Heater

[Flash]

1997 Limited.

The climate control heater doesn't seem to work anywhere near as well the regular heater in my old XLT.

Just what leaked past the blend door was a bit too much with the windows up driving through snow country.

Last night at 8 degrees C ( 46F) the heater in the Limited barely kept up.
The engine does get to the proper temp.

Any clues?

 

[drdoom]

Not sure have you had any trouble with the blend door?

 

[Flash]

Not sure have you had any trouble with the blend door?

On the Ltd, I don't know. If it failed shut, maybe.
On the XLT it failed open and I definitely noticed that.

 

[JimMadsen]

Try flushing the heater core. Pain in the butt in the cold, but worth it.

With engine cold cold cold, remove the two hoses going into the firewall on the passenger side. ( being down under, you guys backwards and all?)

Get a 5 foot section of clear vinyl hose that will fit over the fitting on the firewall.

Place other end into a bucket. Warm the hose up first to make it easier to put on. Attach a garden hose to your sink and hold the spigot up to another section of vinyl hose over the other port. I used a garden hose attachment so I wasn't spraying water all over things and me. Have some one inside slowly turn up the water on warm so you don't freeze your fingers! Also keeps the hose pliable.

Run for a bit watching what comes out into your bucket. Switch sides and do again. Then switch again. Once you have clear water coming out both sides, put it all back together.

You should not have lost a lot of coolant in the system, but you will need to burp the system. While you are buying the hose, buy a male/male fitting so you can hook the hoses together as a bypass. This will close off the loop so you don't lose coolant while flushing. Also allows you to drive to someone's house that has a hose while keeping the core cold and not having to let engine cool.