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2001 Taurus interior heating issues


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Apparently it's an inherent design flaw is all I can determine. The car can be idling for 10 minutes in the morning in the driveway and no heat is built up inside the car and the gauge doesn't come up one bit. I have to drive 2 miles before I get heat and the gauge comes up between one-third and half way. There are no numbers on the gauge. Also, when I'm stopped the fan blows out luke-warm to cool air. Heater core was replaced a year ago; thermostat can't be bad if I get good heat while moving. Cardboard in front of the radiator won't help an idling issue, right? Coolant level is right up there. Any thoughts?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some last minute thoughts and observations: For kicks I put some cardboard in front of the radiator. Instead of permanently reattaching the grille, I mechanic-wired it back into place. While at a standstill, the air seems a little warmer, not much, but an improvement. I think the engine compartment is just getting too much air flow. As far as the water pump goes, the only time I ever changed a water pump was when it was leaking from the seep hole, and I would still have heat! I'm wondering if a malfunctioning coolant sensor is overly activating the fan(s). Also, I get better heat at 45 MPH than I do at 60 MPH. Less cool air is entering the engine compartment. And I get better heat if I turn the fan speed down a notch; I think the higher blower motor speed is actually cooling the air! I've driven a company-owned 2005 Taurus and you have to open the windows if all settings are maxed! Did they lessen the air intake into the engine compartment?

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The thermostat should be controlling engine (and thus heater output) temp. Airflow across the radiator means absolutely dick unless it is overheating. Fans on, fans off, speed, it doesn't matter. The water pump could be bad. Tauruses, especially with Vulcans have cooling issues that allow the fins of the pump to become eroded, thus allowing it to not move the coolant properly. Vulcans have issues plugging heater cores. If it was not properly flushed (with a chemical flush like VC-9) there is a good probability that it could be plugged again. The thermostat could be bad. As stated before, it could be open, allowing coolant to circulate when it should not. It could have a failed head gasket allowing combustion gas into the system which affects the ability to flow coolant through the core as it creates an air bubble in the system that the pump cant pump out. It could have a leak at the timing chain cover or intake allowing it to get low on coolant and/or let air into the system. If you're going to shotgun parts and not actually diagnose, shotgun a thermostat at it. But because it loses heat again when you stop, a thermostat is probably not the answer, but its cheap. Proper diagnosis by a qualified technician will be cheap in the long run though too.

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Iirc, when the engine never heats up the computer will keep it in "warm up" mode.

 

In my old Ranger, this would take a little away from mpgs. My old Ranger would eat thermostats--the wax plug variety. In every case, a new thermostat fixed the issue. Before I gave it to my BIL, I used to keep a spare on hand. My truck probably got 5 or more in the 20 years I had it.

 

And yes, I still got a little warmth while driving, but the temp gauge did exactly what the op described and only came up a little.

Edited by RangerM
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  • 1 month later...

In this never ending saga, figure this out: Under moderate to heavy acceleration, 90 percent of the blower air flow abates and the remaining 10 percent is cool. One friend of mine says he has a Ranger with same problems and that the air cond. compressor is responsible for the heating as well as AC and maybe that's why I get no heat and cool air under acceleration. Is this possible? Another guy said his brother took his mother's Taurus and thinking there was an air bubble in the system, raised the front at a 45 degree angle to no avail. My friend then took it, accelerated heavily up a hill in low gear and from then on the car had great heat. Today for some reason, I all of a sudden achieved fantastic heat for no apparent reason! Temp gauge reading is always higher than normal when this occurs. This happens once every two weeks. It was so hot I had to turn it down/lower the window! Totally baffling.

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Apparently it's an inherent design flaw is all I can determine. The car can be idling for 10 minutes in the morning in the driveway and no heat is built up inside the car and the gauge doesn't come up one bit. I have to drive 2 miles before I get heat and the gauge comes up between one-third and half way. There are no numbers on the gauge. Also, when I'm stopped the fan blows out luke-warm to cool air. Heater core was replaced a year ago; thermostat can't be bad if I get good heat while moving. Cardboard in front of the radiator won't help an idling issue, right? Coolant level is right up there. Any thoughts?

Car is 14 years old I doubt it would be a "design flaw."

Why was the heater core replaced, leak or clogged?

If it was clogged and the system was not thoroughly cleaned the problem remains.

One of these is very helpful to diagnose a problem like this:

568_566.jpg

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