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For two years I have been trying to get heat in my 1998 Taurus. My first attempt was a complete cooling system flush. I also flushed the heater core seperatly, and in both directions, with a garden hose till the water flowed freely and clean. I refilled the entire cooling system with water and Prestone "Super Radiator Cleaner". The directions for this Prestone product says to drive the vehicle 3 to 6 hours. The driving time can be intermittent and over a period of several days. You then drain the system and flush with clean water. Your next step is to refill the system with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. I must admit it did a great job cleaning my cooling system but still I didn't have any heat. After extensive reading (mostly internet forums) I decided the water pump must be the poblem. I had read that the propeller that moves the coolant throughout the system would sometimes rust away. I replaced the water pump only to find that my old pump was still like new. So I tried additional flushes, flushing the steel heater core lines and all hoses, thermostat replacement, and I checked the blend door for proper operation. I was so puzzled. Some posters had said that they had improved their heat by removing the stock steel lines to the heater core and replacing them with rubber hoses connected directly to the engine and water pump. I'm not one to change the factory configuration on any vehicle. I feel that it must have worked like that from the factory or they wouldn't have been able to sell the car. In my attempts to fix the car there were times when I thought I had it fixed only to find that the following day it was doing the same thing. I always had some heat and it seemed to be better at highway speeds. At an idle I had little or no heat. With the blower speed on low I had some heat but on the higher speed it would quickly cool down. I was thinking that this sounded like a restricted heater core. I was even told by several top mechanics that the heater core needed replaced. I was never convinced that this was my problem though and heater core replacement on a Taurus is very difficult and costly. I wanted to be sure. I couldn't understand why the water from my water hose would flow so freely through the heater core. It didnt seem restricted to me. I begin to think that Ford had a bad design and that if your cooling system had any restrictions at all that it wasn't going to work properly. I read about the cooling systems becoming air locked. This made sense to me but I couldn't find a reliable way to bleed the system. Once after disconnecting the heater hose from the water pump and starting the car long enough to get a steady flow of coolant and then reconnecting the hose I had heat but only for a day. I began to think it must be an airlock. I remembered reading about the motorcraft thermostat having a vent in it to bleed the air from the system. I went to my ford dealership and asked to see a Taurus thermostat. The first thing I noticed was a small vent with a ball check valve. My aftermarket thermostat didn't have this nor did the thermostat that was in the car when I bought it. Motorcraft thermostats are not cheap. A thermostat and gasket cost me 22 bucks. I replaced the thermostat being sure to locate the vent or jiggle valve at the 12 oclock position. You also need to turn the spring end of the thermostat toward the engine block. Now, this is the good part of my story. After refilling the cooling system I started the car. After a short warm up I rechecked the coolant level and finished filling the system. I had heat! I even had heat the next day, and the next and the day after that. Finally my car has heat. I wanted to pass this info on in hopes that it might help some other flustrated Taurus owner. I also would like to thank everyone for their advise and I hope that this information can be of help to others. |
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