How Hot should your heater be????

[bjstorm69]

This has been a cold winter in michigan and my 99 SSEI does not produce the heat that my other vehicles do.............So, I am assuming I have a problem. My other vehicles (08 Saturn Outlook, 01 3.8 Camaro, and '89 chevy V8 truck) blow hot air on the floor that is to hot for your hand to stay there. Not the most scientific method, but it is a very significant difference. I read as much on this forum as I could to determine what to do.

Before I started, I performed a functionality test per what I read here. The blower motor incremented at by each press of the button, pressing the mode switch, I verified that air came out of the appropriate vents, and I watched the blend door drive assembly as it went through its programed modes and responded to different temperature setting. I even "pushed" lightly on the white arm to make sure the gears were not stripped and that it went to the maximum travel at each end. The recirc button functions noticeably while driving, but not while being parked. The temperature gauge reads an exact 200 degrees, and the cooling system was flushed this summer and filled with 50/50 mixture. I wanted to make sure everything worked and was clean. The car has 130K on it and I decided to start by replacing the heater core and blower motor. I am assuming at this point that my heater core is bad. I removed the cowl cover, cleaned it, and looked for debris. I removed the blower motor and speed switch. I found alot of grass covering the AC evaporator core. I cleaned it out and proceeded to start to remove the heater core.

http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/bjsto ... 2.jpg.html

After removing the heater core, I looked for any obstructions and checked all of the sealing areas and doors. I blew air through the AC core, but nothing came out, just a little dust. I did that before this picture so the system was rather clean. The black condensate mat looked good as well as everything else did.

http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s62 ... 1392536434

I put everything back together, added a little antifreeze and started it up. Nothing changed at all. So I replaced the thermostat, still no change.

I hate to write a book here, but I can't seem to figure this out. I thought that I should get more hot air out then what I am getting..................Any advice?

P.S. Still working on inserting pictures.

[quicksilver]

If you replaced the heater core and that didnt solve it, I'm not sure then. Since that would be the last thing to look at after everything else checks out you would think the old one would be plugged. Otherwise, that car should cook you out of it at full blast. Somebody more experienced should be able to help you out then.

As for pictures.

http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... ic146.html

The pb site has changed its format, but its all basically the same and pretty easy to navigate. Good luck with your heating issue, its no fun to be cold in a car when its been as cold as it is outside.

[bjstorm69]

Thanks for your post, I thought that I found the real problem when I saw the grass on the AC core. I do not know how that got there because when I removed the cowl there was no significant debris under it. I looked for signs of mice, but didn't see anything.

here are some of the cowl pictures, any questions or comments would greatly be appreciated.

http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s62 ... e31a41.jpg

http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s62 ... 9f7b88.jpg

[MattStrike]

Did you actually replace the heater core? You can check it by removing the cover under the dash and feeling each of the tubes that go across the heater core. They should be hot when the car is up to temp, even with air blowing past. Any that are cool or just lukewarm are plugged.

Another thing to check is if the check valve (upper hose on the part that comes off the engine) is clogged/broken. I just took it out of mine.

[bjstorm69]

I put a new heater core in regardless. The design of the heater core would allow sediment up to the lower hose outlet. So I felt it best just to replace it. I will check the valve thing. I thought it was just a restrictor.......so it is ok to remove this?

[MattStrike]

Yes, I don't know what it does, I took mine out because it was a glob of mess when I did the engine swap.

[SSEBonne4evr]

My 96 SE does not blow hot air either, its warm but not hot like the Camaro
that will cook your legs.
May just be the nature of the beast or the air mix door is not closing all the way.
Too cold here to work on these thing.
10 degrees, did the upper heater hose and stat yesterday (30 degree's out).
It was a bear to get the ducts and hoses together in the cold.

[bjstorm69]

I have not been able to work on it since I last posted here. I am going to remove the restricter thing and see what that does. I am going to try and take some temperature readings somehow and see if that can answer a few questions. PLEASE feel free to give me any advice, I am so sick of this not working properly............thanks

[blackbeauty99]

mine is warm but its not hot enough to burn your hands, also the drivers side has poor air flow...I got better air flow by blocking the vent near the passenger door..

but now when I crank my temp down to 60 I get full force air...what gives?

[SSEBonne4evr]

I have not been able to work on it since I last posted here. I am going to remove the restricter thing and see what that does. I am going to try and take some temperature readings somehow and see if that can answer a few questions. PLEASE feel free to give me any advice, I am so sick of this not working properly............thanks

You can get a lot more heat out of it by just hitting the recirculate button.
This will reduce the amount of ice cold outside air coming in.
Increases heater core output, same thing in the extreme heat of the summer when
cooling.

[KM AXer]

Yea, the heater in my SSE is not what I'd call toasty either. It does work, and over time the car will get plenty warm, but it takes at least half an hour of driving to get it there. Certainly too cold to turn wrenches here (Michigan) this year so far. I'll check into the suggestions when it gets a bit warmer out.

In the meantime, I have a plug-in heat pad for the seat, and that takes the chill out of the leather under and behind me, at least.

A concern over using the inside air is that it will tend over time to retain a higher moisture level in the car and fog the windows. But I will be giving that a try for the first ten minutes of my drive to work and see how well it speeds up the time lapse between Brrrrr! and Comfy!

[bjstorm69]

Sorry guys, I have been busy with so many other things, I haven't had time to reply. I did a bunch of infra red temperature readings and basically found that the connectors on the engine are about 190' on output, and 180' on the return side. I cracked open the heater core cover and read about 190'. The heater duct work on the bottom read about 160' but the output air was considerably less. I put a piece of thin metal by the output for about ten minutes and it read 140'. Compared to my other vehicles, I have a much greater volume of air coming out of the floor ducts and the air temperature on the steel was around 170'. It seems to me that there is not enough volume of air coming out of the ducts of this system. When I go to the junk yard again, I am going to cut the wire pigtail that goes to the blower motor and wire it up direct to see if it will spin faster. I did notice however, the fan does not seat up against its air draw opening. It is about a 1/2 inch away. This may cause a lack of pressure in the system, but I will look more into this at a later date. I also removed the restrictor assembly from the heater hose neck and it did not make a difference at all. Even if I run it in recirc mode, it doesn't get nearly warm enough in my car. On long trips my wife and I have to have a blanket with us to cover our legs. Like I said earlier, my other vehicles do not have this issue even when it is well below zero. When I figure this all out, I will post my findings here. I have really ripped this car apart to try and figure this all out.....it has been very discouraging. It has made this vehicle very impractical for winter use.

[SSEBonne4evr]

Did you check the air mix door behind the glove box??
It could have leaves in the bottom of the duct not allowing it to close
all the way, or the adjustment rod could be out a little.
My climate control gets lowered to 75 deg on long trips as it gets plenty
hot after a while.