FJ62 No Heat and It’s our 1 year anniversary (1 Viewer)

[gordista]

Winter finally came upon us this weekend…pounded with snow. I couldn’t have been more excited to FINALLY! Yes FINALLY test and use the 4WD
Hubs; check…oddly modern but sorta prehistoric H4 button engaged; check
Quick pep talk & a prayer - queued tune's for our 1 year Anniversary Date through unplowed roads to sneaky forest trails with so much deep snow…god she’s a champ! Even dared to try L4 en route home (saved best for lest just in case the axels wheels or tranny fell off ) up steep trail with so much snow and frozen mud beneath. I couldn’t have been happier!
Except one thing… the heat or lack there of.
No coolant leaks from what can smell or see. Temp gauge appears normal. I vaguely recall last January upon initial delivery - getting some heat - enough to defrost windshield. Then interior refresh work started and then she was away having one of @cruisermatt dope gas tanks installed. And I’m sure upon completion and delivery knowing me I turned on at least defrost & heat in rain or spring cold

Radiator itself is relatively new (think 2nd owner had it done) -

I do have OEM thermostat, gasket and housing gasket on order. As from what I gather that could be culprit???
… I’m not going to assume that whomever and whenever radiator was done all other necessary cooling system components were replaced.

Tonight tried process of elimination… rear heater throws heat- well more heat than front at least
What does that mean? Not thermostat?
Ughhh
I’m dreading having to address heater core -
Sounds like a tedious nightmare to access


I will say last year when doing interior refresh and installing stereo with dash some what out I did find evidence of vintage mud daubers in dash side air vents.

Thoughts, insight, suggestions forever appreciated

And apologies in advance for not having video or photos of our maiden four-wheel-drive, snow laden journey, but it was so cold I had to have mittens on.

 

[dbleon]

Try flushing the heater core. Disconnect heater hoses at the firewall and flush with garden hose ( not full blast ) in both directions

 

[micruz60]

^^ this.

Then it becomes the dreaded heater core.
My experience is similar- great heat from cabin heat, meh, from dash / defrost.

 

[gordista]

Flushing…s***es about to get serious…j
This sounds intense
Any recommended tutorials out there ?
Blonde here
Cause the hose goes to inlet in firewall? Which one?

Is there like easy precursor method for determining if that’s the problem? Like temp gun readings on hoses?

Now flushing …

So I have read about
distilled water only
Muriatic Acid
Muriatic acid distilled water mix
vinegar

Any opinions ??

Thank you

 

[dbleon]

Flush both directions. Garden hose .. maybe add a quart of flush or diluted CLR and let her site.. then flush again both directions garden hose. Then distilled water if your the anal type or just add coolant and send it

 

[micruz60]

I would not use the muriatic acid. Is there a tee coupling (not factory) on the heater hose that runs over the rear top of the engine near the firewall? This is an FJ62 right?

 

[Mark W]

Dollars to doughnuts the front heater core is clogged. Water flushing will likely do nothing. Muriatic acid is the way to go. ONLY in the heater core, NOT in the engine. Be aware that if the clogging is the result of AL based stop leak, the results can be... exciting.

I did an FZJ80 core recently and the temp at the vents went from maybe 100*F at ambient temps in the 60*F range, to over 220*F even at 0*F ambient! That is about the most significant change I have ever achieved. The reaction, in this case, with the AL stopleak sludge was pretty violent. I really should have started with a dilution just to be sure, but I made an incorrect judgement call about the cause of the clogging and went full strength right off the bat.

Make sure you have a good seal on top of the thermostat. If this is missing or deteriorated, coolant can bypass the thermostat and you will never get good heat and the engine will usually run cold too.

Mark...

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Check out other threads on the subject, such as this one.

FJ62 little heat from front heater - help needed

Well I still have the exact same issues that you have. The heat out of the rear heater is so hot that it will almost burn your hands, and the main heat is just luke warm. I have taken every step mentioned in this thread, except the flushing of the heater core. I think that is where the issue...

forum.ih8mud.com

What was your outside temp? My 62 wasn't able to provide much heat or defrost side windows when the temperature dropped into the 20's or less.

 

[gordista]

Check out other threads on the subject, such as this one.

FJ62 little heat from front heater - help needed

Well I still have the exact same issues that you have. The heat out of the rear heater is so hot that it will almost burn your hands, and the main heat is just luke warm. I have taken every step mentioned in this thread, except the flushing of the heater core. I think that is where the issue...

forum.ih8mud.com

What was your outside temp? My 62 wasn't able to provide much heat or defrost side windows when the temperature dropped into the 20's or less.

It was blizzard … so cold! Def in 20s if not colder.
This past Wednesday too gal out during wild coastal storm to do a waterfront chaos tour -
Outside temps were in 40s.
Used temp gun to try and get readings of air coming out of vents…rear blower was high like 100+
Dash ducts blowing about 60 on high (and this was feeble attempt with temp gun pointed at air so who really knows - blonde moment maybe lol)

Bonus - while futzing with climate control slider doo-hickeys I did discover there is a blown bulb behind it. Phewww my night vision isn’t going as quickly as I thought. …

Anyway onto flush… I’ll check out link shared.
Thank you!