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2003 Ford Taurus Heat Problems

midnightsvt

Official CEG Vendor
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Messages
216
Location
Rochester, MN
I know its a contour forum but my mom drives a 2003 Ford Taurus Centennial edition and her heat has stopped working. Anyone know a common reason why this happens (Other than temperature gauge)?

Thanks,
Dane Austin
 
Is it still blowing air, just cool air, or not blowing at all? First thing I'd check is coolant level, is the car reaching normal operating temp? If it's not it could be a stuck open thermostat. If coolant is leaking into the cabin then it's the heater core, though it could just be plugged, but this usually arrests the flow of coolant and causes the engine to overheat.
 
Coolant is good, the car still blows air, but only cold air. It sucks because we are starting to get into this Minnesota winter haha.
 
Well how's the temp gauge reacting? If the thermostat is stuck open it will allow coolant to continually flow through the motor without heating up, leading to no heat. You'll notice the temp gauge never reaches the normal operating temp. The heater core is a very simple system, just routes hot coolant from the motor into it (it's a small radiator) and the blower motor pushes that hot air through the fins into the cabin, there's not much that could go wrong.
 
A common issue on these is the heater core clogging up. My friend had a sable close to the same year and this happened. Had it back-flushed and there was heat again. I'd start with a thermostat. If you pull it apart and the stat is stuck open, then there's a good chance you found your issue.
 
The thermostat may not even be stuck open when removed, but could be weak and open prematurely. I just replaced the one in my GF's 02 buick century that was like this. Car wasnt reaching normal operating temperature so it was the first thing i dug into, car runs normal temp now and the heat is hot.
Btw, if anyone ever wants you to change the thermostat in a GM 3100 or 3400 charge them and arm and a leg lol, they are a b-tch to get to and take about and hour and a half.
 
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