So I haven't had heat in the truck since my motor swap but lately the cold has just been to much in bear at 5am on my way to work. The blower works, and I do have moving air in the cab when it's on & a slight amount when it's off. But never get heat. I replaced the thermostat thinking it might be just stuck open but no good. The coolant temp never got above 160 before I changed it. Thinking it might be clogged or just to cold of a temp for the truck I replaced it with a 180f from orileys it was a buck cheaper then the oem 195. Pulled the old one out & found it was a 195f one. So after I changed the thermostat for the new 180f one I topped off the coolant & took it for a drive & now it runs at 140-150f on the gauge so it's running colder still. So I'm stumped. It was around mid 30's on the test drive but when I left my house it was at 160 & less then a min after leaving the house got up to 60 mph & it dropped to almost 140 & stayed there so I'm stumped. Any info you need on the truck should be in my build thread for my daily driver. Otherwise it's a 99 s10 pickup w/ 2.2 & 5spd.
Thanks for any help guys

 

#1 You need a 195F thermostat.
#2 Don't trust the dash gage.
#3 Make sure the cooling system is "burped" and full.
#4 Make sure both heater hoses are hot at the heater core.

 

Have you even tried to flush the heater core? That would of been one of the first things I did.

 

My heat doesn't work either. I flushed the heater core and the entire cooling system. Both hoses are hot, correct thermostat, and no coolant on the passenger floor. Good luck with getting it fixed!

 

I bought some Stuff to flush yesterday I'm just waiting for it to warm up. I'm thinking about hooking the garden hose up to the in let of the heater core & flushing it to see if that makes a difference.
Capt.- I decided to run the one 180* because it was cheaper & the 2.2s are notorious for blown head gaskets to I was trying to keep the temp down alittle. Also the sys is full I spent a good 1/2hr burping it after I installed the new thermostat.

 

The 180F thermostat will likely set a P0128 DTC and turn on the SES light. Fuel mileage and engine performance will also suffer from running too cold. The dollar you saved on the stat will probably cost you $3 in the first tank of fuel!

 

Mine is running around 195/200. Is that around normal running temp?

 

The most accurate way to check it is with a scan tool, don't rely on the dash gauge. A 195 stat begins to open at 195 degrees and regulates very close to 198 degrees.

 

Yeah, my gauges do act up. The oil gauge sometimes idles at 60,, sometimes 40 sometimes below 40, but always goes up to around 60 when I press the throttle.

 

Swanman- my oil gauge does the same thing.

Capt. I don't have a scan gauge so my guage has to do.