Heat is not working.?

[Bert]

i donno about that Bert, all my festys will cook me, especially Scrappy. never had an issue with the efficiency of a festy heater.

My heaters work OK (ie tolerable, on all 3 of my Festys) until the temperatures go below 0 F. At -20 a Festy heater might as well be an open vent. If I didn't have a 30 year old F150 that will still 'fry eggs' when the heat is on, no matter what temperature, then I'd suggest that Festy cores and hoses were horribly undersized right from day one. I did do the costly Mazda 2-stage 'thingy' 2 years ago plus a thorough flush and none of that made any difference.
FestYboy: I notice you live in the 'tropics'; relatively speaking. Let me know how you fare when if and ever you get to enjoy/experience 'real' cold.

[Dom]

Ok update , i flush the motor out it was really dirty and so was the heater core. I changed the t-stat, everything went well i now have heat. so i was hooking up my battery and notice i clicking sound coming from that area by the driver side headlight... then when i went to plug the connector to the housing neck for the radiator fan and every time i would make connection it would make the clicking sound also. the fan will not come off or on, before i did this work the fan was coming on when i took the connector off. so now my fan will not come on at all. I check the fan connection with a 12v light and when i made contact with the light it would click and no light.. what did i do the fan was working before......any suggestions please....

[Dom]

any suggestions festyboy on my issue?

[FestYboy]

i donno about that Bert, all my festys will cook me, especially Scrappy. never had an issue with the efficiency of a festy heater.

[Bert]

ok great thanks , as for the heater core i can not seem to find any info on the location on it any idea?

Festy heaters don't work worth a hoot even at the best of times so do everything else (thermostat and system flush) in advance of tangling with the heater core. I used to think removing a dash and the heater box was a lot of work (ie on a Festy) but last week got to tangle with a 99 Taurus wagon that had no heat. That heater core was plugged so solid with crud that no amount to chemical or steam flushes would have opened it up and getting at that heater core was an entire day's work.

[Dom]

Ok update , i flush the motor out it was really dirty and so was the heater core. I changed the t-stat, everything went well i now have heat. so i was hooking up my battery and notice i clicking sound coming from that area by the driver side headlight... then when i went to plug the connector to the housing neck for the radiator fan and every time i would make connection it would make the clicking sound also. the fan will not come off or on, before i did this work the fan was coming on when i took the connector off. so now my fan will not come on at all. I check the fan connection with a 12v light and when i made contact with the light it would click and no light.. what did i do the fan was working before......any suggestions please....

[FestYboy]

you use the RTV to gently hold things in place, NOT to seal, that's what the gasket is for. the big trick is to set the t-stat in the recess in the head and KEEP IT THERE. i suggest 2-3 dabs of rtv on the recess and then put the t-stat in place. then 2-3 dabs of rtv around the bolt holes in the gasket to hold it in place. let it set like that for a bit before installing the housing, this will allow you to make sure the t-stat won't slip out of place durring the install.

if the t-stat moves durring install, it WILL BREAK THE HOUSING. slow and steady will win this race.

[Dom]

Do I use silicone on the gooseneck gasket ? I found a 2 stage stat tonight at autozone under (1990 Mazda 323) $8.99. So I will be putting it in tomorrow . Just want to know if silicone is needed when putting thermostat gasket in?

[Dom]

Lol. ( 100% pure evil) its
going to be a couple of days until it comes in so in the meantime I'm just doing some pm's on it

[Aaronbrook37]

Those housings are made of 100% pure evil.

[Flw Sock]

Hey Dom,

I just had this problem, and fixed it last week. The thermostat you want is from a mazda 323 1990. (I think its the same from 1986-2000, something like that). It's part #41492 from oreilly's. Make sure you buy a gasket, because the thermostat doesn't come with it. Also, make sure that the smaller spring is angled up and to the right. This is important! I learned the hard way by cracking my housing.

As for testing your thermostat, I just got a pot of boiling water, and threw the new thermostat in with the old, and watched as the new one opened and closed flawlessly, and the old one failed to do much of anything.

Be careful with the housing!!!!!!!

[Dom]

Thanks for the heads up, will see how it goes when I get the new stat in and flush the coolant.

[Spike]

Also, noteworthy-

Be very careful when putting the thermostat housing back on.. don't overtighten those bolts!!! Not.. that I did my first time.. >_>.. and snapped a piece I can't go buy at Autozone.

What I'm saying is, tighten until it gets grip, but don't torque it at all (it's a weak plastic-thingy). If you snap that housing, you have to find a parts Festiva to get one again.

Best of luck with your new car!!

~Joe

[Dom]

Thanks for your help , I would like to do it in the summer but the car has not been started in a while and seeing the condition of the rusty coolant just got a lil concerned and didn't want to damage anything so I figured I would do it now before I get it on the road this will be my commuter car so I want I to be in good shape

[bravekozak]

The heater core is inside your blower assembly behind your dash. There are two hose connectors on your engine firewall. Take off the heater hoses, put on another couple of pieces of Home Depot hose (point one down at the ground, stick a hose adapter on the other) (use hose clamps) and run water from a garden hose, back and forth to clean out any buildup inside your heater core. Be sure to do it in both directions, until the water runs out crystal clean. The way I do it, I don't get any water on myself. This PM (preventive maintenance) stuff should really be done in the summer.