Its snowing and I have no heat!!

bhosMSPRO

Member
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03.5 Mazdaspeed Protege
Out of no where, my heat decided to go out the other day.. I replaced the thermostat and did a coolant flush on it yesterday thinking that may be the problem since the thermostat was stuck wide open.. Well, this did not fix anything.. The air coming out of the vents is still ice cold, even when I have the heat on pulling it off the engine. Im confused now and were getting down to the low 20's at night and having a high of mid 30s during the day.. any help would be appreciated as this is my daily driver for the time being
 
Sounds like you need a heater core. Not a big deal, 3 hour job only because you probably have to drop your dash but it is doable. Drain your radiator fluid again.
 
thanks for the quick response mazdaspeedster ... im gonna drain the radiator again and my dad said possibly flush the heater core as well? ive never had this problem so i have not ever looked into this type of s***
 
Did you do any work in your dash area (hvac controls) over the summer? If you did, maybe you forgot to attach the cable that controls the heat knob. Just a thought. Other than that, yeah, the heater core.
 
You'd have coolant in the passenger footwell if it was your heater core. Most likely the cable that operates the door has loosened or disconnected. I've seen a few threads on here about it in the past. You should always have heat, now a/c is another matter.
 
YEAH the cable man, i had that happen mutiple times, it's just a liuttle clip in the behind the center dash. You can get at it pretty decently from the passenger side floor. Just move the knob to see where it is. Gaurentee 100% thats it. it's a joke to fix. Just attach the clip back on the white plastic tab.
 
the cable is attached, to the control knob at least.. that was the first thing i checked.. the heater door just isnt opening up.. im gonna take out the whole console again ad check every cable back there just to make sure but its definitely attached to the hot/cold knob.. not sure if its just getting caught up on something or whats goin on with it
 
man that sucks but my cable that attaches to the heater door (its under the glove box, its a white plastic door that pushes and pulls with the cable) comes off from time to time. i would check that.
 
alright ill go out and check that shortly.. hopefully that fixes the problem because im a tad bit tired of seeing my breath while driving
 
Thanks

I just bought a 2000 protege es yesterday. The heat worked fine when we test drove it but on the trip home it was no longer. I thought surely I was going to have to change the heater core. But the clip was the problem. Thanks I really appreciate your help.
 
yeah, this was wrong with my red wagon for the whole time that i had it. i found it out right before i wrecked it. it connects to the knob and then connects to a part of the inside of the dash to hold the tension.
 
You can also find the hoses going to the heater core, pull them and put a little bit of muratic acid in the heater core for no more than a minute then flush it out with water. It breaks up and dissolves any major pieces that could possibly clog the heater core
 
Well i did sum wrk with my radio the other day and ya my air conditioning went out, then in the mornin my heater wuz out. Just to let yall know its that black wire back there that hooks up to the temperature knob.

If it comes off tha clip that its on and roams free the temp will not work cuz it needs to be secured in order to push tha metal wire thats in it to change the temp.

Im having that problem right now, i just have to put it back on tha clip and secure it. My lazy ass took out tha thang under the radio and held tha wire while i turned it to the temp i wanted till i have time to do it and it worked lol...
 
i hate that damn lil clip.. its such a b****!! i have to leave it on hot.. if i turn it down.. i have to fiddle with it until i finally have heat again.. no biggie to leave it on hot though.. since i dont have a.c anymore
 
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