Hey Guys,

Heater: We had our first cold day in TN, and my heater is not working? I thought maybe thermostat, but I thought I would run by you guys.

Idle: My idle stays higher than normal (mostly in the mornings) I do not even have to press the gas sometimes to go slow, and I have to stay on the brakes a bit? The shifting seems to have changed on account of this.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

Little more info please. How many miles, what work have you done? Is the heater coming on or just not working?

 

Bad t-stat.
Belt routed wrong.
Low on coolant.
Could be any of those.

 

My truck has 220,000. I have not had any work done, since i replaced the engine 2 years, and 60,000 miles ago. The fan blows but no heat? It will blow a little every once in a while, then it just goes cold.
Then there is the idle problem, and she just started that one.

 

You are low on coolant.
You MUST replace your coolant every 30,000 miles or you will be in for a heap of trouble.
So until you can change your coolant fill the system back up with 50/50 premixed coolant.
Your idle problem will go away and you will have heat.
And as for the future, you MUST check your coolant level every time you check the oil, which is once a week, you already have the hood open so you might as well check the coolant and power steering fluid while you are in there, only takes a total of 5 min to check all three.

 

Must be way low on coolant, not just a half pint. Or could be this (lol - could not resist pix of what slanginsanjuan "discovered" after mechanic "fixed" heater).

And if coolant does not cure it, there is a water valve under the dash that controls that.

 

Thanks again Spike! You were right. I was really low on anti-freeze, about a gallon and a half. I also discovered why. I had a loose clamp! It never over-heated, as far as I know. Thank goodness, and thanks again!

 

Buy a lottery ticket, you lucky dog!

 

Holy cow man!!! It holds 3 gal's so you were half low, you got lucky.
Glad it was only a hose clamp.

 

So here's a question - if preple can drive around with a gallon and a half of coolant not in there, why do we have so much problem with what must be at most a few ounces of air bubbles trapped inside?