Heat Questions

[gtk7]

Ive had my festy for about 6 months now and its a 90 L, for some reason heat doesnt come out of the central vent, only from the top defrost and the floor heat will come out of which to me isnt normal but the other festy i sold which was an 89 LX i picked up with my other one has the same issue. I also checked to see if the levers were moving by the heater box and theyre all moving perfectly on both cars, so is this a coincidence or a design flaw?

Also if u leave the car idling on a day thats below 30 deg it takes roughly a half an hour to get the car warmed up but nearly 45 min to get the fan to kick on, i also tried to stick a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator, used radiator flush thinking maybe something is clogged in my cooling system somewhere as well as new thermostat, hoses and flushed the rad, heater core, and engine with garden hose that has some decent pressure behind it so in theory its clean in there. The owner said he flushed the system about every 5 years since it was new, as well as replaced the thermostat and hoses along with the coolant with all Ford parts.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[wrongfulleaf]

The festiva came like that stock. The heater only works from the defrost and the floor. You might want to use the search button next time before you post

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25953&highlight=heater+vents

[gtk7]

i was looking around but saw mostly the stuff about the second part of my question but ill look harder next time

[wrongfulleaf]

i was looking around but saw mostly the stuff about the second part of my question but ill look harder next time

Your first question should be answered in the thread I posted in the first answer and the part about not warming up you should pick up a 2 stage thermostat. I have problems with my heat also. As soon as it gets warm enough I will switch out my thermostat with the 2 stage one, it is a little bit pricey tho. Make sure you get one from a Ford dealer by what I hear.

[MONSOON]

HAHAHA! Its been what 2 weeks since this came up AGAIN?

[gtk7]

i read the post u linked to and its stupid to do that to me but if its how its made then leave it, the thermostat is a 2 stage i believe it has a large and a smaller opening on it since the car came with the the thermostat and hoses from ford, the owner was absolutely anal and would only put either ford or mazda parts on the car

[batstiva]

^^ Ha ha, that one still cracks me up. Thank God someone gave you an excuse to use it.:laughing2:

To the OP, the venting system in the Festiva is just made that way. Separate systems. Heat upper and lower. A/C through the dash vents. When I get Batstiva completely torn apart, I'm going to investigate altering the plumbing to make hot air come out everywhere. Don't have A/C, on any of my cars, so at this point the dash vents are pointless.

[MONSOON]

I believe I read here that it was done because of the limited amount of space underneath the dash.

[gtk7]

^^ Ha ha, that one still cracks me up. Thank God someone gave you an excuse to use it.:laughing2:

To the OP, the venting system in the Festiva is just made that way. Separate systems. Heat upper and lower. A/C through the dash vents. When I get Batstiva completely torn apart, I'm going to investigate altering the plumbing to make hot air come out everywhere. Don't have A/C, on any of my cars, so at this point the dash vents are pointless.

i sold the only car with A/C which was the 89 so when you rip that thing apart and figure it out make sure to do a write up if it works cuz that would deffinitely be helpful and way more effective than the way it is, maybe its as simple as cutting out a piece inside of the heater box, hopefully at least

[batstiva]

Believe me, there will be a write up, and copious pictures for your viewing pleasure. It'll all be in Batstiva's FOTM write up. Just not sure what month, or what year.

[gtk7]

Believe me, there will be a write up, and copious pictures for your viewing pleasure. It'll all be in Batstiva's FOTM write up. Just not sure what month, or what year.

Works for me, I might tear into the box on one of my parts cars just to see whats going on in there when i get some time between school and work cuz this could be very helpful and deffinitely more sensable.