Need Help No HEAT its my daily driver and I have a 1 year old daughter!

Kristin89

Kristin89

New member
Okay I have a 98 jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 Straight 6 automatic. It has a 4 inch lift and 35's. There is no HEAT! I have replace the radiator, thermostat, and the water pump. There are no visible leaks i do not smell any coolant. I'm stumped and need to get it fixed ASAP! This is my daily driver and I have a 1 year old daughter. Today it was -2 degrees. PLEASE HELP.
 

My first thought, after all the new parts, is that you have air in your system. I usually leave the radiator cap off and let it run a while, till it warms up good, to get the air out, but I have heard that it will work it's way out after a few cycles of warming up and cooling down.
The next thing to check, is the valve that lets the hot water into your heater core is working. It is air actuated and sometimes there is a vacuum leak or the valve gets stuck.
After the jeep has warmed up, touch the two heater hoses going into the heater core,If it is hot BEFORE the valve,but cold AFTER, then your valve is not opening. If this is the case, check for vacuum leaks, work the valve in and out a couple of times to make sure it is not stuck.
If one hose is hot, but the other is cold, the water is not circulating through the heater core,(stopped up). You will need to flush it.


Not being a smart ass....... you gotta ask these questions......did you put the thermostat in upside down, are all the heater hoses hooked back up, did you recheck the water level after it warmed up good and the thermostat opened?
Good luck, let us know how it works out.
 
tntchitwood said:
My first thought, after all the new parts, is that you have air in your system. I usually leave the radiator cap off and let it run a while, till it warms up good, to get the air out, but I have heard that it will work it's way out after a few cycles of warming up and cooling down.
The next thing to check, is the valve that lets the hot water into your heater core is working. It is air actuated and sometimes there is a vacuum leak or the valve gets stuck.
After the jeep has warmed up, touch the two heater hoses going into the heater core,If it is hot BEFORE the valve,but cold AFTER, then your valve is not opening. If this is the case, check for vacuum leaks, work the valve in and out a couple of times to make sure it is not stuck.
If one hose is hot, but the other is cold, the water is not circulating through the heater core,(stopped up). You will need to flush it.

Not being a smart ass....... you gotta ask these questions......did you put the thermostat in upside down, are all the heater hoses hooked back up, did you recheck the water level after it warmed up good and the thermostat opened?
Good luck, let us know how it works out.
Click to expand...

Flush the heater core or get a new one try that first if that don't work get a hold of me
 
I hear ya xjman.......very nice.....but seriously, I would check some stuff before I started throwing new parts at it.
 

Is the thermostat installed correctly (not upside down)

is the thermostat opening if not it could just be a bad thermostat
new ones can be bad too

low on coolant or system may need to be burped
 
are you losing any coolant? is the level on the over flow bottle going down at all? your heater core could be bad? and leaking see if you pass side foot well is wet, or has a oily feel to it.. that's were my wife's leaked only a few years old too...
 

Thank you guys for the advice I'm going to work on it tomorrow and see what I come up with. I'll post and let ya know how it goes or if I dont find anything.
 
Oh and added insight the radiator was replaced because it blew on my way home from a car show. And the thermostat and water pump were replace because the jeep was over heating. Yes the thermostat is in the right way and i did leave the cap off the radiator while it was running to get out the air. No the passanger side floor is not wet or oily. And all the levels are fine. And yes all hoses are properly hooked back up. After I replaced everything i did have heat it wasn't until a couple days later it stopped. Oh something i totally forgot about the fins on the water pump....lets just say there was barely any there.... So maybe i'll find some of the metal somewhere clogging something idk...I'll reply tomorrow Thanks again.
 

Well i was going over everything today i only had a lttle time to work on it. i open the radiator cap again just to double check that all the air was out felt the in and out hoses for the heater core and the in is hot i can barely keep my hand on it and the out is warm but not hot. then i tore the dash apart thinking maybe the hot/cold gear for the knob was wore and its fine checked the blend air thing and its in position with hot. but still no heat so later on tonight i'm going to get a baby sitter so i can flush the heater core. its so hard to try and work on the jeep with the little one. Eh i'll post later and update how everything is going.:???:
 
Oh another question my dad has an f-150 and he has been having heat problems as well and he has a bleeder vavle behind the alternator for the coolant. Would my jeep have one of these as well or not?
 
There's no bleeder valve on your jeep. When you flush the heater core, get a foot or two of the same size hose that you can clamp onto the heater core fittings. After disconnecting the hose from the heater core, install the foot or so long hose to the lower fitting and pour some vinegar in the hose and fill it till it starts coming out of the upper heater core fitting. Connect the end of the hose you poured the vinegar into to the upper fitting and let it sit for 5 mins.. After that, remove the hose from one end and flush the core with a garden hose and see what comes out. Do this on both fittings so that both sides of the heater core tank gets a chance to empty out the large debris that might come out.
 

Ya I would say try flushing the heater core, just disconnect the 2 hoses running into it, stick a garden hose in one and watch the gunk come out lol just did this last week with a buddy's XJ because he had no heat or defrosters at all. I hear ya about needed the heat cuz of kids man, gotta have the heat for them. Just try flushing it and it should fix it.
 
Well I flushed the heater core tonight and a bunch of junk came out. And I have heat again.
The next question i have is now that i heat when i'm driving and my rpms hit 2000 the heat stops blowing out of the panel. Vacuum leak right? And where should i start to solve this problem?
oh and floridacherokee1988 i'm a girl. but i agree cold and kids dont mix. expecially when mine gets sick often, shes been in the hospital twice this winter already. Thanks everyone for the help greatly appriciated.
 
Well guys I stumbled on this post because i bought and resurrected a 87 4.0. I've been having absolutely no heat, and yesterday the passenger side floor was swamped. I though it was from a bad window seal because we'd had a bad rain storm, but how could this be related to heat and more importantly how can I fix it?
 

Richard, you have water on the floor board? Did it overheat since then, was the water coolant or just water? Have y'all got lots of recent rain?

My 87 Cherokee had a small hole rusted where the fender meets the firewall and rain would splash up when driving and go through that hole and soak the carpet. I had to remove some stuff to find it but once I saw it, you couldn't unsee it. It was an easy fix of treat rust and caulk hole, though
 
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