No heat 2001 cherokee

Helping a friend out.

he has absolutely no heat.

he cut through the back of his glove box and i felt his heater core and its cold as ice.

he said he flushed his system and tried to blow out his heater core.

would anything besides a clogged core cause this?

toates89 said:

Helping a friend out.

he has absolutely no heat.

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What temperature is the engine running at?

Does either the electric or belt-driven fan run constantly?

he cut through the back of his glove box

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*facepalm*

and i felt his heater core and its cold as ice.

he said he flushed his system and tried to blow out his heater core.

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How was the flush performed?

Was all trapped air burped out of the system?

What exactly did he do to "blow out his heater core"?

Are the radiator and heater hoses warm or cold?

would anything besides a clogged core cause this?

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There are possibilities, but more info is needed.

My 2001 also has a heater problem. The heat that comes out is just a little warm not nearly as hot as my 97 was. The heater hoses get hot and the engine runs about 210. I was able to blow through the hoses through the core also

The later model, IIRC 97+ XJs have no coolant control valve and hot coolant flows through the heater core constantly.

If the heater core is cold--it is plugged or scaled to the point no heat exchange is taking place.

Did the OP ever find a cure? I just purchased an '01 and it has similar problems. It will eventually warm up... but takes a long time. I know I'm going to have to flush my coolant system as there is quite a bit of rust/muck in the overflow and the radiator cap. Hopefully running some cleaner and flushing my system will take care of the issue and prolong my radiator and water pumps life.

Redsnake said:

Did the OP ever find a cure? I just purchased an '01 and it has similar problems. It will eventually warm up... but takes a long time. I know I'm going to have to flush my coolant system as there is quite a bit of rust/muck in the overflow and the radiator cap. Hopefully running some cleaner and flushing my system will take care of the issue and prolong my radiator and water pumps life.

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Don't be suckered into using the 15-minute crap.

Prestone, Zerex, and others make radiator CLEANERS that you put in and drive for 3-6 hours. Follow the directions on the container. It may take more than one cleaning to get things moving.

There is a possibility that the heater core is too far gone--there are tiny little tubes in there--but compared to pulling the dash and if a/c equipped paying to have the a/c system emptied and recharged costs way more than a few containers of radiator cleaner and a little sweat equity.

I have used the CLR technique successfully as a last ditch effort. As you have to tear the damn vehicle apart to replace the heater core, it may be worth a try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcL_0TWeZJY&feature=channel

Thanks guys. I'm sure the cooling system was not taken great care of... but hopefully using a good cleaner will help free up an crud or rust or debris and clean up my system. And most definitely cheaper and easier than replacing the heater core.

no cure. but i havent contacted the owner. i was helping a friend of a friend.

cooling systems seem to be the most under maintained systems

I added some Prestone Cleaner and drove it about 6 hours over the weekend and then flushed out the radiator and the lines as best I could. I'm going to mess w/doing a backflush of the heater core this week as well. Didn't see the video referenced here until after I had her back together. Going to do that as I'm SURE the Heater Core is clogged up. I've replaced many radiators and water pumps and thermostats in my life on many cars... but have never seen a cooling system as grungy, dirty and rusty as the one on this '01 I just bought. The XJ looks to be in great shape and only has 111K on it... but I don't think anyone ever checked the coolant f/the time it was driven off the lot new.

What came out of my cooling lines and radiator looked like dirty chocolate milk w/ dirty sprinkles in it...

It may take a couple applications of cleaner in a severely abused system.

joe_peters said:

It may take a couple applications of cleaner in a severely abused system.

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Agreed. I will do it several times so I don't have to replace the heater core. I'm wondering if I should use some CLR or if that is too harsh or incorrect to clean out the heater core? Any ideas on that? The Radiator is fairly cleaned out now. I need to see if I can disconnect both inlet/outlet hoses to the Heater Core to flush it.