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Followup To
Question -
2nd winter now with no heater on my 1996 Concorde 3.5. The blower works and I can feel heat, but when I turn the blower on it loses any heat. I have had 2 different mechanics take the dash apart. One was at a Chrysler dealer. Most recently I spent 370.00 to replace a blend air door motor and "probably" another thermostat. It's exactly the same, blower is great, heat blows away.
I don't know if it could be related, but I had the "limp-mode problem" and check engine light on, which were addressed before even thinking of investing more on the heater. The shop found holes in the valve body, replaced it and for a month now the tranny has been fine. The car pulls pretty hard to the right so I also had them check my sway bars, idler arms, etc. which I have had replaced before, they reported all was fine there. Front tires are maybe a year old. Heater is the main mystery, I can have the tires re-checked where I bought them. Is there any connection to all of this? The a/c went a couple of years ago, mist did come out of the vents. Keep fixing by ading freon each summer. I would truly appreciate your opinion. Thank you very much.
Answer -
Hi Theresa,
There is no connection of your other problems to the heater problem. Your unit is probably the automatic temp control type with a digital readout, correct? If so, there is a built-in self diagnostic capability that will help solve the problem.
Go to:
www.allpar.com/fix/codes-climate.html
for instruction on how to get the readout of any codes stored in the memory of what the reason is for the non-heating problem. Then write back with the results and we'll go from there. If it is the older style control unit let me know that, but only the ATC unit has a blend door motor so that is why I think you have that type.
Roland
I did the diagnostic and there was no code, I did it 3-4 times, and it seemed to go through the testing(flashing) but came back to 75 temp. I also did the computer (ignition on/off) diagnostic and it came up 2-5-5. I have seen only 2 digit codes for this so I did it again to be sure , after the initial check eng light flash, I really get 2 5 5. I spent all last evening searching the internet, I guess TSBs aren't free. I really appreciate your help.
AnswerHi Teresa,
Well, finding that the heater hoses are quite disparate in their temperature indicates that there is obstructive flow in the heater core. So what you would want to do is drain off about a half gallon of radiator fluid from the drain cock on the bottom of the radiator into a pan to save it for reuse. Then disconnect the two radiator hoses at the fire wall and attach a garden hose to the connector that was for the cooler hose. To get a tight fitting you will probably need to get a radioator flushing kit at a parts store which has garden hose fitting with a fitting that couples a garden hose male to a hose of the diameter of the heater hose and that way you can connect the garden hose water tightly to the cooler side outlet at the firewall. Then you turn on the garden hose and "back flush" the heater core to drive out the crud in the heater core so that it opens up again.
You might, if this seems a challenge, call a radiator shop and inquire about the cost of back flushing your heater core. They can do the job quickly and with good pressures. If that doesn't get you a significant improvement in flow, then I would try flushing the entire cooling system including the heater core with a stronger chemical flush. Again the shop could try that second.
The bottom line is to try and get that heater core unclogged so that you don't have to replace it which is a very big job compared to the above involving removing the entire heater/a.c. box from under the dash.
Of course if you consult a radiator shop you might inquire about other ideas that they might have. But I think you would be moving in the right direction to getting heat if you can get full flow of coolant thru the core and so the hoses feel much more similar in temperature. Of course the outgoing hose will always be a little cooler than the input hose if you are successful in extracting warm air into the car, but when you have virtually no flow that outlet hose is just getting no warm water coming out of the core e.g. no flow thru.
Roland
