Hey guys. I've had my 2002 Neon SE for a week now and am wondering what the normal operating temperature is??? I'm having heat issues where I'm getting luke warm heat 98% the time. The other 2% it seems to blow fairly hot. Blows cold when stopped.

Anyway where should the needle be on the temp gauge. Mine seems to run cold, takes a long time for the engine to heat up and have little to no heat coming from the heater.

If you have a pic of the temp gauge when the car is fully warmed up that be very helpful!

 

-Winter or summer, my temp gauge never really goes above the first small mark above the two bold marks at "cold." It's pointing roughly at 8 o'clock...

L8R,
Matt

 

Those symptoms are usually from a low coolant level. Is your reservoir full? My temp needle sits on the line below 1/2 way.

 

Ok... My needle sits about the same position and will move up or down ever so slightly... sounds like thats normal.

 

I checked the coolant level and it is full. The overflow reservoir is full also. The floor board is not wet so I'm thinking its not a shot heater core. I felt the heater hoses under the hood and the one on the bottom was so hot I couldnt hold it in my hand. The top hose was hot but I was able to hold it in my hand. Maybe a blocked core??? Do you think if I flushed it that maybe that would help? Any other ideas?? Mechanics always seem to jump right to heater core issues but thats a $700 fix and I have a feeling its not a bad core. Its starting to get cold here and this is a commuter car for me and my 3 little boys so I want to get this fixed ASAP.

 

Read through this page: http://www.allpar.com/fix/heat.html

 

-Here's a pic of my dash I took on my way home from work. This was heading down I-77. Bout the only time it touches the line that the needle is below, is probably during the middle of summer with the a/c on....



L8R,
Matt

 

Remember, the factory gauges aren't meant to be the most accurate instruments either. They are at a "normal" spot when the car is operating at a certain temperature range. Yeah, if the coolant level is full and the heater core isn't leaking, it could very well be a blocked core. I get to fix that very thing on one of my cars now! Fairly simple procedure. Hopefully it isn't "too plugged" is all!

 

Ya... That is about where my needle sits too. It will move up a little and down a little but very slightly... Thanks for the pic!

Well the Heater Core is not leaking and I flushed out the core. We also back flushed it. Some dirty coolant came out but didnt seam at all clogged as it took the water from the garden hose easily.

Unfortunately this didnt fix the problem. I'm lost now. The heater core isn't leaking and is not blocked. The car is not over heating. I assume the doors that let the heat through are fine as I can feel a difference in temperature when I change the heat setting. Problem is it just not blowing hot air.

Heres the other thing that confuses me. If I have the car in park and press the gas to bring the RPM's to about 3K, it will then blow very hot air. But when I let off the gas and the RPM's drop then it blows cool again. Considering that while driving the RPM's stay around 2K or under the RPM's will not be high enough to warm the car up this winter.

Any ideas based on this information? My buddy said something about a water control valve that may need adjusting???

 

-This may be a dumb question, but have you changed the thermostat? It's possible that it could be stuck partially open, not allowing the engine to heat up like it should....

L8R,
Matt