01 Expy - 20 Need Heat

[Diggerauditor]

Here's my issue guys, had heat at the beginning of the winter season. Noticed I was losing a little coolant over time, no big deal. Wife comes in one day and says there is no heat. I checked the coolant bottle and it was empty, so I filled it up. Now it only gets luke warm. Changed the blend door actuator, it was intermittent. No change. Checked the Blend door itself, works fine, no heat. Noticed coolant on bottom Rad hose going into engine, changed hose since it was original Motorcraft with 170k. No heat. Changed Thermostat, no heat, it was seaping coolant too. It starting building pressure like it should and then blew out the right side of the Radiator, so I changed that. No heat. At this point I'm running out of options... I checked the top Rad hose tonight and it seems almost cool and soft. Heater supply hose to the left of the Upper hose is only warm. Can someone give me some ideas or I'm gonna start putting holes into it with my 45-70....any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[BAD RONALD]

Obviously something is clogged up somewhere. You did not mention a system flush. A flush that includes the engine block is warranted.

 

[stamp11127]

Might want to replace the water pump as a maintanence item at that mileage. Once out you are able to see the condition of the block and the scale amount.
As already mentioned it most likely is a blockage.

 

[Diggerauditor]

Great thx. I went out and bought a new water pump, not a rebuilt or reman. I'm planning on putting it in tomorrow, hopefully before it starts snowing. Is there a special tool for the clutch fan? Looks like left hand threads, which is easy enough.

 

[stamp11127]

As they say in the south "kinda sorta" about the special tool. You need to hold the pulley while installing or removing the fan. Worth the investment to avoid the aggravation of trying to remove it without having it.

 

[BAD RONALD]

Is there a special tool for the clutch fan?

Locally Auto Zone loans this tool at no charge. This is very much appreciated when it comes to single use tools like the clutch fan kit. I have WAY too much sh*t in my garage as it is without collecting non multi-function tools.

 

[Diggerauditor]

No special tools required. Just held it with a 15" Crescent wrench and give a couple whacks with a hammer and it loosened right up, no problem. Easier than my Rangers fan clutch.

So I changed the water pump, everything looked good that I really didn't need to change it but with 180k on the engine I did it anyway. Everything looked good and clean, I always use Prestone coolant. I had no water coming out the top Rad hose so i checked the Thermostat and sure enough it wasn't opening at all until over 200 deg. So I changed it out. The new one started opening at 180 and was fully open at 195 so it was good. Still no water out of top hose, really weird. I did check to see if the water pump was pumping w/o the thermostat in and it was so it's not that. Really stumped. So now I've changed the hoses, thermostat, radiator, and water pump, to no avail. Still have no heat. I am getting water out of the heater hose at the block but haven't checked at the firewall connecting to the heater core.

Is there a special connector or is it just a squeeze clamp that Ford likes to use? Hard to get my fat hand to the firewall. where does the return line go? I see it disappear behind the block so I am assuming it connects to the back of the block... Any help guys would be appreciated.

 

[stamp11127]

I had to use a special tool to get the hoses off the heater core.

How are you determining at what temp the new t stat is opeming?

 

[Al95]

My did the same thing. It was the heater core .

 

[Snapshot]

Chances are that lack of heat is due to a clogged heater core. If your main hoses aren't hot whenever the engine is, then the radiator is possibly clogged somewhere too. My heat started to be lukewarm at best and I done a flush on mine and it was an interesting ordeal. I took the pepcock out and the coolant didn't even start to flow out. I ended up taking an air compressor and blowing air through it and it finally moved enough crap around that it started to poor out (it was pretty nasty). After about 8 cycles of water and cleaner for 10 minute intervals, I had clean water. I filled the coolant back and lord and behold the heat was nice and hot. Unfortunately, I noticed that both the heater core and radiator started to leak. So apparently the crud in it kept them from leaking, so it was a real pain in the a** to deal with at that point. So I'd start with a flush and go from there. Whenever you flush the core, be sure to flush water through both hoses to help loosen up any crap that's caught in there.