another heater question

97 tuarus v6, 85,000 miles. Temp gage say nomal, engine at idle . . . no heat. rev the engine and it gets hot. So I clean the heater core flushes with good flow, I pull the water pump . . . its looks like new. I see theres a by pass hose in a tee between the in and out heater hose so I assume the water is paypassing the heater core at idle and with the engine rev the pump moves more water thru the core and the by pass hose. So the questing is . . is there a malfunctioning check value in the tee or by pass hose that im missing. And what the heck is a bypas hose the the line for anyway. Im thinking that it a bad design by ford . . . maybe the by pass hose is there in the event of a pulg core it will let water continue to flow to the engine but with the bypass hose it also will cause the core to form junk in the core because the water will take the path of least resistance . . . . maybe everybody here with a heater problem should plug the bypass or pinch it off some . . . . any other opioins?

I just plugged my bypass after 3 heater core flushes within 6 months. Worst design I've seen. It looks more like a bandaid for another problem. There is a lot of crud left in the engine block that slowly gets caught in the heater core, rather than clean the castings it looks like a bypass was added be sure the engine doesn't overheat. BTW: I added a coolant filter just before the heater core just to make the flushing process easier.

Can you buy a coolent filter at the auto parts or did you have to make it your self?

I took mine off my diesel. They are fairly expensive but You can get one here

http://www.flojet.com/prodInfoApp/servlet/DisplayProducts?typeId=FMB20&page=0&catalogId=Beverage&categoryId=FISBV

I am getting one of these for the taurus and then I will replace the one from my diesel.

JIM