Nice tidbit for those with barely any heat

[getnpsi]

leaves and junk get in blower assembly which mess up airflow. often its not just the engine coolant, its where the air is moving and where it is not.

[jason_]

leaves and junk get in blower assembly which mess up airflow. often its not just the engine coolant, its where the air is moving and where it is not.

Reason I stated airflow.... Not coolant flow.

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[iriegnome]

I live in the upper mid-west. Hoping the t-stat does the trick

[iriegnome]

Update on my heating issue. Well first off, my car had NO t-stat in it at all! So it wasn't going to get heat on the inside of the car at all. Second, the fluid was beautiful and green and I installed the flush unit but did not have any reason to flush the system since the coolant was perfect. Put the new t-stat in, filled up the radiator and we are running super!! Took about 2 miles of driving and I had to turn the heat down! YIPPEE!! It worked perfectly..

[TorqueEffect]

In my case, no matter what t-stat I use, the engine never heats up any quicker.
I have tried 3 different single stage stats, and a duel stage 323 stat, none of them made a bit of different.

Coolant is as clean as can be.

Only thing is, there is a slow coolant leak from one of the freeze plugs, tried slapping jbweld over it, but no luck, it still leaks. (Only drains my overflow tank like every couple months, that is how slow it is. )Anyone have any opinion on the Bar's Stop leak stuff? I was thinking of throwing that stuff in there to plug it up, but I have heard stories of it clogging up heater cores, but also heard that it only plugs it up if you keep dumping multiple bottles in.

Also thinking of fabbing up a air-dam to block everything on the front except the radiator, just to keep cold air from passing over the engine cooling it down. Would be also nice to cover up the bottom of the engine since that is probably where most of the heat is lost.

I do know I have to clean my heater core of debris since I am sure it has never been done. But that has nothing to do with engine warm-up.

[getnpsi]

You know heat only works when the slider is set to floor on a festiva right? I didnt know this for years...i thought i had lots of work to do, when i discovered this i felt like my craigslist car paid me back some huge dividends. You can add a warm air intake, often this is just for people chasing mpg goals but overall temp of the whole engine would stay warmer. You can wrap copper tube around your exhaust and plumb it on the heater core loop. Since no one else is havjng to do all that something else is going on with your systems

[TorqueEffect]

You know heat only works when the slider is set to floor on a festiva right? I didnt know this for years...i thought i had lots of work to do, when i discovered this i felt like my craigslist car paid me back some huge dividends. You can add a warm air intake, often this is just for people chasing mpg goals but overall temp of the whole engine would stay warmer. You can wrap copper tube around your exhaust and plumb it on the heater core loop. Since no one else is havjng to do all that something else is going on with your systems

Yeah I know that is how it works.
Just hate having to drive to work in the morning, and have made it to work by the time the temp gauge is just barely inside the normal range on the temp gauge. Granted it is only like a 5 mile drive.

I think tomorrow I may take the dash apart and clean my heatercore, because I sure it has never been cleaned. Depends on if I feel lazy tomorrow, or just don't feel like freezing my gonads off.

[getnpsi]

Your actual gauge is probably off. I just swapped to a tach cluster a week ago, needle does move but its buried low. You wont feel any warmer if you move your needle but you should at least stick the needle at least half up when your fan clicks on for a reference point

[lessersivad]

TORQUE;

You stated you have a slight coolant leak at one of the freeze plugs. THIS is more than likely the problem if you have no heat or very little btu's.

I just went thru this same thing on a customers car, tho it wasn't a Festiva same principle applies.


After spending a month of trying different stats, waterpump, and bleeding air from a Grand Am the person got hold of me.

First thing I did was check to see if the system would hold pressure. Right off the bat I found the coolant cap wouldn't even hold 5 p.s.i.

Changed cap so system could build pressure and according to the customer "It will cook you out".

Now like I said, it wasn't a Festiva but I think the problem is that "slight" leak not allowing the system to build pressure.

Hope this helps.

[iriegnome]

The radiator cap does have a bit to do with it all as well.. Good point

[jason_]

Hmm. My car makes heat with the cap off. Easily 190*F. Just boils @ 212 or so......




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[TorqueEffect]

Tips for getting the blower assembly off without disconnecting the heater core hoses? (The hose fasteners are siezed up) I have all the clips off the blower, but it still wont split in two to let go of the heatercore, does the blower motor have to come out?

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[bravekozak]

The blower motor and fan fan.gif are completely separate from the heater core. They are not physically connected.

Did you remove the hidden screw? Follow the screwdriver to the bottom.

You have to remove the blower assembly to split it open. There are two screws holding the heater nipples in place. Take a small screwdriver and try to pry the hose up all the way around each nipple. Grab and twist the rubber. Good luck.

[TorqueEffect]

The blower motor and fan [ATTACH=CONFIG]14376[/ATTACH] are completely separate from the heater core. They are not physically connected.

Did you remove the hidden screw? Follow the screwdriver to the bottom.

You have to remove the blower assembly to split it open. There are two screws holding the heater nipples in place. Take a small screwdriver and try to pry the hose up all the way around each nipple. Grab and twist the rubber. Good luck.

Yep got it all figured out, the heater core wasn't all that dirty, a little but nothing that would really effect functionality. This literally took all afternoon and evening. :p I still have to hook my power windows, and locks, and put my radio back in.

Also found out the hard way, don't clean the heater core with water, and not dry it before putting it back in the car, fogged up every single window in the car completely in less than a minute when I turned the blower on. But I can say after just driving around the block, I already had warm air coming out of the vents. I also threw in the blower assembly I got with my A/C system in there, was in better shape, and have heard the a/c blower motors are more powerful.

I seriously think someone busted the windshield in this car in the past, because every since I got it I have been finding bits of glass all throughout the front half of the car, and while removing the heater core, I found a crap load of it sitting in the bottom of the blower assembly.


Never again do I want to mess with removing a dashboard. Bleh.

Also brave, your inbox is full, I tried to pm ya earlier.

[bravekozak]

Yes, the windshield was busted. Similar problem in my car. Lots of glass at the bottom of the passenger door

I've had my my dash in and out four or five times. I'm pretty fast at it now.
Are you going to install a cabin air filter? Did you take your rad cap in to have it pressure tested?

I have to stop mailing stuff out. Then I won't have so many PMs.