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heater blowing cold

49K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  dtownrr 
#1 ·
Okay guys I'm a bit confused here, the climate control knob is on heat, the truck is at normal temp, it blows air but it isn't pleasant with this cold Texas weather, there isn't any moisture or wet content on the floorboard from the heater core. Just not understanding why it still blows but not heat?!!? Do you guys think that my system is clogged?? (corroded) :4-dontknow:
 
#3 ·
Couple things to try, first would be to backflush the heater core if that doesn't work make sure that the blend door is opening correctly. Not sure how to do it on an 02, hopefully someone will chime in with some better instructions on how to check that.
 
#4 ·
I just finished putting a new heater core in my 2002 ram with a 5 speed,only took 19 hours to do it.It started out by blowing luke warm air,then to a puddle in my floorboard.Definetly flush it out.The blend door is tricky to get at ,its behind the glove box and you still have to take apart the dash to get to it.Be careful the dash will crumble.
 
#6 ·
I was having the same problem with my 03 last year except I also had problems with the air flow, it seemed even at full blow that it wasn't that strong. It ended up being the heater core. It wasn't leaking inside the cab but I could smell anti-freeze when I would turn on the heat. I also noticed after about a month that my anti freeze was down a tad. My mechanic first flushed the system and it worked great, didn't notice any leak so we thought we fixed it. After a couple of days I was back to cold air. Checked the thermostat and nothing so I ended up forking out the money and replaced the heater core. A year later I still have nice warm and steady heat.
 
#7 ·
In reference to (Camarata)

Yeah man that's crazy that you mentioned that because every once in a while when I turn the heater on, I smell anti-freeze, I heard the heater core was only like 50-60 bucks, not to bad I'm just afraid of the repair as far as taking the dash out!

Ricksbuells: So what do you mean when you say the dash will crumble? The blend door, are these the doors that open up to front vents or dash vents? Because if I want to put it on a certain vent, like defrost or floor only, I hear clicking and stuff but never adjust to my desired choice, it stays on defrost.

Stomp3r: How do you back flush a heater core?
 
#10 ·
In reference to (Camarata)

Yeah man that's crazy that you mentioned that because every once in a while when I turn the heater on, I smell anti-freeze, I heard the heater core was only like 50-60 bucks, not to bad I'm just afraid of the repair as far as taking the dash out!

Ricksbuells: So what do you mean when you say the dash will crumble? The blend door, are these the doors that open up to front vents or dash vents? Because if I want to put it on a certain vent, like defrost or floor only, I hear clicking and stuff but never adjust to my desired choice, it stays on defrost.

Stomp3r: How do you back flush a heater core?
If you are not careful the dash breaks apart really easy like they are ate up from being exposed to the elements. The blend door and the other vent doors are in a black box behind your glove box.They all have acuator motors on them ,there are 3 of them and you have to remove the dash to get to them .If you are hearing clicking I would say that one is slipping through the gears and not opening.I cut a rectangular hole in my firewall right at the heater core hoses and made a cover from sheet metal that can be removed. The heater core lays flat and is held by 1 screw now I can remove it in 5 min. start to finish.Why can't the factory do this from the start? Hope this helps, it took me alot of time learning the hard way.
 
#8 ·
In reference to (Camarata)

Yeah man that's crazy that you mentioned that because every once in a while when I turn the heater on, I smell anti-freeze, I heard the heater core was only like 50-60 bucks, not to bad I'm just afraid of the repair as far as taking the dash out!

Ricksbuells: So what do you mean when you say the dash will crumble? The blend door, are these the doors that open up to front vents or dash vents? Because if I want to put it on a certain vent, like defrost or floor only, I hear clicking and stuff but never adjust to my desired choice, it stays on defrost.

Stomp3r: How do you back flush a heater core?
 
#9 ·
Exactly, the price of the heater core isn't bad it's dealing with your dash that sucks. Since its not just a quick fix. You might as well check the door while you have the dash off. I couldn't tell you where everything is at but there are a lot of great guys on here with endless info. If you smell a little anti freeze once in a while, check to see if the reservoir is a little down compared to normal or if you have any residue starting to form on the windshield. Tell take sign of a bad heater core.. Hope you figure it out. Nothing worse than having air blow out but it being cold instead of hot.

If you aren't losing any anti freeze or seeing any residue or moisture on the floor(which I wasn't I could only smell it) it would be a lot cheaper / time efficient to just flush the system.

Keep us posted!
 
#11 ·
My brother was having a problem on his 2012 it would run at temp and blow hot air then he would shut it off and go in a store and come back out and it would blow cold air only. So I pulled the glove box out and looked around under the dash and found the actuator that opened and closed for hot/cold air was stuck closed and wouldn't adjust with the turn of the heat knob. When he shut off his truck the actuator would open to the hot position, so I unplugged the actuator so it couldn't let cold air blow. Then started the truck plugged it back In and it seems to be working fine now. If you are sitting in the passenger seat the actuator is on the left side behind the glove box. Hope that helps.
 
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