stupid question

on my 88 cherokee my upper hose coming out of the heater core looks like it goes down into water pump while the lower hose out of the heater core looks like it goes up to the thermostat housin is this right that they are supposed to cross ive seen pictures of both ways looking around online. would really like to know thinking it may help with the next to no heat that i get especially in 20 degree weather lol
thanks in advance!!!:dunno:

I will start this with a couple of questions:

Do you have reason to believe that the hoses have been rerouted?

Do you have a heater control valve installed. This is the unit hear the firewall that the hoses connect to with a vacuum line attached.

Do either of the heater hoses get hot when the engine is warmed up and the HVAC control is set to max heat?

Do you know if the cooling system has been maintained and flushed in recent history?

The hose from the thermostat housing goes to the heater core inlet but I would have to check to see if this is in the upper or lower position on the firewall since the hoses initially go to the heater control valve. From the stand point of finding your problem, if the heater control valve has been eliminated, I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference whether the hoses go to the upper or lower core tubes.

For future reference, you will probably get answers here, but this is really an OEM Tech question unless your heating/cooling system has been heavily modified.

And I don't envy you driving around in 20* weather w/o a heater!!

The issue is the expansion bottle, in my opinion. The heater core doesn't care which way the water flows.

Do you have the heater control valve installed? If so, they can clog, stick shut etc. If you do have it, remove it and replace it with a length of tubing. Plug the vacuum line that went to it.