I wish it had been that easy for you. The coolant from the engine to the heater core comes from the top of the engine. So if the coolant level is low it will not circulate through the heater core. If the coolant level is marginal you will get heat if the rpms are high enough but an lower rpms there will be little or no heat.

With the engine warmed up feel the heater hoses. If they both feel about the same temp. then the heater core is circulating. If the one from the intake manifold is hot and the other one is cool or cold then the coolant is not circulating through the heater core.

 

Yes Terry S , I read that about the heater hoses going to the heater core and I tried it tonight. Sure enough the one hose was warm while the other one I could barely hold onto for more than a couple seconds.

I got a garden hose out and tommorow im going to my parents to try and flush out the core.

Besides trying not to force too much water pressure through the core is there anything else I should be aware of?

I still have dexcool in the system so i will be topping it up with dexcool untill i get the whole system profesionaly flushed when i have more money. I hope this works.

 

I had no heat and instead of using water(cold outside) I just used an air compressor and blew out the antifreeze that was in there and I saw a chunk of crud come out and the heat works now Make sure your blowing through the outlet so everything comes out the inlet, for us it's the right one to blow into if your looking at the engine from the front. Found it out with the heater hose check.

 

Reverse flush as the post above said. And you are right about not using too much pressure. I just hold the garden hose up to the heater hose with a medium flow of water. You can always start out with a small flow of water and as the water comes out the other hose you can increase the flow to get a good flush. As long as the water is flowing through the heater core at close to the same rate that it comes from the garden hose you will not build much pressure in the core. Where you get into trouble is if there is no flow or a trickle through the core and you over pressure trying to force the blockage out. If you have trouble you can always try switching hoses & try flushing back & forth both ways to dislodge the blockage. Do not directly connect the garden hose to the heater hose. The system is designed to operate around 16 psi. I don't know what pressure the heater core can take before it leaks. Most water systems run from 40 psi to well over 100 psi.

Good luck with the flush.

 

Well I flushed the heater core yesterday with a garden hose and I got alot of orange chunky particals out. I put everything together and let it run for a really long time with the heater cranked until it was at normal operating temp and topped off the rad.

I took it for a drive and when I got home I checked the heater hoses and they were both very hot and now im glad to say my heater blows out fire now.

Im still going to get everything flushed out as soon as I have money because im guessing it hasnt been done yet.

Thankyou everyone for your help.

 

i have had the same problem and have an 01 i just picked up in addition to my 2002, my O2 i had to replace the core, this one (01) im going to flush, you cant go wrong by replacing the t-stat its 10 bux, and simple. im an experienced auto tech and do all the work myself but even replacing the core isnt a bad job, looks way more intimidating than it is. just be gentle while flushing the core the fins cant take too much pressure. were all here to help each other.....any other questions put em up