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Help! Heater still not working!

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6.8K views 43 replies 10 participants last post by  mOy  
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#1 ·
I had the thermostat replaced and the cooling system bled by my mechanic and the heater STILL doesn't work. My car is "overheating" but I really think its the temp. sensor and not that it's actually overheating because on a cold morning I start my car and drive it and in less than 5 minutes of having turned it on the temp gauge blinks "H". NO WAY its already overheating and I'm freezing to death. I had to put in more coolant when I got the car back b/c I noticed the coolant was low but it still didn't fix the problem. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when I turn off my car, I hear sort of like a swooshing liquid sounds coming from the engine bay and that's why I thought it was air in the system but I guess it wasn't it. My mechanic wants to change the heater control valve next but I just don't wanna keep replacing all these parts that don't solve the initial problem.

Any help or words of advice?

Also FYI: I just changed the IACV and the car idles smoothly for the most part....when its at operating temp. But on a cold start, it still idles at 2,000+ RPM and after about a minute starts going ridiculous and idles roughly bouncing around from 1,800 to 2,100 RPM very very fast...then slowly returns to a high smooth idles as it warms up to eventually a smooth perfect 800 idle.

Any idea why it would idle horribly on every cold start?

Thanks,
Gio
 
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#6 ·
once you get that system burped, and ran, and she's cooling the way it should. check your heater core hoses. grab each one and see if there just as warm as the radiator hoses. that'll tell you if your getting flow to your heater core or not.

if still no heat then you'll have to check the actuator to your heater door. and so on and so forth. but i doubt its that issues. so let us know how the burping goes.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
ok so i think there might be a bigger problem.

So I was about to do the bleeding procedure but I noticed the coolant reservoir had NO coolant in it (engine is cold). WTH! I just refilled the coolant to the MAX line THREE days ago! So, I'm guessing it has to be a leak and that would explain why my hoses are covered with white stains....or is it something else?

I am suspecting a blown head gasket as well as the car blows white smoke from the exhaust but only when taking it to ~5k RPM and higher. The engine runs like complete crap and feels very jerky when its cold but then runs seemingly ok when at operating temp.

UPDATE:

I refilled the coolant to max line before starting up engine for the first time today. At cold start, the exhaust was blowing white smoke but it gradually lessened until no more smoke came out. Then I let it idle for about 20 minutes. The cooling fans did not come on and even though the temperature gauge was at operating temp, most of the hoses felt cold still. Then, I drove it around my block and immediately the temp gauge started going up. I stopped and opened the hood and now the cooling fans were on. I kept driving for ONE more block, and the temp gauge started flashing and reading "H." I stopped again, opened the hood and now I saw that the little tube for excess coolant was throwing coolant out and the cooling fans were blowing the coolant all over my hoses and engine. There's my "leak" that was causing coolant to be spilled everywhere..but i guess that's normal.

So I turned off the car, and opened the oil cap and I could see some sort of slight vapor coming out and it smelled weird but I couldn't pinpoint if its the smell of antifreeze or just normal hot oil. In any case, even though the car was overheating, the block didn't feel ridiculously hot to the touch and most hoses were STILL cold as hell.

Any thoughts?
 
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#8 ·
pull your dip stick and see if your oil is over full (coolant) taste the oil and see if theres traces of coolant.

when he filled your system did it get burped and refilled? sounds like you got a blown head gasket by the sounds of it. could have been caused by you over heating the engine multiple times.

jack your cars front end up as high as you can go. then remove the radiator cap. or even the little burp plug. start car, massage the hoses and try to get the air out of the system. as in lower radiator mainly until she starts to operate at normal temps.

and if your blowing coolant out your little tube thats a good indicator that your either over full, air in the system expanding and pushing coolant out. or a head gasket gone out and your cylinders are actually pressurizing your cooling system.
 
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#12 ·
Pool Playen Bob said:
and if your blowing coolant out your little tube thats a good indicator that your either over full, air in the system expanding and pushing coolant out. or a head gasket gone out and your cylinders are actually pressurizing your cooling system.
Click to expand...
OP did you un-screw the little cap on the right section of the resivior when you tried to clear the bubble?
The best way to do clear the system is jack the front up slightly or park on a hill.
Open resivior caps one on the left and right.
Start car when cold and turn heater on full blast.
when the air gets hot then the bubble is cleared.

You may have to screw the little cap down and unscrew it a few times to help clear it.

An engine shop can do a simple dye test to see if your head gasket is blown.
 
G
#9 ·
well, at least I now know why the heater's not working. The heater core's clogged. I heard it was expensive to get this replaced mainly because of the labor. Is it really?
 
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G
#14 ·
Now I went to another mechanic and this one said that my thermostat is stuck! WTH! I just had a NEW thermostat put in! So he told me to go back to the mechanic that changed the thermostat because this one's bad. -_-
 
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V
#15 ·
GioGTS: I remember your other thread about issues with mechanics and possibly selling your car but it needed so much work. Glad to see you still have your car.

I think you need to either decide that YOU CAN do this work yourself, or you need to take the car straight to Toyota and fork over the money for a full diagnosis on all your issues. Bouncing between numerous mechanics doesn't do anything but add confusion for you and provides the mechanics with lots of things to swap and bill you for.

I've fought this issue before. I replaced my radiator hoses with red ones and it let in a TON of air. I had to bleed my car 3 times before it was finally happy and blowing heat again. I got my car so far in the air that my exhaust canister was touching the ground. Follow the bleeding procedure exactly as it's written. It wont lead you astray.

It sounds like you have a blown head gasket too from your descriptions. You really should look at that cause once that motor blows your car really will be worth nothing.
 
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#21 ·
this.... ^^ seriously just do it.
its very uncommon a thermostat to fail shut. there designed to fail open. there for very little heat can be built up for your core.

seriously dude. burp that system. otherwise your gonna waist a **** ton of money paying someone else to diagnose it. since your mechanic cant do his job take it to a shop. or burp in yourself. quit dancing around on it.

i'd almost swear you were trolling..... based on how naive you are on not wanting to burp it for 10000 reasons.
 
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#23 ·
wow really since june? the only way your gonna learn is to do it man. you'll just have follow the guide and do it. and if you want toyota coolant. which you know you should. then just drain and fill it buddy. and then begin to burp it.

just have to get out there and get to work. or have a buddy who is really good at wrenching. every set up is a little different. so thats why you do your homework. like you have here. and just get it done! if he has issues just show him this site. and the guides to walk him through it.
 
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#27 ·
Got my car back from Toyota. They didn't do anything. They said they would not perform the coolant system flush because of "excessive oil and coolant leaks" so its "not recommended" to flush because the pressure might break something...JUST MY LUCK. I really do own the crappiest GT-S....sigh....

They said the hoses are leaking and in horrible condition, leaking radiator cap, oil leaking from oil pressure switch and some other part I don't remember...

I accomplished NOTHING today. I just took my car back and they didn't charge me anything.
 
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#29 ·
GioGTS said:
They said the hoses are leaking and in horrible condition, leaking radiator cap, oil leaking from oil pressure switch and some other part I don't remember...

I accomplished NOTHING today. I just took my car back and they didn't charge me anything.
Click to expand...
Well atleast you now know what you have to do to make your car run right.
All those parts are easy to swap. Really are. My pet ferret could do it....

And they didn't charge you which is another plus
 
G
#33 ·
Thanks. I'm taking it Monday to a friend's mechanic. He says he trusts him with anything because he's always fixed all the problems he's had with every one of his cars. Hopefully, I'll have better luck then.
 
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#35 ·
I just came back from bleeding the system. Air bubbles came out but no still no heat. I did realize that every hose got hot EXCEPT for the passenger side radiator hose and the more hidden of the two heater hoses. What's this mean? Did my mechanic install a faulty thermostat? or something else?
 
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#36 ·
I am currently having the exact same problem with my celica mine said over heating and no head tried thrmo nothing just did water pump last night nothing i fear the worst... head must come off...
 
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