Little heat at idle...

[Detroit]

Well something new today. My 02 liberty has very little heat. At idle it’s not warm enough to keep you warm. Give it gas and you get nice hot heat on the passenger side and better heat on drivers side. Well it’s 8 degrees right now and while moving the outside air is so cold that I get hardly any heat while moving. When I stop at a light I put in neutral and rev a bit and I’m back to nice warm air.

As I just bought this day before yesterdy I’m not sure what’s been done in the past. Today at work I opened the coolant cap and it was a rust color with sludge and foam. I lifted it up and drained all the coolant. Coolant wouldn’t come out of the radiator I had to hook up a pressure tester and Pressurize it and the. Out comes some nasty thick funk. Got that all taken care of and behind the coolant reservoir I took the two hoses off to the heater core and hooked up a garden hose and clean them out. At first nothing would come out then the water was able to push through and again out came some nasty sludge. I did it to both outlets until the water was nice and clean. After all of that I still have no heat. What are your thoughts?

 

[tommudd]

Well something new today. My 02 liberty has very little heat. At idle it’s not warm enough to keep you warm. Give it gas and you get nice hot heat on the passenger side and better heat on drivers side. Well it’s 8 degrees right now and while moving the outside air is so cold that I get hardly any heat while moving. When I stop at a light I put in neutral and rev a bit and I’m back to nice warm air.

As I just bought this day before yesterdy I’m not sure what’s been done in the past. Today at work I opened the coolant cap and it was a rust color with sludge and foam. I lifted it up and drained all the coolant. Coolant wouldn’t come out of the radiator I had to hook up a pressure tester and Pressurize it and the. Out comes some nasty thick funk. Got that all taken care of and behind the coolant reservoir I took the two hoses off to the heater core and hooked up a garden hose and clean them out. At first nothing would come out then the water was able to push through and again out came some nasty sludge. I did it to both outlets until the water was nice and clean. After all of that I still have no heat. What are your thoughts?

Sounds like someone used other than the recommended antifreeze ( HOAT ) screws up the whole system really bad for sure.
I would do hoses. thermostat and water pump to make sure the old crap is gone plus its circulating like it should do
Heater cores on these is really hard to flush all out due to their design, you may of gotten lucky

 

[Detroit]

Yeah I ran water through the hoses as well to make sure Everything was circulating. I am leaning toward a gunked up water pump or thermostat. I will know more next week when I go back to work.

 

[tommudd]

Yeah I ran water through the hoses as well to make sure Everything was circulating. I am leaning toward a gunked up water pump or thermostat. I will know more next week when I go back to work.

Thats why I suggested both, if HOAT coolant isn't used it will totally gum up everything in the system

 

[LibertyTC]

Use the Mopar thermostat only. Would also recommend the Mopar pump, hoses too.
The thermostat is located at engine side/lower rad hose.

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[Detroit]

Use the Mopar thermostat only. Would also recommend the Mopar pump, hoses too.
The thermostat is located at engine side/lower rad hose.

You must be registered for see images attach

Will do thank you! I’m going to just go ahead and replace the water pump as well. I hope the heater core will be fine.

 

[tommudd]

I keep MOPAR thermostats in stock now all the time since nearest dealer is too far away from where I live now:happy175:

 

[Ronin9965]

Use the Mopar thermostat only. Would also recommend the Mopar pump, hoses too.
The thermostat is located at engine side/lower rad hose.

You must be registered for see images attach

Use the Mopar thermostat only. Would also recommend the Mopar pump, hoses too.
The thermostat is located at engine side/lower rad hose.

You must be registered for see images attach

May I ask what makes the difference between using a Mopar thermostat and a stant thermostat.

 

[tommudd]

May I ask what makes the difference between using a Mopar thermostat and a stant thermostat.

For some reason Stant etc just do not work, not at all
This is not just a few of us thinking they don't work, this is from 15 plus years of experience of people trying and then having to replace with a MOPAR

Throw a Mopar in and you will have no isses

 

[ltd02]

I found this out in my 02 many years ago. The tstat is an item that I try to use the OE versions in all my vehicles. Maybe superstition in some cases but they always work.

 

[Ronin9965]

For some reason Stant etc just do not work, not at all
This is not just a few of us thinking they don't work, this is from 15 plus years of experience of people trying and then having to replace with a MOPAR

Throw a Mopar in and you will have no isses

Thank you for responding I will try the Mopar

 

[duderz7]

Picked up a Napa t-stat a few years ago, it's been working perfect. Maybe I got lucky.

 

[Shane Giggie]

Use the Mopar thermostat only. Would also recommend the Mopar pump, hoses too.
The thermostat is located at engine side/lower rad hose.

You must be registered for see images attach

I used a Napa water pump on my 06 and it's been working fine.