Chicagoland Winter is Coming: How's Your Heater?

The heater is one of those functions in an automobile or light truck that we take for granted. In fact, many vehicle owners hardly notice that their heaters are losing efficiency until that certain winter day, when it feels as cold inside the car or light truck as it does outside!

When a heater starts to fail, it may mean more than a lack of heat. We realize that many of you may not realize how the heater works or why it is important to check the heater as a part of routine maintenance.

What the heater does and how it works

The vehicle heater is designed to warm the passenger department however, the heater in your car or light truck is not like the central heating in your home.

The heater in your vehicle must wait until the engine warms up and this causes the coolant or antifreeze in your radiator to warm in return. Under normal circumstances, such as on a hot summer day, the radiator is used to get rid of excess heat. However in the winter, the hot coolant is diverted to the heater core rather than being dispersed to the air. Once the heat from the coolant has been utilized by the heating system, it is circulated by a pump through the engine to again absorb more heat.

Never heard of a heating core? It is like a tiny radiator not too far behind the dashboard. This tiny radiator has many tubes where the heated fluids are circulated. As this unit becomes warm, the heater fan blows across the tubes and then through the heating vents of the cabin of your vehicle. The whole system is pretty clever and it should be very efficient under normal operation.

The parts of the heater system most people see are the heating system controls on the dashboard. There are usually two types of controls: a Manual Control System or an Automatic Temperature Control System.

The Manual Control System, as its name implies, requires you to adjust it manually for the desired temperature. The Automatic Temperature Control System, is a computerized system and in some cars it can even be pre-set to set up different heating zones in the car.

The heater control system of a vehicle, either manual or automatic, runs the blower motor, blend doors (this is the clever device that mixes the hot fluid with the air to arrive at the proper temperatures), and temperature operation itself.

My heater isn’t working right!

Now that you have basic understanding of your vehicle’s heating system, let’s look at some common problems with heaters.

· Coolant level problems – If your coolant lines are leaking this marks a serious problem; not only is the heater affected, but the entire system including the engine. By the way, if you notice pools of coolant on your garage floor, clean it up immediately and keep small children and pets away!

· Failing thermostat – the thermostat regulates more than just the heat in the cabin but affects the engine temperature and radiator; it must be replaced.

· Heating core – Heating cores may become plugged with residue or develop mini-leaks on their own. They are easily replaced.

· Failing blowers – The blower motor, much like any kind of fan mechanism can fail with age or heavy use.

· Broken blend doors – The blend door devices that create the proper mixture of heated and ambient air are easily fixed or replaced.

If your heater is not working, let our ASE Certified technicians quickly diagnose and fix the problem. Winter is no time to drive around with a failed heating system.