heat not hot

Dollar

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1995 Buick Roadmaster with 175,000 Mi. /climate control
Welcome to another cold day in Wisconsin.
The car I just bought seems to be in good shape but the heat does not seem to get hot.
Coolant is up to par, and thermostat seems okay, ie/ car run temp seems good.
all climate control functions are good. Automatic and manual positions work. But place your hand by the vent and it just is not hot.
Any ideas?
No hurry; my family enjoys freezing their asses off in the 10 Degree weather.
 
I had the same problem with no heat. Everybody told me to replace the heater core. I said it wasn't leaking so I tried an old method which worked well for me. First I found the restrictor in the heater hose line. I cut on both sides of it and got rid of it. This is the hose from the water pump to the heater core inlet.
I cut the other hose which is the outlet side of the heater. It goes from the heater outlet to the water pump also with a t to the reservoir.
I took my garden hose and cut it in half. It is a 5/8 garden hose. I hooked one end to the faucet and put a 9 inch piece of half inch copper water pipe in the hose and used a hose clamp to secure it. I put the other end of the copper water pipe in the heater core outlet hose. I used the other half of the garden hose the same way and put it in the inlet side to get the water away from the car. I used hose clamps on the heater hoses and the garden hose. I turned the water on at the house faucet slowly and let it run in a bucket untill it ran clear. I then spliced the inlet heater hose from the water pump to the outlet hose using the copper water pipe. I made sure to keep the reservoir full of 50 50 antifreeze. I started the car and waited for the thermostat to open. I had the heater on high. I left the garden hose on the inlet side of the heater core so I put it in the bucket and waited for it to have coolant running through it. First it sputtered while it got the air out. When it started flowing good I shut the car off and took the garden hose off. I spliced the heater hose with the copper pipe and hose clamps. In other words I reversed the flow through the heater core. Now I have the most heat ever. hope this helps
 
lyn, thanks for the reply. I had to read the post a few times to make sence of it, lots of info. I think I understand enough to give it a try.
 
Coolant to the heater core comes from the water pump. The lower hose on the water pump is the heater core inlet.It has the flow restrictor mounted in the hose. This is what I got rid of. I cut the hose on both sides of the flow restrictor and got rid of it. The heater core outlet hose returns to the water pump at the upper hose connection, and also has a T-connector to the pressurized reservoir. When you cut this hose plug the side so the antifreeze won't run out of the reservoir. I forgot to tell you this the first time. I used an old water valve I had laying around. It had the half inch copper pipe soldered to the valve on both sides. It worked well.
I used the garden hose to flush the heater core backwards to get the junk out of it and to make sure it wasn't plugged up. Then I hooked the hose that the restrictor was in to the heater core backwards. Then I started the car untill the thermostat opened and got flow through the heater core to get all the air out of the heater core. I had to rev the car a couple of time to get good flow. I then hooked the heater hose to the copper pipe on the valve that I used to plug the hose to the reservoir. I opened the valve and had good heat. I hope this is a little better to understand. Good luck I am going to try to fix a friends 94 roadmaster the same way sometime this week. Maybe I will get my son to take some pictures with his camera. Hope this works for you . Lyn
 
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I once had a heater core problem where the fix was extremely easy. I simply blasted the vent on full and left it that way for about a week or so - and the heater core become unclogged..
 
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