need to replace the heater core???

[tporte26]

i need to replace the heater core on my 95 buick lesabre. i dont have heat i replaced the thermastat and husband said try the core but he too does not know where it is thought it was behind the glove box but no

[imidazol97]

Originally Posted by tporte26

i need to replace the heater core on my 95 buick lesabre. i dont have heat i replaced the thermastat and husband said try the core but he too does not know where it is thought it was behind the glove box but no

Are you getting water flow through the radiator? After the car is good and warmed up, feel both heater hoses next to the firewall with the heater blower running on high. Both hoses should be almost as warm as the other; that means coolant is flowing through the heater core rapidly enough for the core to stay warm. If one hose is cooler that means something is blocking the core. It could be crud from not changing the antifreeze often enough to air.

With the car fully heated, like after driving 20 minutes, race the motor for 10 seconds at 2500 rpm and repeat for 5 times total. This supposed to push and air bubble out of the heater. I do that with the car radiator uphill to help air get out after I've done my biannual drain and flush.

Then bleed the air out of the system at the bleeder screw on top of the thermostat housing.

If the heater core is HOT,

Is the air inside the car blowing out the defroster instead of the floor? Or if blowing out on the floor, does it respond to changing the temp on the controls? There is an actuator motor on top of the heater box connected with a short metal rod snapped to an arm that moves the heat vane inside the heater box to control how much hot air gets mixed in with the cool air bypassing the heater core. Those motors crack gears or quit. You should be able to see it moving when you change the temp with the car ignition turned ON and the heater ON. You have to take off the hush panel above the passenger's feet. Not sure how your glovebox sits, but I remove my glovebox door also.

If you determine the heater core is blocked you might be able to remove both heater hoses at the other ends (easier to get to) and gently run water both ways through heater and even try some radiator flush chemical to dissolve the crud. Remember the pressure never goes above 17 lb. on the radiator, so don't put a garden hose with 30 lbs up against one of the hoses; you can damage the heater core with pressure.

[Blue Bowtie]

If you determine the core is the problem, it is accessible from inside the vehicle, forward of the glove box. The most difficult parts of the replacement are access to the heater hoses in the engine compartment and resetting the damper controls if the system has the two-zone electronic HVAC system.

[tporte26]

i dont know if the heater core is bad so i just took it back but the heater only blows in the defost mode but does not get hot like in other cars it might get to room temp. but when snowing or gunck from melting snow/ice everything freezes i cant even drive when snowing/ice because too scared to crash my son is allways taking the dash apart for the sterio do you think that something is not right when he put it back together because not only do i not have heat i dont have dash lights and the fuses are good