Fed up with these heat isues

[corystefanyshyn]

So Ive had on going heat issues for over a year now, Ive tried bleeding many times and minimal improvements were made.

Tonight I flushed the heater core to see if it was in bad shape, no dirty water or sediment came out, only clear water.

I topped up the reservoir to accommodate the water left in the heater core after flushing, and I bled some coolant out of the hard pipe to get rid of air.

HOWEVER it seems i have NO coolant flowing in the heater pipes at the firewall now, I took the top one completely off while the car was running and it was dry!

Whats going on?

[EuroxS4]

You need to bled the system really well.The heater core is the lowest point in the whole circuit.I normally go for a ride and hold the car in a lower gear under load to get all the air out and pressurize the system.

[Arnie91]

Checked your water pump?

Try reverse flushing the heater core. Stick a hose up it's backside

[corystefanyshyn]

Checked your water pump?

Try reverse flushing the heater core. Stick a hose up it's backside

Water pump was changed about 30,000 km's ago so I hope its fine

You need to bled the system really well.The heater core is the lowest point in the whole circuit.I normally go for a ride and hold the car in a lower gear under load to get all the air out and pressurize the system.

Ill have to take it for a quick drive then, do you leave any bleeder holes open while you do that?

[EuroxS4]

No as you will be loosing coolant under pressure.Make sure its all tight.After a ride let it idle for a few minutes and pop the coolant cap slowly untill you hear the pressure release and some air.Should be good after that.

[Ian1006]

I went through this recently....only fool proof way that worked for me was to do this:
Unscrew the cap on a cold motor, unscrew and lift reservoir while you bleed from the hard pipe, once coolant comes out tighten it. Slide upper heater hose to reveal bleeder hole, lift reservoir until coolant comes out hole then slide it back on. I then ran the car for 30 seconds and redid the procedure two more times just to double check.
I have tried bleeding this car hot for hours and hours, needs to be cold.

[corystefanyshyn]

I went through this recently....only fool proof way that worked for me was to do this:
Unscrew the cap on a cold motor, unscrew and lift reservoir while you bleed from the hard pipe, once coolant comes out tighten it. Slide upper heater hose to reveal bleeder hole, lift reservoir until coolant comes out hole then slide it back on. I then ran the car for 30 seconds and redid the procedure two more times just to double check.
I have tried bleeding this car hot for hours and hours, needs to be cold.

I just tried this, interestingly enough if I turn the car off, lift the coolant resevioir and reveal the bleeder hose I can get a stream of coolant. But when I run the car, get it up to temp, reveal the bleeder hole and keep the Rpms around 2000, nothing comes out


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[seanf86]

Sounds like the core is plugged, replace it, I spent 3 years with poor heat, I even bought a winter beater so I didn't have to deal with it. $100 core and about an hour and it fixed all my problems.

[refueler]

I've had so much trouble getting the air out of the cooling system in these cars that I bought a vacuum fill rig. The cooling system doesn't operate like a normal one. If you look at the flow path it comes out of rear coolant flange where it goes in two directions one goes to the top inlet hose to the heater core and the other comes around to the drivers side and connects to a distribution pipe which is the hard pipe that runs along the top of the engine to the upper radiator hose. The hard pipe has two hoses that drop down one to the oil cooler and one to the thermostat. The thermostat allows the coolant to circulate through the cooling system all of the time. Only when the engine requires additional cooling does the thermostat open and allow coolant to flow through the radiator out the bottom radiator hose back into the thermostat. I don't think these cars can circulate coolant when there is air in the system. I say this because you don't get any heat and if you feel the bottom radiator hose it doesn't ever get hot. If it does circulate coolant for some reason the thermostat never opens because the lower radiator doesn't get hot and the heater core doesn't get any flow through it. You need to eliminate any sources of air that can enter the cooling system. Draw a vacuum on the cooling system with the vacuum fill rig and allow the system to remain under vacuum to insure no air leaks into the cooling system. If the system is able to hold vacuum for a minute or so then the cooling system has no air leak pathway into the system. Then you can turn the valve and draw the coolant into the system filling it without any air pockets. This make refilling the cooling system with coolant very easy and without the need for endless bleeding.

[corystefanyshyn]

Thanks for the reply guys, spent all day working on it it. Bled the entire system multiple times and ended up buying a vacuum fill tool. Didn't work the first time, but eventually I believe a MASSIVE air bubble got pushed out the bottom of the rad where the sensor is. Filled everything up and it seems to be blowing hot at idle now. Time will tell!


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[LT1FirebirdSLP]

Just did mine. 2 points that might help in the future for others. On the outlet of the heater core, if you still have the stock hoses, youll notice there is a small roughly 1/16" hole manufactured into the hose on the top. The purpose of this is to aid in bleeding. With the reservoir lid off, get the car up to operating temperature and allow the system to cycle, then remove the clamp on the heater core outlet hose (the upper one), slide it back just enough to allow air to escape this hose through the hole but don't pull the whole hose off. If done properly, a lot of bubbles and air will evacuate through this hole until you finally get a stream of steadily flowing coolant. At this point, push the hose all the way back on and re-clamp.

Point number 2 is there is an allen screw on the top of the coolant pipe that runs along the top of the engine, this is the other bleeder. You'll want to loosen and tighten this a few times to get the remaining air out.

[jacobsen]

This is so simple it's stupid.
Never attempt to bleed air out of the cooling system with the warm motor. You will only make the problem worse.
Raising the expansion tank with the cap off makes it go a little faster.

You can circulate 1 gallon of deionized water and 1 gallon of muriatic acid through your heater core using some hoses and a cheap Menards sump pump in a bucket if you want to get the crust out. This is a very simple procedure that will restore your heater core to brand new condition.

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