My Gen3's heater sucks!

[Gen3cruiser]

Anyone else here with a gen 3.0 5sfe think the heater takes too long to really heat up, like 5 minutes? On my dads Gen 3.5 1MZ-FE it heats up in literally a few seconds! Is my heater core bad, is it just cause I have the 5sfe it takes a long time to heat up, or did they change the heater core on the Gen 3.5 or is the heater core different for each engine? Thanks.

[Nick]

check your thermostat, it might be stuck partially open, or you might have a weak water pump, or a blocked heater core

[jwa276]

Originally posted by Oldman
check your thermostat, it might be stuck partially open, or you might have a weak water pump, or a blocked heater core

i had to get my thermostat and water pump replaced when my head gasket blew, i think it was a chain reaction. heat stopped working, yet the engine heat skyrocketed.

speaking from experience, i agree its prolly the thermostat and/or water pump

jon

[Nico]

thermostat is extremely easy to change on this engine btw. And it's cheap

[Nick]

when you buy the thermostat make sure the gasket comes with the thermostat, if it dosen't, ask for it for free, if they refuse, go somewhere else, you can find it with the gasket included

[Gen3cruiser]

Maybe I didn't make it clear, I think were talking about two different things. I think you guys are talking about the engines temperature.

I'm talking about the actual heater, you know you put on when it's cold outside to warm the car. It takes a long time to produce hot air. But in my dads gen 3.5 1MZ-FE It takes a few seconds to produce hot air.

So back to my question, is it a bad heater core, or are the heater cores different because of the generation or the engine?

[Nick]

no, its your thermostat, if it stays open your engine is going to take a while to heat up, since there's all the coolant in the rad circulating and getting cooled as it passes though

thermostat is about 20$ and takes a couple of minutes to change

[Gen3cruiser]

Maybe I'm just totally retarded, but we are talking about the heater, the controls in the car i.e. climnate controls, not engine temperature right? I just don't see how a thermostat has anything to do with the hot air blowing out of the vent. Not be sarcastic or anything, I really just don't get it. Please elaberate.

[sjmarvin13]

I have a 92 v6 (3vz-fe I believe) and my heat doesn't work at all..I've had the thermostat replaced, coolant flushed, heater core checked...nothing seems to fix it. Is there something I'm missing? The engine temp is working fine but I didn't think that had much to do with the heat blowing into the car. Any ideas?..Thanks in advance.

[Nick]

well gen3cruiser, the engine coolant is what provides the heat for the cabin, so when the engine is cold you're not getting much heat (untill the needle is half way on the temp gauge)

and for both of you, you could try to get to the heater core and see if the linkages pulls the flow valve through full travel

[Gen3cruiser]

Cool, thanks Oldman, I'll get it checked out.

But even when the engine is heated up and hot air is comming out, it's still not as hot as my dads gen 3.5.

[dbruce]

I happen to have a gen2....but have run into a few things with the heat.

First of all......check the temperature gauge......if the car is hot and you have no hot air.......the problem is not related to the thermostat.

If you are talking about how long it takes the car to get heat when you first start it in the winter......5 minutes in freezing weather to get very warm is not unheard of. My Gen2 can take 5 minutes from start to running around for decent heat to show up.

The last possibility is the controls are screwed up. For a while the control for heat was getting stuck. I needed to push the dial from cold to hot to free things up.

At this point the last setting on the heat control is burned out. I have to move the slide bar a touch to the left for heat otherwise cold air comes out when the bar is all the way right.

Any or none of the above could be your problem.

Good luck.

[BigAirSkier1580]

I have a '92 V6. (3vz-fe) and I have similar problem. My heater doesn't blow hot at all. It blows warm air, but not hot. I replaced the heater core this fall because it had cracked and made a huge mess all over.

Now I have only mediocre heat, even after driving the car extensivly and having it at normal operating temperature. Any ideas?

[Redline]

well, it seems everyone with a Gen3 has this problem. I have a 93 3VZ-FE....with the same results. Heat does take a while to get into the cabin, and even then it's not all that hot.

Oldman, when you suggested changing the thermostat or the water pump, how long do you estimate it would take to replace? And where can I get it for $20 (I'm assuming CDN bling)? One last question: does anyone out there know the steps to make the change? I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of Haynes yet.

Thanks!

Redline

[Nick]

yeah, thermostat is about 20-30$ cdn, takes a couple of minutes to change

water pump is more expensive and takes about an hour to change