I have a 01 1500 4x4. I had a shop replace my water pump, could the work they did have an effect on my heat? I got no heat at all. I have A/C which was intermittent before the replacement but now works, any connections as to why??

 

Air bubble in the heater core. They are a pain in the keester to get all the air out of.

 

What the venerable Mister Hey said. Park the thing with the passenger side front elevated above the rest so the radiator cap is the highest point in the system, or close to it. Then when it's safe to open the cap, take it off and run the thing to normal operating temperature and another ten minutes or more. If you've got a tuner or a patient right foot, hold the engine between 1000 and 1500 RPM for that last ten minutes to keep the water pump working at pushing the bubbles out. Otherwise go 20 minutes or more.

Should it happen that your heat output drops again after that, give 'er another go. A third go-round might be required, but if it seems to need a fourth your heater core is shot.

 

BUT if you know you have all the air out like I do and running a 180° thermostat
you may need some cardboard in front of the radiator for the winter months..


I currently have 2 pieces of cardboard one on each side of the radiator in between the trans cooler and radiator itself that I can slide open and close on the extreme cold days like it is this AM here in the northeast ( currently 34° and 25+ winds ), when this cold I close them up and leave about 18" right in the center.. when doing this you just need to watch your temperature gauge and don't let it go above 200.. if it goes that high open the gap a little..
later this week when it warms up to near 70 for a couple days I slide them all the way to each end opening the radiator gap up all the way


the 180° stat is great for the spring,summer and early fall months BUT with the radiator surface size in our trucks in the winter it isn't enough and you cant build any heat in the engine which can greatly affect fuel mileage also...


once spring arrives pull the cardboard out and put away until next fall

 

had this happened to me last week. it was working previously. it so happens I checked Rad. water level, as a routine, and was low. filled it up along with recovery tank and heat went back to normal. don't really use heat much here but I was lucky in the easy fix. I suspect i had an air bubble too, after my recent plenum fix.

 

A 180 stat should still provide good heat. Mine does and always has. Is it as fast getting hot as I would like it? No. But it does get to temp just fine and warms the cab in a few minutes. Only time it didn't was in January in central SD when it was -20F. Course the truck barely started that cold, ha.

Check for the air bubble, then do a heater core flush! You will have heat even with a 160 stat. Remember, the air coming across the core should be the same as the water temp! 180 is HOT!

 

My '96 1500 with 360 has no heat and the gauge does not rise. I replaced the water pump, belts, hoses and thermostat about 7000 miles ago. I searched and found owners that had gauges that would jump around but did not find anyone with a gauge that did not move. The anti freeze in the radiator is full.

 

sorry but I disagree, just because you have a 180° stat DOES NOT mean your water temp is at 180° constantly.... unfortunately people don't really understand how a thermostat works



if you have a 180° stat, the 180 is the temp at which the stat JUST BEGINS to open up AND it is not fully open until 12-15° above that meaning 192-195° engine temperature...


unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it the cooling surface of our BIG aluminum radiators in a properly functioning and filled system can be too efficient which means you will NEVER ATTAIN proper operating temperatures and this can contribute to poor heat and really CRAPPY fuel mileage in cold weather...


BUT I DIGRESS, you guys do what you want to... personally I will continue to run my 180° stat and run my cardboard in the colder months to reach a peak temp of around 195°... this gives me good fuel mileage and excellent heat to boot..

 

first off don't trust the dash gauge and are you sure you installed the thermostat properly?? occasionally it has been known that someone has installed it upside down also when you did heater hoses did you do them
one at a time??? if not is it possible you have them reversed??


read on another site a while back where someone reversed their heater hoses at the firewall and were having issues

 

Everything was working fine for the past two years.

I mentioned the issue to a couple of people and they seem to think it is the thermostat. The original lasted 1450000 miles and the aftermarket for less than 7000?

I see that they are available in stainless steel. Would it be worth the few extra dollars?