I’m new to the forum and hope I can get some help ( fingers crossed) I recently bought a 2wd truck just as a beater. It seems to run good but has several small issues I’m working through.
The heater fan was locked up, I replaced that.
but my heat won’t get hot, it’s warm. But doesn’t get hot enough to keep the windows unfoged. I’m hoping it’s not the heater core.
my temp gauge doesn’t come up at all, sits on cold.
I also have a squeaky fan belt, it’s hit and miss, usually when wet it slips.
is there a tensioner or do I loosen the alternator and apply tension?
Im hoping someone can help, I’ve never had any luck on forums, it’s usually “ change the air filter” or “spark plugs answer” lol.
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes their time to help. Fingers crossed.
94 2wd truck 4 cyl no power steering

 

Welcome to YotaTech.

You've given a year, and I'm guessing it's a pickup or a 4runner. But what engine? If you plan to stick around, put all that (year/make/model/engine/transmission/trim ... yes, it makes a difference) in your "signature" so you won't have to repeat it.

You have at least two, maybe three, belts. Each is tensioned differently (the A/C belt has a tensioner; PS and Alt are tensioned at the unit). If your belt is squeaking, it's likely damaged, so just replace it and tension it correctly.

You have a "temp" control for the heater (blue to red). That works a valve on the firewall, just left of center, near the top. Make sure your control is moving the valve.

You can't put a lot of faith in the temp gauge (particularly on a "beater"), but you might have a thermostat stuck open (or even missing!). This will keep the engine from warming up, and will limit your defrost/heat.

(PS Don't bad-mouth a forum until you've actually had bad luck. Otherwise, we might give you the "change the air filter" advice.)

 

I checked the valve, it seems to be operational, it moved freely when engaged, and I can feel instant cold air when putting it on cold.
should I replace the thermostat?

 

If the thermostat is staying open all the time, sure the heat will not be be as good as it should be. It's cheap and easy to replace it. Just make sure you get a new rubber o-ring that seals it.

You can do a reverse flush on the heater core. Water hose pushing water in the outlet, and get a piece of hose to connect to the inlet to divert water out of the engine bay.

Been a while since I crawled up under mine to adjust the fan/alternator belt. There is one big long saddle bolt that the alternator pivots on for belt adjustment. You will need two wrenches/sockets to loosen it up. Then I think there is one more bolt to loosen up, and then the alternator can be pivoted back and forth.

 

Temp gauge not moving at all & staying on Cold could also be a bad temp sender, or the wire to it is simply not hooked up or damaged in some way. X2 on reverse flushing the heater core & getting a new thermostat & O-ring in it.

And we'd still like to know what model truck & engine you have. Complete info gets you more complete answers.

 

94 2wd truck 4 cyl no power steering

At the very end of the original post.

 

The PS and AC belts have idler pulleys that are used to tension their belts up. Very easy to do. Loosen the bolt in the center of the idler pulley (there's a nut on the back, so you need 2 wrenches), and use the bolt the pulley rides left to right on to adjust the tension of the belt.

The alternator/water pump is a bit harder. The alt has two bolts, one on the bottom it pivots on, and one on the top that holds it in place. Loosen the botom bolt by loosening the nut on the back. Then, loosen the bolt at the top, and move the alt in or out to decrease or increase the belt tension. Once you have it where you want it, tighten the top bolt to hold it in place, then tighten up the bottom bolt to keep it from rattling around. I personally, use a long, heavy shafted, standard screwdriver to tension the belt and hold the alt until I get the top bolt tight enough to hold it in place. Then I go tighten the bottom bolt/nut pair.

Does this help at all?
Pat☺

 

I put a new thermostat in and that fixed it.
I also tightened the alternator belt and that fixed my problem..

The truck now seems to idle lower???
I was careful changing the thermostat.
I see a large screw where the throttle linkage hooks into the ( intake or throttle body) would turning that idle it up ?
Thank you guys so much for the help.
1994 2wd pickup. 4cyl. 5 spd.

 

Personally, I would get a tachometer, and see just what the idle RPM really IS. It's supposed to be 800 RPM warmed up. It's part and parcel of setting the timing properly as well. If the timing is changed at all, by turning the dist, you MAY need to readjust the RPMs up or down back to 800.
Tachometers are not expensive at all. I had to buy a tach/dwell meter when I had a 1978 Chevy Love back in 1980, and to this day, the meter still works great. I use it to set the idle RPM and timing whenever I need to do either one. And yes, the idle RPM can drift over time, especially the carburetted pickups, but the EFI Runner it can as well...

Just my opinion, though...
Pat☺

 

The idle adjustment screw is circled in red...link below. 22RE Performance link below that shows the idle screw with o-ring, and an explanation on why you should change the o-ring.

There is an o-ring that seals the idle screw. Just unscrew the idle screw all the way, and inspect the o-ring. If it looks dried out, replace it with a new one. My local hardware has lots of different size o-rings cheap.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TPS/tps6.jpg

https://22reperformance.com/intake-e...r-screw-o-ring