heating issue

[novadan]

hi, my name is dan. I'm new to this site.

I have a couple questions. I have a 2003 liberty sport, v6, rear wheel drive.
lately, the heat has not been working at all. I think I might have two issues. the engine will warm up like normal, but the upper radiator hose gets really hot and the lower hose will remain cold. There was a really bad sludgy coolant that was the color of rust that came out of the hoses when I replaced the thermostat. I flushed out as much coolant as I could. ran water through the radiator and the heater core and everything seemed to be cleared. installed the thermostat and filled with coolant and ran the engine. the hoses never equalized in temp and I never got heat from the vents.
please help.

 

[02blue]

Thermostat in backwards, Heater core plugged, air in the system. Just a couple of ideas.

 

[novadan]

ive just been reading a few other posts about plugged heater cores. im thinking that's one of the problems.

if there was enough watery sludgy mixture, could the radiator also be clogged. I did run water through the radiator before installing the hermostat and it didn't appear to be clogged, but it was hard to tell the flow of water coming out.

if all the old coolant is flushed out, can you use just standard green coolant.

 

[Slims]

Does warm air come out when your going down the road?

 

[novadan]

no warm air will come out of the vents. when I was in the shop letting it run, I would get about 100 degrees from the vents, the moment it got outside in 10 degrees, it droped and got cold. moving or standing still. remained cold.

 

[tjkj2002]

The way our radiators and heater cores are made simply running water through them will not clear much of anything.A chemical flush is better but still may not fully un-clog a system.




If the upper and lower radiator hoses don't both get hot(lower should always be cooler then the upper since the lower is the return hose) you got a coolant flow issue be it a bad t-stat,backwards t-stat,bad water pump,or plugged radiator and/or heater core(only for cabin heat).

 

[novadan]

im gonna have to double check the installation of the thermostat. but after running the engine for like 15 minutes or more to bleed air, the lower hose never even got warm, the upper hose I could barely touch it was that hot.

 

[02blue]

if all the old coolant is flushed out, can you use just standard green coolant.

Never use the green stuff. Only use HOAT (Zerex G-05 or Mopar) System is designed for it. I wouldn't even use the green stuff if completely flushed.

 

[tjkj2002]

im gonna have to double check the installation of the thermostat. but after running the engine for like 15 minutes or more to bleed air, the lower hose never even got warm, the upper hose I could barely touch it was that hot.

If you installed the spring side(long side) facing the engine you installed it correctly.If it was a stant t-stat they have been known to be bad brand new(pretty common).I'd be pulling the waterpump off and checking the impeller.If the wrong coolant or original coolant in a '03 a bad water pump and/or plugged system is very likely.

 

[novadan]

im starting to think that there is going to be a lot of parts to replace. is there a way of telling if the radiator is clogged along with the water pump and heater core. if I have to replace them all, would rather do it all at once.

 

[tjkj2002]

im starting to think that there is going to be a lot of parts to replace. is there a way of telling if the radiator is clogged along with the water pump and heater core. if I have to replace them all, would rather do it all at once.

The water pump and radiator are easy,about a hours job, but the heater core is a whole day project(entire dash has to be pulled) and the AC system has to be evac'd then recharged.

 

[novadan]

theres no good way to check these without removing them.

 

[tjkj2002]

theres no good way to check these without removing them.

For the water pump no there is no otherway,for the radiator there is no fixing so no point just replace.

 

[novadan]

ok, looks like i have a bit of work ahead of me. once the pump is removed, can it be cleaned and reinstalled.

 

[tjkj2002]

ok, looks like i have a bit of work ahead of me. once the pump is removed, can it be cleaned and reinstalled.

Yes but a new o-ring will be needed(no gasket) but for $50 a new pump is a better idea then putting a WP with a lot of hours on it.

 

[novadan]

yeah that makes sence, thanks for all the advice. much appreciated.