So, I've had a problem with the car ever since I got it 2 years ago, but have only noticed it recently. This is the breakdown:
A.) My heater doesn't work. Up until last fall, I never had a top, so I could never tell if the heat was on or not; I just assumed it was. In the summer when I wanted to bring engine temps down I'd run it, and of course it'd blow hot on a 100˚ day but that's only because of ambient temperatures. In the winter I could never feel it anyway, but once I got the top I noticed it blew cold air. The only heat in the cabin comes from the motor, sidesills and transmission seeping in.
B.) I've always had overheating problems, even on cooler days. The early Gen. Is have a yellow area right before the red (probably the 230˚ mark or so) and my car will run right at that, or even right up to the red. I rode in Ryan's car for the first time last week, and even with 90% humidity, it being 80˚ outside and him romping on it, it never even got to 190˚. Our setups are essentially the same, except his car is a year newer and he has the lower thermostat (I swapped mine back out for stock when we did heads/cam).
C.) When we were refilling the cooling system after the heads/cam, we filled from the heater hose. At one point the coolant essentially stopped flowing for a minute or two, then suddenly let go. I hooked up a garden hose to one heater hose and a drain hose to the other and flushed it (albeit with low pressure), but nothing significant came out and I still have the problem.
D.) When we did the heads/cam, the engine temp sensor was relocated to the other side of the block (after the coolant has passed the first side) so the temp gauge shows about 10˚ warmer than it normally would anyway.
E.) The radiator and fan are stock, but the radiator was rotted and recored while it was out. The shop said it was 60% blocked, so radiator flow isn't the problem.
This leads me to believe that there is a blockage in the heater core somewhere, preventing my car from running as cool as it should. How hard is it to get to the heater core and/or replace/clean it? If it sounds like it could be something else, let me know. Thanks!
A.) My heater doesn't work. Up until last fall, I never had a top, so I could never tell if the heat was on or not; I just assumed it was. In the summer when I wanted to bring engine temps down I'd run it, and of course it'd blow hot on a 100˚ day but that's only because of ambient temperatures. In the winter I could never feel it anyway, but once I got the top I noticed it blew cold air. The only heat in the cabin comes from the motor, sidesills and transmission seeping in.
B.) I've always had overheating problems, even on cooler days. The early Gen. Is have a yellow area right before the red (probably the 230˚ mark or so) and my car will run right at that, or even right up to the red. I rode in Ryan's car for the first time last week, and even with 90% humidity, it being 80˚ outside and him romping on it, it never even got to 190˚. Our setups are essentially the same, except his car is a year newer and he has the lower thermostat (I swapped mine back out for stock when we did heads/cam).
C.) When we were refilling the cooling system after the heads/cam, we filled from the heater hose. At one point the coolant essentially stopped flowing for a minute or two, then suddenly let go. I hooked up a garden hose to one heater hose and a drain hose to the other and flushed it (albeit with low pressure), but nothing significant came out and I still have the problem.
D.) When we did the heads/cam, the engine temp sensor was relocated to the other side of the block (after the coolant has passed the first side) so the temp gauge shows about 10˚ warmer than it normally would anyway.
E.) The radiator and fan are stock, but the radiator was rotted and recored while it was out. The shop said it was 60% blocked, so radiator flow isn't the problem.
This leads me to believe that there is a blockage in the heater core somewhere, preventing my car from running as cool as it should. How hard is it to get to the heater core and/or replace/clean it? If it sounds like it could be something else, let me know. Thanks!