'93 Bonnieville Heater Problems

[Anonymous-0]

The heat from my '93 Bonnieville is "warm". Thus the interior does not warm up to a comfortable temperature. The top and bottom heater hose is the same warm temperature when I touch them. I have installed a new 195 degree thermostat. The problem developed suddenly last winter. No recent work had been done or changes made. It is not getting any worse/better. I have not backflushed the heater core.

Any suggestions on what the problem is and how I can fix it?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

 

[glennster]

if the motor is getting up to temp, first, disconnect the lines to the heater core and see if you can flush it with a hose. if the flow is good, next with the hoses disconnected, have someone quickly start the car and see if there is a good flow of coolant out of the supply hose, hold your thumb over the hose to see if it has some pressure. if not, could be the water pump. it is not uncommon for electrolysis to eat up the pump impeller, especially if the wrong coolant or tap water was used instead of distilled. last, could be an air bubble in the cooling jacket restricting flow. look by the thermostat housing for a small plug to vent the air from the cooling system. here is a photo of a water pump that the impeller got ate up on.
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[fixerupper]

Yesterday my neighbor said his daughter's car doesn't have heat until she drives over some rumble strips. Then the heat kicks in.

Had a low heat problem once in a Plymouth Satellite. After searching forever I found a chunk of blue silicone partially blocking the 'in' tube on the heater core. It taught me a good lesson about how to use silicone the right way to keep it from getting into places it shouldn't be. Jim

 

[Haywood]

Dang, I have seen some stuff in my day but not an impellar eaten away.

 

[Anonymous-0]

My 95 Bonneville was the same way, I flushed the heater core out, got alot of stuff out of it! Gets pretty warm now! One hose should be the same temp as the engine,, so if the top hose is hot, one heater hose should be just as hot to the touch. both hoses are cool, then something is blocking flow enough to not allow it to get warm. Chad

 

[glennster]

that one took a while to figgure out. no heat, but car didnt overheat, ran pretty much normal temp . it was prolly thermosiphon cooling enough. when we couldnt get coolant flow in the block, i puulled the water pump and wha-laa, there was the problem. i did a double take, the impeller looked like a circular saw blade!!!!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Excellent tips. I'll look into it & report back. It may be a while though.


Glenn

 

[Anonymous-0]

One thing I forgot to mention....Before switching out the thermostat I put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator, which covered about two thirds of it. It made no difference in the heater performance nor did the temperature guage position change at all....

 

[dave guest]

Woulda lost money on that bet. What base metal is impeller or plastic or what.

 

[RandyB(MI)]

Good info from all. One other thing that will cause no or low heat is a partially blown head gasket. Engine will run as normal but forces combustion air pressure into water jacket and air locks the system so water can't circulate through the heater. If it gets bad enough it will empty your coolant out through the overflo jar. If it has just started it will cause a no heat/no circulate/cool heater hose condition. Easy to check. Open rad up and warm up engine and check for air bubbles.