No heat in my 360

I searched for other threads and found a mixture of opinions regarding where to start. I can't seem to get any heat from the vents regardless of whether I have the "stop" button depressed or not etc.

The coolant level is about an inch from the top of the overflow bottle and I notice some coolant down in the undertray from time to time.. Definitely coming from the hose on the radiator cap. I've tried removing the cap while car is cold and starting it and allowing it to run with the cap off.. This produced a little bit of bubbles in the tank but no real change at all.

My water temp gauge never seems to get up to a proper operating temp either.

I've ordered a new radiator cap.. Do you guys think this is the place to start? Seems like a common failure and while my car is a 2000 with only 7,000 miles, I'm fairly sure it's the original cap still.

I'm thinking maybe an air lock somewhere? I've only had the car for a few months and I'm wondering if the dealer did a service and flushed the coolant (looks really fresh) and didn't properly bleed the system?? I've ordered the Airlift cooling system purge tool also.. I've always wanted to have one and this seemed like the perfect excuse to pull the trigger.

Anything else I should be trying?? Am I missing something simple perhaps?? Any help or suggestions would be great guys.

Thanks in advance for any help.. I appreciate this forum as such a wonderful resource for enthusiasts.

 

Thanks Chris.. Yea, first thing I tried this morning while freezing my ass off driving to work. That "stop" button is the silliest thing I've ever seen in any car I've ever owned! Haha.. So ridiculous!

 

Thanks for all the tips.. Great little cheat sheet there Fred! I'm keeping that in my phone.

Surgeon.. Another great thought! I'll definitely try that next.

I wasn't aware of a reset procedure?? Does anyone know more about this?? Could be the answer?

 

Thanks for chiming in.. I'm thinking the problem is in my cooling system. I get a smell of antifreeze whenever I turn the car off after a long drive. I'm assuming it's coming out of the hose attached to the cap on the overflow because I'm seeing coolant down on the undertray right where the hose lands down there.

The other "elephant in the room" here is I've never gotten much water temp in the car. Even during the summer months in hot weather. I'm only seeing about 170 degrees max! Does that seem normal?? Even though I'm dumping a little coolant from time to time, the level still looks good. I read that the cooling system is often times the culprit for this problem I'm having.. ?? Any thoughts there? 170 degrees?? That can't be right..?

 

Found the "reset procedure".. Many people chimed in here on this "other" forum stating they had great success with this reset.. I'll try it next, although it certainly can't have anything to do with my low engine coolant temperatures. Or??
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Thanks for the reply. Just want to make sure we're talking about the same reservoir. In the engine compartment by the air boxes? Sounds obvious but I want to know for sure there's not another location by the radiator or something to fill the fluid as well that I'm possibly missing..?

If we're talking about the reservoir by the air box I'd say I'm about 3/4-1" below the neck.. Where the neck meets the top of the tank basically. Hope that makes sense. Yep.. Got a new cap for that reservoir on the way also. Read quite a bit while searching for a solution here how those fail over time.

I'm wondering if the dealer (used car, not Ferrari dealer) actually performed the maintenance they said they did and just didn't purge the air correctly? The fluid is green and looks perfectly fresh, which brings up another concern about the type of fluid that's in the car. I thought I read somewhere that the fluid required should be red?? I wasn't too awfully concerned about that though as I'll be doing a belt service this winter and will make sure to get that corrected then also.

I thought my car was running too cool but after more research here last night it seems that these cars are a bit cold blooded and 170-180 is a pretty normal operating range? Also pretty common that it takes some time to get coolant temp up.. ? Again.. Thanks for the help.

 

New cap helped with the temp immediately but still no heat.. Even after the "reset procedure". Car is getting warmer but no heat still! What next?

 

Since installing the new cap, the coolant temperature has been corrected.. Seems completely normal now. Still no heat. :/

I'm thinking now it's got to be a lack of water flow to the heater core.. As others have suggested. My next move is checking the fuse for the recirc pump and hopefully that's the issue.. Fingers crossed!

 

Checked that fuse along with any other fuse I thought relevant. So we've got plenty of coolant temperature now.. New cap on the tank solved that and recirc pump has power at least..

I guess my next move is to try to put power to the heater control valve and see if it opens or closes.. The search continues. Luckily I don't drive it in the winter so no rush here..

 

When doing the reset did you have the "stop" and fresh air buttons depressed or not? Also where did you have the fan speed dial set during the reset procedure? There's no indication of where those switches should be set in the reset procedure.

Could you describe in better detail the process you did? Thanks..I'd really appreciate the help.

 

2 more questions.

When you reset the ecu for the ac, should the battery be disconnected during that procedure?

I put the 9v to the TGK valve and I don't hear it doing anything at all. Regardless of which polarity. Not a peep.. Could this be my smoking gun?

 

Thank you so much! That would be fantastic.. I'm getting nothing from the motor when applying the 9v.