Agent M
Junior Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
- Posts
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Somewhere Humid...South Dakota
- Ram Year
- 1996
- Engine
- 360
Hello everyone, I am an on/off user of this forum, as I have a 96 Ram beater truck, little fixer upper and spare truck I use to keep the miles off my other truck. Mine has just a sliver shy of 200K with a 360. Runs good, most days.
I have owned it for just about 2 years now and I've done many little minor repairs, fixer upper stuff. One nagging problem I"ve had since I bought it was the heater spits out very little to no heat. I have replaced the coolant with 3 flushes, several thermostats, a dash h/vac control switch out of a parted out truck, and a couple weeks ago I had a painful 6 hours of replacing the core. The first time I fired it up and let it warm up I stuck a thermometer in the vents and it was around 110 degrees air, quite warm actually, then by time I drove home the air was down to about 85 degrees ( much cooler ). The heat is fine on a 45 degree day, but in South Dakota we get well below Zero and somedays I think it's warmer outside than in my truck. I don't see a visible leak from the core anyplace, but I get a very faint wiff of anti-freeze in the cab now and then.
I saw a video on youtube where people have said that an air pocket or bubble in the core is a major culprit to heaters no working, I am pretty sure I have burped all the air out of the system, more than once. Also, the inlet and outlet into the fire wall, both hoses are extremely hot to the touch, so I know there's water flowing. Lastly, I didn't really check real closely but the cable from the h/vac controls did appear to be operating a door flapper dudad beside the core, so I am certain that is working. I have great A/C in the summertime, and I can change it from "warm" to cold, so the blend door is working I'm pretty sure.
What else could it possibly be or what am I missing???? I'm a career diesel mechanic and usually a core replacement, cab air filter replacement, flushing and thermostat change usually fixes this problem. And this isn't my first weekend working on the heater, tried several times last winter as well.
Thanks for any advice.
I have owned it for just about 2 years now and I've done many little minor repairs, fixer upper stuff. One nagging problem I"ve had since I bought it was the heater spits out very little to no heat. I have replaced the coolant with 3 flushes, several thermostats, a dash h/vac control switch out of a parted out truck, and a couple weeks ago I had a painful 6 hours of replacing the core. The first time I fired it up and let it warm up I stuck a thermometer in the vents and it was around 110 degrees air, quite warm actually, then by time I drove home the air was down to about 85 degrees ( much cooler ). The heat is fine on a 45 degree day, but in South Dakota we get well below Zero and somedays I think it's warmer outside than in my truck. I don't see a visible leak from the core anyplace, but I get a very faint wiff of anti-freeze in the cab now and then.
I saw a video on youtube where people have said that an air pocket or bubble in the core is a major culprit to heaters no working, I am pretty sure I have burped all the air out of the system, more than once. Also, the inlet and outlet into the fire wall, both hoses are extremely hot to the touch, so I know there's water flowing. Lastly, I didn't really check real closely but the cable from the h/vac controls did appear to be operating a door flapper dudad beside the core, so I am certain that is working. I have great A/C in the summertime, and I can change it from "warm" to cold, so the blend door is working I'm pretty sure.
What else could it possibly be or what am I missing???? I'm a career diesel mechanic and usually a core replacement, cab air filter replacement, flushing and thermostat change usually fixes this problem. And this isn't my first weekend working on the heater, tried several times last winter as well.
Thanks for any advice.
