heater not working

[bando966]

Hey guys,

I realized a couple of days ago that the truck I recently purchased has no heat, fan blows switch works fine, but ,heat controls are hard to slide from side to side. The truck is in great shape and seems to have been well maintained. I'm wondering is this a heater core issue or control cable problem or both?
How difficult to replace these items? Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks, Brandon

[fordman]

i think htye are all easy to fix. the cable can be taken out of cleaned up as well as the slider itself. if the heaterhoses are hooked up i wouldn't think it would be the core. more than likely its the cables not opening the heater valve.

[FORDification]

The problem is either with the water control valve (in the heater hose in the engine compartment) or a binding cable. The way to ascertain which it is is to disconnect the cable at the water valve. Then try to operate the dash slider controls...does it move easier now? If so, then your cable is fine. Try to manually operate the water control valve. I'd venture a guess that the valve is all corroded inside and will need replaced.

[ICEMAN6166]

since you live in Phoenix, the heater probably gets little use, and that would explain either piece being tight/ corroded.could be it was bypassed and the hoses hooked in a loop, which would not let any heat in at all.lots of times this is done to a truck with a leaking heater core instead of replacing the core,especially in the hot zones of the country.

[bando966]

Bingo, I just had time to check out the setup under the hood and sho' nuff the heater hoses are not connected. The p.o. ran all new hoses, so it's either, heater core leaking or lazy, how do you hook the hoses up? anyone have a diagram? Is that the best way to check for a leaking heater core or is there another test? Thanks, Brandon

[fordman]

there are some pics of few posts back about this. they have pics in the posts do a search to find them.

[bando966]

Excellent...Thanks