A day in the life of a 240 owner. (No heat problem)

[Khost26]

Hello nico. Over the past year of owning a 240 Ive found this site more helpful then any other but that never stops me from searching within the site and around the web with Google and other sites. And after doing just that again.. I seem to have stumped myself and done something that hasn't been documented to my knowledge.

NOTE: my climate control buttons have always been broken. The temp slider had always worked before.

Background on possible relative of problem: About 8 months ago I popped off a intercooler coupler on my s13 blacktop sr no big deal right? Well i got it finger tight back on and drove home without boosting. I got home and fixed the piping and went for a drive and discovered that my temp gauge didn't work anymore. The car ran fine with no noticeable difference so I didn't think much about it.

Current problem: My car has had much more major things being replaced and ive always been throwing all my money and time at those problems, which Im sure most of you can relate to. However I seem to have fixed most of the problems (for now..) and I decided to instead to improve something so i first focused on the non working temp gauge. I thought that maybe my thermostat was bad because i never really got any good heat. It would put some out but never what other cars id been in had put out. So i took it out. Boiled it and it opened right when it was supposed to. Confused i put it back in with the little jiggly pin thing on top. I didn't put any gasket or anything back on because there wasn't any when i took it off. (possible reason for problem?) I put it back in put the water neck back on checked for leaks filled the rad up and went for a drive to see if i had done anything.

Reason for post: Usually my car heats up in less then 5ish min but on this drive all i would get is cold air. The car was driving fine but i didn't get any heat at all. I got on the highway and drove for a while and discovered under constant boost when and when i got on it a little i would get heat, good heat, but as soon as I got off the highway and waited at a light, The heat went away. So i figured this was just a bleeding issue and all i needed to do was bleed the system. I put the front on jack stands as high as i could took the cap off and ran it for 20 min. The rad got hot. The motor got hot and there was some very spaced out bubbles. But nothing changed. still no heat. The car doesn't overheat (as far as i know) and drives like its fine. But with no temp gauge and no heat i have no way to judge whats going on with my car! Please help me out with this. Colorado winters are very cold! I haven't been driving the car for risk of overheating it. Any help would be awesome.

[breadbox]

So Climate buttons do nothing, change out the face plate for another. And check to see your temp slider cable is actually attached to the HVAC. Other than that, start looking and diagnosing your heater core. MAybe its clogged up with crap, maybe it died.

[Hijacker]

For your gauge issue, I would recommend changing out the temp sender (the single prong sensor). It's possible it went bad, the wire melted, or something equally annoying happened to it.

As for your no heat issue. You know for a fact that the car is reaching operating temperatures. My next thing I would look at is the cable that connects the HVAC controls to the heater box. It could be that something has slipped loose or even broken. The heater core operates via mechanical linkage between the control box and the core itself, so there's no annoying electronics to fail if your heat isn't functioning. I would look at checking the operation of the mechanicals. Worst case is that there could potentially be a blockage in the heater core, which would prevent coolant flow. I doubt that that's the case, but I wouldn't discount it.

[-RJ-]

If you have an air compressor, disconnect the lines going to the heater core on the firewall and blow some air through it, I'm not sure if it will help but I did mine and a lot of crap came out.

[michaelgrigoras]

Hello nico. Over the past year of owning a 240 Ive found this site more helpful then any other but that never stops me from searching within the site and around the web with Google and other sites. And after doing just that again.. I seem to have stumped myself and done something that hasn't been documented to my knowledge.

NOTE: my climate control buttons have always been broken. The temp slider had always worked before.

Background on possible relative of problem: About 8 months ago I popped off a intercooler coupler on my s13 blacktop sr no big deal right? Well i got it finger tight back on and drove home without boosting. I got home and fixed the piping and went for a drive and discovered that my temp gauge didn't work anymore. The car ran fine with no noticeable difference so I didn't think much about it.

Current problem: My car has had much more major things being replaced and ive always been throwing all my money and time at those problems, which Im sure most of you can relate to. However I seem to have fixed most of the problems (for now..) and I decided to instead to improve something so i first focused on the non working temp gauge. I thought that maybe my thermostat was bad because i never really got any good heat. It would put some out but never what other cars id been in had put out. So i took it out. Boiled it and it opened right when it was supposed to. Confused i put it back in with the little jiggly pin thing on top. I didn't put any gasket or anything back on because there wasn't any when i took it off. (possible reason for problem?) I put it back in put the water neck back on checked for leaks filled the rad up and went for a drive to see if i had done anything.

Reason for post: Usually my car heats up in less then 5ish min but on this drive all i would get is cold air. The car was driving fine but i didn't get any heat at all. I got on the highway and drove for a while and discovered under constant boost when and when i got on it a little i would get heat, good heat, but as soon as I got off the highway and waited at a light, The heat went away. So i figured this was just a bleeding issue and all i needed to do was bleed the system. I put the front on jack stands as high as i could took the cap off and ran it for 20 min. The rad got hot. The motor got hot and there was some very spaced out bubbles. But nothing changed. still no heat. The car doesn't overheat (as far as i know) and drives like its fine. But with no temp gauge and no heat i have no way to judge whats going on with my car! Please help me out with this. Colorado winters are very cold! I haven't been driving the car for risk of overheating it. Any help would be awesome.

i actually had the same problem unfortunately it turned out to be the water pump slowly going out i thought nothing of it and continued to drive the car like i normally would unfortunately sine the water pump was bad the gasket around it popped and so did the thermostat and i lost power fast after i replaced those parts i had to replace the head gasket soon after my advice is to get the water pump replaced asap i only drove the car for a short time after this problem happened and the problems add up if not attended to so definitely check water pump

[Khost26]

Is there anyway to know if the water pump is bad without actually taking it off and looking at it? I just don't understand how it worked before and now it doesn't at all unless im really getting on it. The HVAC is still connected so i don't think its that. But im going to look more into how to check the heater core. And ill see if i can get a temp sender asap.
Was the engine in the car when you blew air through it? Im not sure i could get mine off and back on but ill see what I can do with that too. Thank you everyone.

[Khost26]

Quick little update in information. After bleeding the system last night i started it today with the cap off again and saw little if no movement. The upper hose is hot. the lower is not. Normal right? I drove it, ran it through first and second and got instant heat and it didn't go away, let it sit. Still had heat, this points to water pump right? Or maybe some kinda blockage that cleared? Idk I dont get it. I think I will go pick up a ka thermostat today because i should have replaced it with the swap anyway and they are pretty cheep.

[Brandon1605]

If the car is up to operating temp and one hose is hot and the other is not, something is not right. Typically I would say replace the thermostat, but it could also be a blockage in the system. The heater core directly controls the heat in the car, but the thermostat indirectly controls it. Can you get your hands on an infrared thermometer?

[Khost26]

If the car is up to operating temp and one hose is hot and the other is not, something is not right. Typically I would say replace the thermostat, but it could also be a blockage in the system. The heater core directly controls the heat in the car, but the thermostat indirectly controls it. Can you get your hands on an infrared thermometer?

I don't know anyone that has one no but i could check around and see if i can. Its starting to act more normally.. But usually my car doesn't fix itself so this also worries me. I don't know what if its safe to drive or anything yet.

[Brandon1605]

The most likely scenario is that you had a blockage that broke up. No heat and the whole hoses being two different temps means that the thermostat either wasnt opening or coolant was being stopped somewhere before returning to the radiator. The only other likely scenario is the blockage being in the heater core, which would not make the car overheat or cause any issues, it would just not have heat. Thats all the heater core is for. The reason I asked about the infrared thermometer is so you can check temps in different areas of the cooling system in real time. All I can say for now is if it doesnt appear to be overheating, is holding pressure, and the heat is working... all is probably normal. Getting a pressure tester and doing a pressure test would confirm a bad water pump or a leak, so that would also be a good idea if you have or can get the tools.

[michaelgrigoras]

if there is no movement in radiater fluid you can try and replace the water pump but strongly suggest not driving the car for more than a few minutes you tried putting the heat on the highest setting and let the car run??? if the temp reads normal while pushing on gas with heat on all the way with foot on gas for 5 minutes at 2000 rpm and it sets normal in temp its most deffinatly water pump its rather easy to replace but very important for the life of the head gasket can you take a few pics when overheated?? or of overview of water pump?