I finally have heat without replacing the heater core. Hope this can help someone.

[RadoRevival]

Been a while since I updated this but I wasn't getting any heat. First I tried to replace the blend door actuator. is like $15. I am almost positive it wasn't working.

 

For that you have to disconnect the batter, remove the upper glove box and the air bag. It is on the left almost behind the radio. This is on the model with no electronic climate control wish single zone. Also, notice how my dash is cracked. I hate that.

 

 

That is the bled door actuator way over there on the left.

 

 

Now it was definitely working but that didn't fix the problem. The air was not as cold but definitely not hot. I was researching replacing the heater core - not something I want to do - when I saw videos of flushing it. So I gave that a shot.

Edited November 25, 2024 by RadoRevival

[RadoRevival]

Oh how I wish i could figure how to use BBCode here. lol

 

We have heat.  Here is what I did.

 

First take off whatever the thing that connects the air filter box to the intake to get it out of the way.

 

 

The hoses that go to and from the heater core are right next to each other on the firewall on the passenger side. The one that come from the water pump is the return. The one that comes from the intake is the pressure side.

 

I disconnected the hoses from the intake and the metal hose that goes to the water pump. First time using my Knipex pliers for actual hose clamps and they were worth every cent. You can see them in the next pic.

 

I then poured in CLR until the body was empty. You can get it on amazon but at the orange big box store it was like $8. The fluid BARELY was going through the hose. Like a trickle. I let it sit in there for like an hour.

 

 

 

Then I removed the metal hose that goes from the water pump to the hose going to firewall. I did this so I could connect a cut piece of water hose to flush the system.

 

 

So I didn't get great pics of this part but, I took the metal pipe and connected it to the inlet hose of the heater core. I had an old hose and I cut the female end at about 2 feet then connected it to my garden hose. I put the other end on the metal pipe so it went, Garden hose, cut garden hose, metal pipe, hose that goes into the firewall. I had my son S L O W L Y turn on the water. I didn't want to blow anything out. And all kinds of nasty crud started flowing out the outlet hose.

 

I know some people disconnect from the firewall but I didn't know if the hose was clogged. I wanted to eliminate all possibilities.  Here is a pic of the hose, to the metal hose, to the hose to the heater core.

 

 

And here is a pic of clean water flowing:

 

 

I then blew out the line and foam was coming out at the end. So I flushed it with water, then blew out the liquid three more times till no foamy stuff came out. Then blew it out to get as much water out as possible.

 

Topped off my antifreeze while the truck was running. It took a while for it to start working. don't know if it had some sort of air lock or what. I thought that there was some other freak thing wrong but after a while, it started blowing sweet hot air. Really need that here in south Florida. Temps are getting down into the 60s,

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

[richard wysong]

Florida tap water is very high in mineral content which may have contributed to the clog. When I worked at the radiator shop doing recores we could always tell if the car was from the south by the mineral build up in the radiator tubes

[RadoRevival]

33 minutes ago, richard wysong said:

Florida tap water is very high in mineral content which may have contributed to the clog. When I worked at the radiator shop doing recores we could always tell if the car was from the south by the mineral build up in the radiator tubes

 

I think I'm going to go ahead and do a full coolant system flush just to be safe.

[dna9656]

To fix that broken dash.... epoxy and a popsicle stick and a couple of small "C" clamps. put the popsicle stick on the bottom out of sight.