A question for mechanics. (No heat)

[Dunerdr]

Alright, I’ll start off by saying this isn’t my every day driver, but a truck I’ve owned since 2013. It’s got 273k miles on it. I really just use it for bad weather, riding four wheelers and lumber yard trips.

Last year it stopped blowing hot air. Not uncommon. I changed an actuator and replaced a blendoor. Still no go. Paid a friend who’s a dodge tech at the local dealership to replace the heater core on the side, after flushing and cleaning the it without success. After 3-4 weeks of good heat it stops working again. I’m somewhat mechanically inclined and figure maybe some trash didn’t get flushed. Warranty the core at orielly and slip my friend a few bucks to do it aft hours again. He does a full flush this time, all new coolant, we don’t use the dealerships recovery machine. Heats working it’s all back on the up and up.

My brother in law borrowed the truck from January until may. Today I realized I once again don’t have heat. What’s my next strip? A radiator? Is the water pump coming apart (100k miles on it roughly)? The radiator isn’t plugged I don’t think..

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Ya. Once the livesteam bug bites ya. You're in it for life.
I was lucky enough to be born into it.

Yeah I’ve been watching my cousin and his dad restore them since I was a kid. I’m always impressed what those old things can do!

[notorious]

What happened to Sauto?

[GloryDayz]

Just changed the water pump in the son's 2002 Silverado 1500 because of no heat. Oh, and the steering gear.. THAT was a dirty job!

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Yeah, Gen IIIs are 02 to 09 as the links say, sorry about my miss type of the 06.


Good luck with it.

It’s not a gen 3. It’s the newer body than that. First year of it though. Hard loaded Laramie, she was a prize in her younger days.

[scho63]

I just traded in a 2003 Cadillac Seville SLS with 179,488 miles on it as no one could easily find why the car was stalling out. I paid $2,950 for it 3 1/2 years ago and got my monies worth out of it.
MAF sensor code kept coming up along with a misfire. Changed MAF sensor TWICE along with all sparkplugs.

So many other issues and I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of endless car repairs by trial and error.

Got $400 for it and bought an incredible 2004 Cadillac SRX with 85,000 miles that is pristine. It looks brand new. 1st owner had it nine years and babied it with low mileage and incredible maintenance. 2nd owner nearly the same.

Paid $5,250 for it and could sell for $8,500+

My Seville cost me $108 a month with purchase price and repairs/tires/brakes.

When I was young and stupid, I pissed away $25,000-$30,000 on new high end cars: 1984 Cadillac Eldorado, 1986 Jaguar XJ8, 1997 Saab

Never again.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by scho63

I just traded in a 2003 Cadillac Seville SLS with 179,488 miles on it as no one could easily find why the car was stalling out. I paid $2,950 for it 3 1/2 years ago and got my monies worth out of it.
MAF sensor code kept coming up along with a misfire. Changed MAF sensor TWICE along with all sparkplugs.

So many other issues and I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of endless car repairs by trial and error.

Got $400 for it and bought an incredible 2004 Cadillac SRX with 85,000 miles that is pristine. It looks brand new. 1st owner had it nine years and babied it with low mileage and incredible maintenance. 2nd owner nearly the same.

Paid $5,250 for it and could sell for $8,500+

My Seville cost me $108 a month with purchase price and repairs/tires/brakes.

When I was young and stupid, I pissed away $25,000-$30,000 on new high end cars: 1984 Cadillac Eldorado, 1986 Jaguar XJ8, 1997 Saab

Never again.

This is all true. As I grow older I'm less inclined to tinker with a car unless it's to teach my son something (like the water pump and power steering work we did was), instead I'll buy a reliable vehicle and let people who know what they're doing work on it.

And my family LOVES CarMax, so far they've been fair and provided (and stood behind) every purchase my family has ever made.

[crayzkirk]

My own experience with hvac in cars is that some systems use a combination of blend door between the heater and cooling core plus a control valve which will shut off the flow of coolant (warm water) to the heater core when the a/c is in use. If this valve goes bad or if the vacuum line/control wire is broken or disconnected, it can cause problems similar to this. Especially if it works after you have been messing around with it.

My 1998 Jeep doesn't use a valve however a lot of cars do.

There's also a bypass on my Jeep where the heater is fed off a separate outlet from the water pump. It's a 318 so it's going to be different from one of the newer engines.

If the water pump were bad, the engine is going to overheat even in the winter.

Pulling the dash to get at the hvac system is one of the stupidest things I can imagine; other than a big money grab when something needs to be repaired. Who wants to evacuate the a/c system and pull the dash for a heater core change?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by scho63

I just traded in a 2003 Cadillac Seville SLS with 179,488 miles on it as no one could easily find why the car was stalling out. I paid $2,950 for it 3 1/2 years ago and got my monies worth out of it.
MAF sensor code kept coming up along with a misfire. Changed MAF sensor TWICE along with all sparkplugs.

So many other issues and I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of endless car repairs by trial and error.

Got $400 for it and bought an incredible 2004 Cadillac SRX with 85,000 miles that is pristine. It looks brand new. 1st owner had it nine years and babied it with low mileage and incredible maintenance. 2nd owner nearly the same.

Paid $5,250 for it and could sell for $8,500+

My Seville cost me $108 a month with purchase price and repairs/tires/brakes.

When I was young and stupid, I pissed away $25,000-$30,000 on new high end cars: 1984 Cadillac Eldorado, 1986 Jaguar XJ8, 1997 Saab

Never again.

Man, that is a ****ing steal.

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by scho63

I just traded in a 2003 Cadillac Seville SLS with 179,488 miles on it as no one could easily find why the car was stalling out. I paid $2,950 for it 3 1/2 years ago and got my monies worth out of it.
MAF sensor code kept coming up along with a misfire. Changed MAF sensor TWICE along with all sparkplugs.

So many other issues and I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of endless car repairs by trial and error.

Got $400 for it and bought an incredible 2004 Cadillac SRX with 85,000 miles that is pristine. It looks brand new. 1st owner had it nine years and babied it with low mileage and incredible maintenance. 2nd owner nearly the same.

Paid $5,250 for it and could sell for $8,500+

My Seville cost me $108 a month with purchase price and repairs/tires/brakes.

When I was young and stupid, I pissed away $25,000-$30,000 on new high end cars: 1984 Cadillac Eldorado, 1986 Jaguar XJ8, 1997 Saab

Never again.

I saw something the other day that said the average monthly car payment is $700. I about fell to the floor. Who the **** are theses idiots. I need to find a few.

Wasting money on cars is something I have never have gotten into. Most cases they are nothing but drain on the wallet and a depreciating asset. Unless you have a serious need for a vehicle beyond taking your ass to work or getting groceries. Don't waste your time buying anything expensive or new. Invest the money you saved wisely and you may be able to buy the next car with cash or a good portion of it.