1997 Ford Taurus no heat

ROD KNOCK

MEMBER
1997 FORD TAURUS

Heater problem
1997 Ford Taurus 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 97k miles

My neighbor's '97 Taurus 3.0L w/97k miles and auto climate control has no heat. The local dealer said it is a problem "with the doors in the air box". I guess they mean the blend door. I ran a quick test - with the car hot and the heat on max, the heater hoses were not hot, not even warm. The other bypass hoses and all were at operating temp. I looked up any TSB's on Alldata and found there was a recall for the water pump bypass hose. The manufacturers letter to the dealer says to also replace the water pump. Two of the symptoms of this recall are lack of heat and a coolant leak from engine. My friends engine does also have a very slight water leak in front of the engine. The coolant is topped off. I did notice all of the bypass hoses by the firewall have been replaced but not the actual heater core hoses. This cooling system is a bit more complicated than the usual older cars. Could it be possible the hoses are connected wrong feeding both sides of the core therefore cancelling flow? The only other things I could think of is a clogged core (full system flush at local independent shop recently) or trapped air. Any ideas?

1 Reply

TAURUSWHEEL

MECHANIC
718 POSTS

Try pulling the heater hoses directly off the core and flushing the core directly thru one side, then the other. Many have had good results with this. The hose system they use contributes to making a routine flush problematic sometimes. Also sometimes issues with the waterpump impellars wearing away, resulting in poor or no circulation. If most of the hoses are hot, try the flush I recommended.