dash heater

[cutbrain]

i have a 97 airstream 30ft rv with a ford chassis. no heat from the front? how do I go about fixing this?


thanks

jc

[John H.]

check your under dash, heat, cool fan fuse, and or the ground wire connection ?

maybe by now ? You have it fixed

[GlenCoombe]

Yup, follow the cable to the J or H valve on the heater hose. They often come off or on the original valves the valve itself can become inop in the open or closed position.

[John H.]

Well cutbrain, what did you figure out ? do you have Heat ???

[cutbrain]

Is there a source which illustrates the H and J valves? I have not fixed it yet but would like to get it down quickly. The fan works but only cold air comes through.

thanks

jc

[GlenCoombe]

Originally Posted by cutbrain

Is there a source which illustrates the H and J valves? I have not fixed it yet but would like to get it down quickly. The fan works but only cold air comes through.

thanks

jc

JC, one looks like this H and has two hoses running into/through it. The other is the single hose version. It will likely have the wire cable from the heater selector on the dash either attached or hanging close to it.

Just open the engine cover and take a look for heater hoses .... the valve and the cable will likely be up over the front of the engine.

[vswingfield]

I have also seen shutoff valves on the engine where the heater hoses come off. Not stock, but had been installed as a backup in case the hoses or heater core leaked. In cases where the AC was marginal, the owners would shut off the flow entirely in hot weather.

That's probably not the case in yours, but just be aware that things may not be the way they left the factory.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, before your heater can work, you need hot water from your engine. If your engine's thermostat is stuck open, your engine could run too cool for the heater to work. A water valve can be blocked or stuck shut. And a blend door in the heater case could be stuck closed. Some blend doors and water valves, are cable operated and some are vacuum operated. A cable that is out of place or broken and a vacuum leak could also be your problem. In a poorly maintained vehicle your heater core could be plugged with rust from old and bad coolant.

[DaveFL]

Disconnecting hoses from heater box you can check the flow of water to the heater and back to the radiator, but just feeling the temp of the hoses close to the heater might show whether or not you have flow after engine is at temp. I put a shutoff valve in the engine out hose just in case I have a leaking valve as I wasn't getting enough cooling from the A/C. Now it is too cold to see if it did any good.