'01 heater...not that hot

[Sarge]

The heater in my '01 has never been great. It takes forever to warm up and never really blows out hot air, just warm air. We are having highs in the single digits right now and I am freezing my butt off! Anybody know if this is typical of the LS, or should I be looking for a problem. I know it isn't the dccv as I replaced that less than a year ago.

Thanks,
Hunter

 

[joegr]

V8 or V6?
Have you flushed the coolant every three years?
Have you checked the aux pump (if you have a V8)?
Did you pull the hoses at the new DCCV and check for clogs?
Did you follow the correct bleeding procedure after the DCCV replacement?
What does the temperature gauge on the dash read?
Do you have good airflow? (Have you replaced the air filter for the climate control?)

 

[Sarge]

V8 or V6? V8
Have you flushed the coolant every three years? Flushed it in April when I replaced the dccv
Have you checked the aux pump (if you have a V8)? I have not.
Did you pull the hoses at the new DCCV and check for clogs? No.
Did you follow the correct bleeding procedure after the DCCV replacement? Yes.
What does the temperature gauge on the dash read? Right in the middle.
Do you have good airflow? (Have you replaced the air filter for the climate control?) Airflow is good, filter is new

Thanks for the reply,
Hunter

 

[tireman]

check hoses

you have two hoses into the heater core and one out back to the DCCV, check that they are hot to the touch with heat on full and engine up to temp. Does the temp change on each side of dash? The hoses should be at the same hot temp. If they are both hot, you may have air trapped in core and really need to purge out the air. Or your aux pump may be not working. Or no pressure in system, leak somewhere. I'm at 22F outside and 75F inside after replacing DCCV.

 

[Mechanicboy]

V8 or V6?
What does the temperature gauge on the dash read? Right in the middle.r

Does that mean 75 F?

Once you fix your underlying problem adding water wetter is nice. It helps the coolant absorb heater from the engine and will help dissipate heater making your heater core hotter.

 

[joegr]

Does that mean 75 F? ...

I think that you are adding two posts together.

75 F = in cabin temperature

right in the middle = normal engine operating temperature.

 

[LS4me]

Thermostat.

 

[joegr]

Thermostat.

But wouldn't that make the dash gauge read below the half-way mark?

 

[LS4me]

But wouldn't that make the dash gauge read below the half-way mark?

Not on our '91 Sable. The temp gauge was dead center (it was the digital dash) and the heater was blowing lukewarm air at best.

 

[joegr]

Not on our '91 Sable. The temp gauge was dead center (it was the digital dash) and the heater was blowing lukewarm air at best.

That's good to know. I guess it would be good to use an actual thermometer to verify the coolant temperature. An IR point and shoot should work well enough.