Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

[speedyx14]

My 94 has this heat issue that I need to tackle because it's starting to get chilly out here.

The heat in my car blows luke warm, and the rear defroster operates pretty poorly also. I had planned on removing my heater core and flushing it out, but I'm perplexed because I've always been told that the outlet heater hose would be cool if a blockage is present. Both the inlet and outlet hoses get hot when the car is on.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but when I idle the car the temp will go just past half way before the fans kick in and cools it a bit. When The car is moving though the temp stays well below the 1/4 mark. Regardless of what the temp is on the dash, I still get no heat.
Could this be a thermostat issue?

[landj]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Assuming that the fan is blowing, I would guess that you have a bad heater door. It's the little baffle that directs the air across the heater core to warm the cabin air. Could be in the switch in the dash, but I would guess it's the actuator. I'd look there in the repair manual first. Could be that the fins on the outside of the heater core are plugged up with something, but that just seems crazy.

Doesn't sound like anything is wrong with the thermo, other than having a lower than OEM specified thermostat. What your describing re: engine temp is normal.

[speedyx14]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

The blower works very well. And the vents change also. Where is the actuator located? Does it need to be replaced?

[Mark42]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Assuming that the fan is blowing, I would guess that you have a bad heater door. It's the little baffle that directs the air across the heater core to warm the cabin air. Could be in the switch in the dash, but I would guess it's the actuator. I'd look there in the repair manual first. Could be that the fins on the outside of the heater core are plugged up with something, but that just seems crazy.

Doesn't sound like anything is wrong with the thermo, other than having a lower than OEM specified thermostat. What your describing re: engine temp is normal.

Yep, I agree with landj 100% on the heater door being the issue. Start with the control knob on the dash and work your way back from there looking for a problem with the control.

[nascar24jd]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Definitely sounds like the blend door. My Olds Cutlass had the same problem. I had so many people tell me it was the heater core, they were all wrong.

As you said, if both heater hoses are hot then the coolant is flowing through the core. As mentioned above, follow the cable from the temperature knob to where it ends.

On my Cutlass the cable slipped out of the actuator a little bit and was not closing the door all the way. A small repair fixed the problem and the heat was blazing hot after that.

[landj]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

I haven't had to mess with it myself on the Camaro. Your repair manual should have some instructions. If I had to GUESS i would say that the actuator is next to the heater core under the passenger dash. If you don't have one, you can find them at a good public library, or just fork over the $15.00. Excellent investment.

The blower works very well. And the vents change also. Where is the actuator located? Does it need to be replaced?

[steddy]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

As far as the defroster. I had a similar problem, it would only come on for about 15 seconds then shut off. I finally ended up replacing the $2 relay that resides in the dash fuse box and haven't had a problem since.

[speedyx14]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Whenever I search for the part "camaro blend door actuator" I come up with nothing. Is there another name for it? Can somebody give me a link with the actual part? Any help would be much appreciated cuz I don't wanna freeze my butt off this winter. LOL

[mtscorvette]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

i cant find it in the service manuel all it talks about is the temperature control cable, you can try following it back to the door and see if its closed. i have the same problem on my vette.

[landj]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Whenever I search for the part "camaro blend door actuator" I come up with nothing. Is there another name for it? Can somebody give me a link with the actual part? Any help would be much appreciated cuz I don't wanna freeze my butt off this winter. LOL

I have a 95, so, quite unhelpfully I searched for the blender door for a 95 so this may not be exactly what you want. It's also not step by step, but its a nice exploded diagram of the unit from gmpartsdirect.com (great place to find GM parts at good prices). Browse the catalog, it takes a few clicks to get to if you want to find out other part names. Here is the diagram I found under "Air conditioner and Heater > Evaporator and Heater Components > Case > Rear heater Cover"

1) Evaporator core 3.4 liter
2) Evaporator core Seal
3) Filter
4) Temp switch
5) Heater core
6) Seal #1
7) Seal #2
8) Blower motor
9) Blower motor Isolator
10) Fan
11) Resistor
12) Air inlet case W/o ac
13) Evaporator case Upper
14) Evaporator case Lower
15) Heater case
16) Case Temperature valve
17) Case Air distributer
18) Case Rear heater cover
19) Actuator Defroster
20) Air valve Temperature
21) Air valve Mode
22) Air valve Heater
23) Seal Front case
24) Seal Air blower case
25) Vacuum harness

http://www.trademotion.com/schematics/C/CD93140.gif

[speedyx14]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Quite confusing. The only "Actuator" that I see on that diagram is for the defroster. Not sure If that's the one you guys are talking about. I wanna DIY, but I might just have to break down and let a trained eye check it out. :(

[nascar24jd]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

There is no "part" to replace. Just follow the cable and you will figure out how it works.

[CaptDestruction]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

Speedy,
Did you ever resolve this issue? I have a similar one, where my heater will blow hot, cold, hot, cold, etc. every 15 seconds or so. Let me know if you ever ended up resolving this.

[speedyx14]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

I took the car to a shop last week and they told me that my thermostat was bad. They said the car wasn't getting hot enough. When I picked it up the car had been idling at about 210 degrees and the heat was blowing hotter than it ever did. The strange thing is that when I started to drive, and the cars temperature cooled down to a consistent 180 degrees while moving, The heat would blow barely warm even though it was on full blast...LOL.

In a nut shell: When I Idle the Car and it gets in the 210 range the heat blows hot. But when the Car is at normal moving operating temperature, which seems to be 180 degrees for me, it still blows luke warm.

I'm still very confused about this problem. It's quite strange. I'm gonna go back to the shop as soon as I get a lil time though.

[mtscorvette]

Re: Pipes are hot, but still no heat???

yea there has to be more to the problem then that. I had a thermostat stuck open and it would take forever but it would get warm after a while, then i put a 180 theremostat in now it super hot, while driving id say im between 175-185. good luck its starting to get cold out (here in new york)