No more heated air.....

[SnowLover]

Well, I have looked and looked- no heater control valve to be found on my '93. Very flaky stuff going on- after using the vehicle for hunting for a week with good heat. I come back to Denver and during my morning commute, no heat again. The gauge is riding in the middle of the NORMAL range. Damned strange.......

 

[Coast]

I just had the same problem... check your water level... if it is a little low then your water pump is toast. My pup would still spin, minimal leakage but no hot air. I changed the pump then boom. I have hot air again!

 

[SnowLover]

Hey Coast,
I think you are right on the money with your assessment. The water pump has been in the back of my head for some time.........how big a hassle is it?
I have to do something- winter is here! Thanks!

 

[Coast]

hardest part is removing the clutch fan. make sure you do that b-4 you remove the pump from the engine or remove the belt! It requires a "special ford tool" which I thought i DIDN'T need but wound up getting anyways. everything else is a walk in the park.
1.Empty your rad.
2.remove the fan shroud from the rad (wont come out till the rad does).
3.remove rad and shroud.
4. remove clutch fan.
5. loosen pully bolts.
6. remove belt.
7. remove pully.
8. remove 3 hoses
9. remove pump (12 bolts) & old gasket remains.
This is a good time to inspect rad hoses and change any that look buldgy or rough. Change the thermostat even if it is good. They are cheap. Now do everything in reverse!
This help?
BTW, i'm not sure if they are all like that but my clutch fan was NOT reverse thread!

 

[SnowLover]

Fix For Mysterious Cooling/ Heating Problems

To COAST (and others)

I broke down and bought a new water pump, installed it yesterday and VOILA! coolant now flows through the heater core hoses and I have hot air inside the vehicle.
This comes after chasing the thermostat idea 3 times, flushing the system, checking the blend doors inside, etc.
Evidently the pump didn't have enough gumption to force the coolant through the smaller diameter heater hoses. See Bernoulli for this theory.
One tip for those of you who don't want to buy the recommended Ford tool when doing the fan clutch removal. I used a 1 7/16" Snap-On Angle Head Wrench (30°/ 60°) and a long prybar between the pulley bolts and large nut to pop things loose.
I found the fan assembly cracked at the base of the blades- of course it's a dealer part.
With all due respect- buy a Chevy! You can bet thats what I will do next time. This Explorer has been a fairly reliable vehicle, but when it comes to maintenance, I wonder what the engineers were smoking.

Good Luck and thanks COAST!

 

[Coast]

no prob...

 

[SnowLover]

STILL no hot air!!

Well, here we go again! I started experiencing no hot air again. This time I flushed the heater core, the hoses to and from, replaced the radiator cap, and changed the thermostat again (3rd time since July). I had noticed fluctuations in the temp gauge previously, and after studying the problem, decided the thermostat was installed backwards. I swapped ends on the thermostat, which means it now faces the coolant flow. Backwards according to Chiltons, however. Temp gauge fluctuations went away, but no hot air. One other thing I noted was the upper rad hose being hot and stone cold heater core hoses. Since Coast seems to be the only one responding- thanks in advance Coast! The blend doors sequence properly, but thats a moot point since the heater core is cold.........

Mark

 

[TPLYNCH]

Did you remove/change the connector where the heater hoses come together?? If it is bad, or was replaced wrong, you may not get flow to the heater core. Sorry can't be more specific. There was a post regarding this problem recently however.......

 

[yob_yeknom]

Re: STILL no hot air!!

Originally posted by SnowLover
One other thing I noted was the upper rad hose being hot and stone cold heater core hoses.

Before, after, or on both sides of the heater valve?

 

[FJK]

Snowlover:
I stumbled across this post, looking for a response to my explorer hub problem. The no heat problem arose my interest because of a similar problem with my kid's Camero. See, all vehicles have their share of problems. I was also surprised that you originally thought a new water pump fixed your problem. A pump problem would cause major engine overheating, not a heater problem. Anyhow, sounds to me your cooling system is air bound, which means air is entraped in the system after you refill it once you do a repair. Air travels to the highest spot in your cooling system, usually the heater core. When you refill your cooling system, make sure you reach full operating temperature with the radiator cap off & the heater running full blast. Many times the hot coolant will overflow the filler neck on the radiator because trapped air is escaping. Once that happens, refill the radiator while the engine is still running & hot. Then install your pressure cap. Overfill your coolant resevoir tank slightly, because during the next couple of heat up / cool down cycles of the engine, any remaining air will work itself out & the recovery tank will supply additional coolant. Hope this helps you.
Regards, FJK

 

[SnowLover]

Thanks for your replies and help!

TPLYNCH- you asked if I had changed the connector for the heater hoses......As far as I know it couldn't be simpler- two nipples, one for the water pump and one on the intake manifold. Obviously there are the ones on the heater core itself. What am I missing here?

yob_yeknom- to answer your Q: the heater core hoses are always cold when I have no hot air. One is barely warmer than the other.

FJK- Your idea of trapped air seems plausible- last night we went to look at Christmas lights and had hot air the whole time! This morning it was cold as a fridge.
Since it is intermittent, it must be an intermittent problem like air trapped in the system. Thanks for the tip!


Mark


:exp:

 

[SnowLover]

No More Heated Air (the mystery solved)

All,

After several months of struggling to find why I have no heat, I think I found the problem.
Wifey took the thing on a long trip and blew the head gasket. Now, since the head gasket was breached, wouldn't the air from a (the) cylinder be pressurizing the radiator, preventing water flow?
I cannot believe the hokey stuff this vehicle has installed on it. This only one of a continuing series of problems. Hate to keep throwing mud in your face, but I won't buy another Ford as long as I live.