Ok heres the deal. I have three pintos. One 74 wagon, one 76 sedan, and one 79 sedan. All 2.3 engines. Today i was sort of winterizing the 74 and the 79 since they only had water in them, and checked on the 76 even tho i knew it was fine. That is when i noticed that the heater hoses on my 76 are hooked up differently than those on the 74. The 79 is similar to the 74 but it has a BIG hose that goes to the thermostat housing, and a little hose off the big hose over to the intake (electric/vacuum choke), where as the 75 and 76 have the big line running over to the intake to run the hot water choke. Now. The thing is is that the 74 has its lower heater hose going to the water pump and the upper heater hose going to the intake. The lower hose on the 79 also goes strait to the water pump. But on the 76 the hoses are opposite of that. The lower heater hose is going to the intake and the upper hose is going to the water pump. I tend to think that it is the one thats backwards since the 74 and the 79 are both the same and the 79 since its been off the road for so many years until now, its had less chance to be messed with. It even has the original 1979 plug wires. :O. The heat and defrost hasnt worked very good on the 76 since ive had it. Ive always assumed the heater core was plugged up. Altho the temp doesnt get over 140/160 ish in the winter, and runs a normal 195 in the summer, i still feel like the heat could do better in the 76 than it does. It will barly keep it tolerable and yer fingers still freeze. Could the hoses having been switched around be causing me heat problems? I really dont look forward to replacing the heater core if thats the problem. The car is non AC but everyone says me and the car will have a cussing match replacing the heater core. Still also cant figure out why the temp wont get up to what its supposed to be when its cool/cold out. Ive tried probably 5 or 6 new thermostats. The core of the radiator is a few inches bigger than the original. Its got a new replacement radiator in it. Maybe i need a BIG piece of cardboard to help it out. With it getting cold out id like to fix the heat if its not too big of a deal. If not ill tolerate it or drive something else. :(
Hello pintoguy76,
The heater hoses sound sdrawkcab to me...
From Pintony
Here's the way it is on my 75. the water comes out of my intake manifold, around the back of the engine and into the heater out let. Then back out the outlet and back to the water pump.
Hope this helps.
jim
If the hoses are backwards the heat wont work well.The coolant has to come in the bottom fitting which is usually a bigger tube,this fills the core completely allowing the transfer of heat to the core.The outlet is usually smaller to help hold the coolant in the core longer for better heat transfer.If the hoses are backwards the coolant flows into the core at a reduced rate falling to the bottom and out of the core faster than it can flow in.This means the core never fills completely so you end up with little heat transfer.there is 2 different hose routings,Early and late,I believe late model went to the thermostat housing.I can send pics of my setup but i have an oil cooler and it may just serve to confuse further,then again maybe not.Let me know.As for the motor runnin cool when you figure it out let me know,I have the same problem,160 to 170 winter 195 summer and thats with a 195 deg thermostat.
My hoses must be backwards then. My heat doesnt work for crap in that car. It worked great in the 74 tho. So the lower hose must come in from the water pump then? Thats how it is on the 74. The 79 has the late style hoses as you mentioned. Its got two big lines, one from pump to the lower inlet on the core, and one to the t-stat housing. The line to the tstat housing has a very small outlet on the side of the steel tube back in the back that runs to the intake. I'll get these hoses switched around. I gotta drive this today. The outlet on the bottom of the radiator broke on the 74 last night when i was trying to take the radiator out to replace the water pump which i thought was leaking but isnt. Its probably the radiator itself leaking.
Quote from: hellfirejim on November 02, 2007, 11:16:48 AM
Here's the way it is on my 75. the water comes out of my intake manifold, around the back of the engine and into the heater out let. Then back out the outlet and back to the water pump.
Hope this helps.
jim
Thats how it is on my 74 and on the 76 too, but the hoses are switched around on the 76. That explains the mysterious heat problem. Thanks for all the replys guys. :)
I dissagree.
The coolant flows through the core, the core does not direct the coolant so it will travel as it should. I have noticed that some years, the CORE has two sizes for the tubes, but on all of mine with the ORIGINAL hoses, both the 'engine sides' have been the same (tapered), so I don't think that is the issue.
Yes, the radiator has the 'return' at the top to aid heat transfer, but the core is much smaller and in a confined space. IMHO and experience, if you are not getting good heat from it, don't assume it is just reversed lines.
If the car does not have A/C the core is easy to change (dispite what you were told) and should at least be inspected as they are prone to failure and clogging. Also inspect the control cables and doors, and keep in mind that "kritters" like heater boxes.
My question is: Does it blow hot air at a decreased volume (CFM), or is the air cooler at a regular volume?
Another good way to check is with one of those "temp" things with the laser on them (can't think of the name of them). If you are not getting HOT air: test both hoses, if they have about the same (hot) temp with the heat full on, you have an 'air' or box issue, if they are different (one hot one cool) you have a part clogged or box/control issue. If they are both cooler than they should be, the core is mostly or fully clogged.
Bill
Bill
Well actually it appears switching the hoses around did help the heat alot. the heat would work a little on low but on high it would pretty much blow cold air. After switching the hoses around i did have to add a somewhat significant amount of antifreeze. That makes me wonder if the heater core indeed wasnt filling up right. It wasnt low before because nothing leaks. Everything is new except the engine itself and the heater hoses, and i had just flushed and filled the radiator before my trip to texas... and i didnt lose much antifreeze to speak of changing the hoses around. After i started it up and let the heat run i checked the level and it was a bit low. I might have added 1/4 of a gallon.
Quote from: pintoguy76 on November 02, 2007, 07:05:32 PM
Well actually it appears switching the hoses around did help the heat alot. the heat would work a little on low but on high it would pretty much blow cold air. After switching the hoses around i did have to add a somewhat significant amount of antifreeze. That makes me wonder if the heater core indeed wasnt filling up right. It wasnt low before because nothing leaks. Everything is new except the engine itself and the heater hoses, and i had just flushed and filled the radiator before my trip to texas... and i didnt lose much antifreeze to speak of changing the hoses around. After i started it up and let the heat run i checked the level and it was a bit low. I might have added 1/4 of a gallon.
Low coolant will cause similar issues.
I also belive that if there was some opstruction in the core, reversing the flow would have helped to unclog it. The bad part of that is now the clog could be elswhere in the system.
Bill
Coolant level was fine. Earthquakes suggestion that the heater core doesnt fill up properly when reversed does make sense. Because thats when the level dropped was after i changed the hoses over. and i didnt lose much coolant when i removed the hoses. Afterwards when i drove around for a bit and came home i checked it again and it was a tad low, you could see it in the tubes of the radiator but it wasnt pooled above the fins anymore. i poured an 1/8th maybe 1/4 of a gallon in it to fill; it back up. The heat isnt as hot as the 74, still, but i think thats because the engine simply wont get to temp. It was like 50 degrees when i drove it tonite and it wouldnt get over 140-150 degrees. Has a 195 degree tstat in it. Its still TONS better than it was. the REAL test will be to see how the heat works when its in the teens or single digits. Still pondering the cardboard thing but its still too warm to think about that yet. Some funny weather we're having here. it froze last night...barely... not even gonna get into the 30s tonite... and talking about 70s again on sunday. Most of the leaves havnt even changed colors yet.. let alone falling from the trees. But thats just me rambling.
My 78 runs cool to in cooler temps. I put the cardboard in front and now it runs warm, 180-190. also have a 195 stat. In the winter, I take off the fan totally too.
I dont have the nerve to totally remove my fan altho as long as you're moving you dont need it. Id like to have an electric fan that i could just switch off in the winter. That'd save on gas, too. Im sure it would pay for itself relativly easy. I am going to try the cardboard tho. How much of the radiator did you block off?
depends on the car.My 73 we had to block the whole thing off.Start with half and go from there.
Doc.
I think i did a 3rd last year didnt do much. Ill do atleast half this time. And go from there. But ill wait until it gets cool enough out constantly before i do. It was 70 here today. And tuesday.... it will be in the 40s with a low of 25. AH the missouri weather. Wait 5 minutes and it will change.