2004 Taurus, no heat.

I have an `04 Duratec with 100,000 miles on it. The AC works great but when I try the heater it just blows whatever temperature the outside air is. Any suggestions as to what to look at first?

i've got a 2001 taurus and am having the same problem with heat and cruise control. I'm not car savy, but have read on here in multiple posts saying to back flush the heater core a few times and it should help. as for the cruise control i have no idea. i checked and replaced all my fuses but thats about the extent of my knowledge lol also on the heater core check your blend door if it's broken or stuck it won't allow for heat. on mine its on the passenger side close to the floor to the left of the heater core. It's been said you have to tear apart the entire dash to get the heater core but but i've looked at mine and i think with some finagling i can get it out just by removing the panel under the glove compartement. it will be uncomfortable but i think i can get it i'll post again when i get off my lazy butt and do it. the blend door should be to the right and above your heater core. If you pull your glove compartment all the way down until it detaches and you will see a white box.. that is your blender door motor..underneath that is your blender door to get the steps to get to it i would suggest the manual as it has been a couple of months since i tore into mine. there is a site posted telling you how to remove the heater core without removing the dash but if you have small enough hands you should be able to get to everything. it might hurt a little and be uncomfortable lol it was for me, but i got the motor off and checked my blend door. mine was fine but numerous others on this site replaced theirs and it fixed the problem. and aonce again when i find the time and I'm:evillol: not to lazy lol i'll rip out my heater core and post on how it went.
have you checked your thermostat. It may be stuck open. My taurus eng. will get hot then after a couple of minutes with the heater on the eng. temp will drop and the slight heat i did have will be gone. during the winter months i have to constantly cycle the switch on and off to get any heat or freeze on the way to work(which is what i usually do lol) also check your coolant mixture. Not sure if it matters or not but it seems to me coolant is designed to cool your super hot engine so it doesn't blow. If your running to rich of a mixture and my logic isn't completely jacked up it may prevent your coolant from heating up enough to provide adequate heat to the cabin. I was running 100% coolant and when i changed to 50/50 it helped a little. Which all that did was tell me the problem was elsewhere but at least i could rule that out

I may be in luck inregards to the water pump, heater core and thermostat being OK. I found out that if I start the car with the heater on and the temperature control on max. I'll get all the heat I can handle. However if I start out with the temperature control on min. and then try to turn up the heat I get nothing. I'm hoping this narrows the problem down to the blend door actuator.