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Car with no heat....

L

loggerbomb

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
3,744
Location
Kitchener, ON Canada
So the other night, when that big storm came through I was driving home after work and noticed when I started the car that there was a thump, some vibration and a high pitched noise coming from the middle of the dash, above where the HVAC controls are. The vibration and sound went away, but I did not have any heat. Same thing today when I started the car to go home. I got the thump, vibration and high pitched sound and no heat. I did notice that the wind from outside seemed to be going right through the vents in the car but maybe that was me just freezing my nuts off....

I am wondering if this is a heater core problem? At first when there was no heat I thought, ok, water pump just went. But I didn't get any increased engine temps, but than again when it's -20C outside, I think it would take a while to get the engine to overheat... :confused:
 
I was not very clear about it so I did not post earlier. I think it has to do with the vacuum. I can't remember what is the "default no vacuum" but try turning all a/c controls to OFF. And "see" you can hear the sound again when you start it the next time. Something like that sounds like a combination of the serpentine belt and "blend" air door. Do you have the A/C controls at where they are when you turn off the car or do you switch them to OFF before turning the car off during the winter (vent/panel during summer)?
 
I have them on when I start the car. low fan, on defrost. I'll try what you say and see what I get.

FWIW, I should get a new serpentine belt. A few things like that have not been replaced since I bought the car..
 
My con had a similar problem. There is a white box on the pass side of the heater core unit that opens and closes the flapper door that allows heat to come up through the vents. Mine was bad. It wouldnt open. I removed the box and turned the flapper manual and reinstalled the box. Now the flapper is stuck OPEN. WHen the summer time comes I have to replace it or close the flapper so it doenst push heat to the vents.
 
loggerbomb said:
lol thanks tony. You know you should really hit up autozone to have some sort of internet show or get some kind of sponsorship from them!:laugh:
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LOL. I'm just thankful there is a website I can refer to. :laugh:
 
loggerbomb said:
yeah and whats up with the spanish kick? Is this another plug for another site?
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No, senor. Soy estudiente espanol y la mejor manera de aprender es practicar.

Para Inglais, apretar (presione) uno.

No, sir. I am learning Spanish and the best way to learn is to practise. :)
 
tres bien!

For a minute there I thought you typed that you were learning to speak the language so you could teach it. Than I read the rest of the post.

What does poco mean>?
 
Not sure if it is related to my original problem of no heat, but today driving home I took the downtown route and well, the car is running pretty hot. It usually doesn't run this hot till the dog days of summer. So I was wondering if there would be any connection to my lose of heat and the noise behind the front of the dash and the car running warm. I would say my water pump has gone but wouldn't I have seen increased temps prior? I know its been cold out and all and today it is a little more mild but....:shrug::confused:
 
loggerbomb said:
Not sure if it is related to my original problem of no heat, but today driving home I took the downtown route and well, the car is running pretty hot. It usually doesn't run this hot till the dog days of summer. So I was wondering if there would be any connection to my lose of heat and the noise behind the front of the dash and the car running warm. I would say my water pump has gone but wouldn't I have seen increased temps prior? I know its been cold out and all and today it is a little more mild but....:shrug::confused:
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Thermostat?

When heat doesn't blow threw the vents first indication is thermostat.

From what i remember the coolant will leak if your water pump went bad.:shrug:
 
Well I changed the thermostat about 3 summers ago, not sure how long they are supposed to last...

As for the coolant leaking if the water pump is toast, I did look everything over for any obvious problems and noticed that the coolant was a tad lower than where I usually keep it, but as I had not checked it in a while, its hard to say where it really was. I will keep an eye on it for sure.
 
loggerbomb said:
Well I changed the thermostat about 3 summers ago, not sure how long they are supposed to last....
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There is no set date of how long they last. It's only like 10 dollars including gaskets and some of your time.

loggerbomb said:
As for the coolant leaking if the water pump is toast, I did look everything over for any obvious problems and noticed that the coolant was a tad lower than where I usually keep it, but as I had not checked it in a while, its hard to say where it really was. I will keep an eye on it for sure.
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That coolant could have gone down due to your increase of heat as of lately. Coolant does eventually go down.It's only when u see huge drops is when you should be scared.
You will see a leak if the water pump is leaking for sure.
 
Harrry said:
There is no set date of how long they last. It's only like 10 dollars including gaskets and some of your time.

lol, well yeah I do know how much it is, pretty easy to do as well, only pain is getting to the drain for the coolant! I'll likely just change it anyway since I am about due to flush the coolant.
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