The heater on my mother's 89 Ford Crown Victoria LTD is not working. She says she has had the heater core replaced twice. I'm going to take it to a mechanical friend tomorrow. Any suggestions as to where we start on this? She says there is air flow. I haven't looked at it yet myself so that's about all I know. I'm not a mechanic but I can check the temp of the in and out hoses on the heater and will do so tomorrow assuming I can find them. Any other suggestions here especially if those hoses show heat flowing thro the heater core?

More info: I drove the car today about ten miles, long enough to warm it up. The air coming from the heater is lukewarm or I suppose a tiny bit more than lukewarm. (It's 29 degrees outdoors today). When the control was set for floor heat, it worked (with lukewarm air of course). When set to "mix" the dash vents barely put out air. When I set it to "vent", the air coming from the dash vents had good airflow and was the same mildly warm temp. The defrost setting seemed to work with good airflow and mild temps. Never could get the heater to put out good, hot air.

What is the best bet for getting good warm/hot airflow?

Thanks

 

You can try flushing out the heater core by removing the hoses at the engine side and running a garden hose water supply through it.Dos this car have automatic temp control?If it does and the heater core flush doesn't work let me know.

 

in the front of the Dash you may have to remove a litel cover there is a ambiant temp sensor these sometimes grt dirt in them and need cleaning it will have a littel grill infront of it
also in the cooling line in engine compartment just before heater core there is a eletric valve i have also seen the conection get dirty and requior cleaning
try these first

 

Maybe the thermostat is stuck open? Is the temp reaching normal range on the guage? Should be 180 or 195F. I had this happen once on a 79 pickup.

 

I had a similar occurrence on my 90 Ford CV. It was the Blend Door that was not working anymore; it mixes cold with warm air from the heater core to provide the temperature as asked for by the setting on the dash. In contrast to all other dampers which are vacuum operated, this one is electric operated and mine was stuck between hot and cold. If both heater hoses are real hot, this is what may be the problem.

 

Davo, Autodoc, Chevyman, thanks for your replies. First, I'm a 59-yr-old grandmother who happens to be handy with do-it-yourself stuff. I'm not a mechanic but when I had a 77 Olds years ago I changed my own oil, installed new headlights and tail light bulbs, and know how to check minor items. This is a newer vehicle & more complicated. I have a couple questions...

Davo...I don't know if it has automatic temp control. I'm not sure what that is. The heat/AC are set by manually moving levers...Soooo..how do I know if it has automatic temp control? My brother and I can manage to flush the heater core but I'm not sure that is the answer as she says it has had two heater cores within the past two or three years. I would assume it had new antifreeze at the same time.

Autodoc...providing I can find the cover grill on the ambiant temp sensor how do I remove it? And if I get it off, what do I use to clean it? Soft brush? Qtip and alcohol? Compressed air? Figured I'd ask before attempting. Also...if I find the electric valve in the engine compartment, what is the method to clean it?

Today she gave me a list of the things it has had in the last two years..two heater cores, a new water pump, new pressure caps, 2 or 3 thermostats, all heater hoses changed.

Thanks for any ideas here. Mom lives on limited income so I'd like to check out what I can before resorting to a 30-mile trip to a Ford dealership.

 

the grill will just pop off with a small screwdriver clean with lite compressed air the valve just disconect the wires and clean with electrical cleaner

 

I had to replace the ambient temp sensor on a Lincoln recently and the dash pad needed to come off but was fairly easy to do that's why I asked about auto temp control.If the fan switch has an auto position it has auto temp control.The valve in the heater hose is cheap as is the sensor about $50 on line for both parts where I looked.I would replace both at the same time.You can try cleaning the sensor but it didn't work for me.

 

JayPete, please let us know what the problem was.

 

Went over to Mom's today and took a careful look at the dash. I don't see anything that resembles a grill cover for an ambient temp sensor. I took some digital photos of the dash area and posted them to my webshots album at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/whitestone777

Since I am almost mechanically illiterate I told her I cannot fix it and have an appointment to take it to a local garage (no Ford dealer within 35 miles) on Wednesday. We'll give them a list of what has been done to it in the past and ask them to check it and give us an estimate of cost of repair.

I'll come back and let you know what we find out and what needed done. Thanks, guys, for taking the time to advise.

Judy

 

Look at the picture of the right side dash. Just above and to the left of the "crown victoria" symbol, between the two screws is an opening. Behind there is the ambient temp sensor.

 

OK, guys, took the car to a local GM dealer who advised the heater core was the problem and asked us to take it to an out-of-town Ford dealer. Christmas so haven't done that yet. Today my out-of-town brother looked at the car. He's not a mechanic but he ran it long enough to get it warm and checked things under the hood and believes the water is not circulating through the radiator. He said one radiator hose was hot. The other was relatively cool. I don't think it is the heater core as Mom says the car has had two heater cores put in in the last 2 or 3 years. If you remember my earlier post, it's also had a new water pump. Any ideas...such as "take it to a garage"? Thanks.