Matt93eg

Hey guys,

Have a 1999 Tacoma 3.4L. I bought the truck earlier this summer but never tried the heat. It was a little cool this morning and I just wanted enough heat to knock the chill off. No hot air will blow from the vents.

I checked the heater control valve on the fire wall and when I move the selector dial from cold to hot the cable moves the valve.

I came out from where I was at and had a infared thermometer. The inlet and outlet hoses to the heater core were both about 160. Truck had been sitting and I let it idle for a bit before I checked the temp of the hoses. Engine was not completely warmed up though.

Seems to me that coolant is flowing through the core and with the blower on it SHOULD blow hot air but doesn't. What am I missing? Is there a blend door in the dash I don't know about? I don't see what would actuate it since the Climate Control dial seems to only move the heater valve on the firewall.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh and the radiator is full of coolant, temp gauge reads about half way or so, never had any over heating issue. Engine has 268,XXX miles.

Thanks in advance.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like the heater core is stopped up

CJM

I had similar issues this winter. Heater core was not something I wanted to do so we took the inlet/outlet lines and made a loop and blew out the core into a coolant gallon jug. Seemed to work fine, Im sure I will have to do it again but we shall see. Mostly small specs came out, and one large spec.

Matt93eg

Well I guess I will have to flush the heater core. I just wasn't thinking it was clogged seeing as how the inlet and outlet hoses were both getting hot. Seems to me it has to be water flowing through the core in order for the outlet hose to get hot and that if the inlet was hot and the outlet was not hot then that would indicate a clogged core.

Guess I will pull the hoses off and try flushing it and see what happens.

Matt93eg

Found my problem. I looked online trying to find some parts diagrams but couldn't find any that were worth a darn really.

I just couldn't accept the fact that the heater core was clogged due to both the inlet and outlet hoses being the same temperature. I knew that water had to be going through the core for the outlet to be hot.

I took the center cover off the dash that surrounds the HVAC panel, radio, etc and found my problem right off the bat. When you turn the heater control from cold to hot it has two cables. One turns the heater valve on the firewall which I already knew was working. The other turns the blend door, this cable was not hooked up due to the mounting hold on the plastic deal being broke off. So now I either got to get a knew HVAC panel or try and find that individual part.

I manually moved the cable for the blend door and instantly had heat.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Glad you found the problem

Matt93eg

Thanks Jason, you and me both.

Looks like I have to buy the whole HVAC panel which seems to run from $50.00 up to $100.00. Sucks but its better than $250 for a new heater core and all that labor for me to pull the dash so I am not going to complain.