipples at the fire wall and rig up garden hose to the side that had the cooler hose (there are flushing kits with the parts to to the attaching, but any sort of arrangement that is fairly tight will do). Turn on the domestic water supply and power the water in the reverse direction thru the core to flush to make sure it is open to the flow. Then reattach the heater hoses, add coolant to replace that which was lost in the process and see if that solves the heating problem.
You might also consider whether your thermostat is opening at too low a temperature based on the temp gauge as that too could be the reason that the coolant is not arriving at the heater with a sufficiently high temperature. The car is designed with a thermostat that opens at 195F which should produce good heat unless it is faulty and opening prematurely.
Roland
PS Please rate my answer using the "thank and rate" tab below. Thanks