How hot should a heater run?

[dabruin15]

I have a 60 and the heater warms up after about 5 minutes but stays warm, not hot. After that it warms up a bit but not very much. It doesnt blow me out or anything. Are all cruisers like this or is something wrong? Should it blow me out with the hot air?

 

[bhk]

I keep a small dial thermometer in the heater vent on the driver's side. With the heater on recirculation, the air coming out of the vent will get to 125F. It's usually lower than that, maybe 100-110F or so if the heater is using outside air. I replaced most of the cooling system about 3 months ago.

 

[Tinker]

Both my 60s put out lots of hot air. The Vortec V8 warms up sooner, but the 2F starts to put out after about 2 miles. Helps to keep 'em in the garage but I can only get 1 in at a time.

 

[fowldarr]

Heater

Just got mine a couple of weeks ago, noticed the same thing. It's a little slow but gets warm enough for me after a couple of miles. might check the thermostat

 

[TheGr8Doughboy]

When I was running the 2F in my truck it ran a little cold... even with a new t-stat. I had to do the mac truck thing and cover half the radiator or so, depending on the temp, to keep the engine warm.

Chris

 

[Mark W]

At 20-25F OAT with the rig at operating temp (180F) you should see at least 130-140F air temp right out of the vents.

Mark...

 

[60wag]

A flush of the heater core would likely warm things up a bunch.

 

[Cruzerman]

When I got my FJ60, the heater didn't ever seem to work well and took forever to get only slightly warm. I also noticed that the temp gauge seemed to stay lower than expected.

Turned out that the top o-ring for the thermastat was missing. This allows water to go around the thermastat, thus keeping it from doing it's job. Put in the gasket and nice warm air after a couple of miles.

Cruzerman
Somewhere near Eugene, Oregon

 

[Zack1978]

Well when it is VERY cold outside, the fresh air setting is cooler than the recirc setting. But what is the better setting? With the heater on full blast recirc, the air is almost too hot to have your had in front of, but on fresh it is just barely enough. So what is the way to go fresh or recirc?


Zack

 

[pkarr]

Well when it is VERY cold outside, the fresh air setting is cooler than the recirc setting. But what is the better setting? With the heater on full blast recirc, the air is almost too hot to have your had in front of, but on fresh it is just barely enough. So what is the way to go fresh or recirc?


Zack

The recirc is really only meant for the initiall warm up of th car, or to use on and off when it is especialy cold. If you run the recirculate continuously, you will biuld up alot of moisture inside the car (especially if there is more than one person). If you have alot of moisture in the car, and the windows are cold you will get condensation, obstructing vision from the windows. You see people in smallcars with their windows all fogged up alot since there is less air for the moisture to dissipate into.

 

[FJ40Jim]

Well when it is VERY cold outside, the fresh air setting is cooler than the recirc setting. But what is the better setting? With the heater on full blast recirc, the air is almost too hot to have your had in front of, but on fresh it is just barely enough. So what is the way to go fresh or recirc?
Zack

One of the neat things about the antiquated HVAC system is that the fresh/recirc is not an on/off switch.
You are allowed to leave the fresh/recirc lever in the middle.

 

[dabruin15]

cool.

 

[stonefly]

I second...

the flushing the heater core comment. Unless your rig has seen regular cooling system maintainace I'd bet you got sludge in your heater core. A lot of stuff can get trapped in all the bends reducing the efficiency of heat transfer. Worked wonders for me.

 

[Zack1978]

the flushing the heater core comment. Unless your rig has seen regular cooling system maintainace I'd bet you got sludge in your heater core. A lot of stuff can get trapped in all the bends reducing the efficiency of heat transfer. Worked wonders for me.

So how do you flush it?

Zack