2001 taurus heater blowing cool air

[fourby4luv]

my 2001 taurus is blowing coll air i have replaced heater core ,the shutter is working , the hose for and to heater cor is hot what should i check next

[shorod]

Does your Taurus have the electronic automatic temp controls or the manual knobs?

-Rod

[fourby4luv]

it has manual controls

[Colt Hero]

I think this has to be either the heater core is obstructed or the blend door is broken. I know you say you've replaced the heater core, but did YOU do it, or did a "professional" do it? And I know you (sort of) say that the hoses are hot on both sides, but maybe there's enough flow to make the hoses feel hot but not enough flow through the core to blow hot air into the cabin?

I'd check the blend door actuator first. Don't know if it's the same on your Taurus, but on my '97 there is a silver sheet-meal "bar" or sliver-strip under the dash just below the ashtray/radio area that the blend door actuator uses to raise the door up and down. When my actuator broke (plastic gear tooth cracked) it could no longer raise this sliver-bar for heat. For a while there (until I installed the new actuator), I was pushing the bar up manually (for the winter) and keeping it propped up with a small piece of plastic that I jammed into the sliver bar's slotted hole at the bottom. See if you can manually push this bar upward (propping the door up for heat). If you can, your actuator ($40) might be history. Turn the temp knob on the dash and watch the sliver-bar. Is it moving at all? With my car, it would move part of the way, then reach the broken gear tooth, and fall down (blocking heat flow).

Next, I'd flush the core. It might be "new", but it also might be obstructed. If the core is clean and the actuator is working, maybe you could have a problem with the vacuum system that controls the dash airflow. I've never had a problem with mine, but I'd think that if there WAS a problem with this, you'd at least get airflow SOMEWHERE - so I'd suspect this last.

[konaprog]

I have fixed a similar problem. I suspect that the impeller blades on the water pump are eroded but flush the heater core first. Last year, my mother-in-law's 1999 Taurus had been blowing cold air for a while but it wasn't overheating. I flushed out the heater core as best I could using garden hose. The flow through the heater core didn't seem clogged. I pinched off the bypass hose on the engine side of the firewall during the winter and removed the pinch when the weather got warm (not recommended). This year, her heat got worse so I replaced the water pump for about $32 and a few hours labor (I like to take my time). Here is a picture of the impeller blades .
There's a larger pic on http://home.comcast.net/~luthienkona/howto/fordheat.html
- george

[mwt47]

The 3.0 pushrod engine (Vulcan) is notorious for the impeller blades deteriorating and causing this problem.