160 thermostat no heat

[LS954]

i bought the car with a cooler thermostat, i believe its a 160, and I've never had heat. The other day i was talking to a coworker of mine and he stated that even with a 160 i should still be getting some heat, the last time i drove the car in the cold it was in the low 40s and had to drive it from va to md, i was freezin' my ass off towards the end of that trip. So should i still be getting heat even if its just warm?

 

[dpasadena]

i bought the car with a cooler thermostat, i believe its a 160, and I've never had heat. The other day i was talking to a coworker of mine and he stated that even with a 160 i should still be getting some heat, the last time i drove the car in the cold it was in the low 40s and had to drive it from va to md, i was freezin' my ass off towards the end of that trip. So should i still be getting heat even if its just warm?

I have always ran a 160 in my car and some heat always comes out of the vents. Maybe your heater control valve is not working?

 

[LS954]

how do i go about checking to see if its bad?

 

[usetaboost]

either the valve or the heater core itself is plugged. I run a 160 tstat and even single digit temps my car is still comfortable

 

[groumoutis]

Above your passenger valve cover there is a valve near the firewall on the hoses that go to the heater core. If you have a vac pump you can remove the valve and hook the vacuum pump up to the vac line on the valve and create a vacuum and see if the valve moves. If it moves freely then your heater core is probably clogged. If the valve doesn't move the valve is bad and you need to buy another valve.

I have a 160 stat as well and my car will heat up fine with the exception of the weak blower fan.

 

[dpasadena]

how do i go about checking to see if its bad?

The heater core valve is vacuum operated. Make sure you have vacuum to it and that it indeed opens when the heat selector inside is on hot allowing heat to circulate through the heater core

 

[Jicaju]

Is the radiator full of water?

 

[LS954]

well i was getting vacuum so it seems i need a new valve, oh and cause it was so cold i snapped the vacuum line, they werent rubber.

 

[ttaowner]

no coolant equals no heat

 

[LS954]

oh theres coolant in there

 

[ttaowner]

oh theres coolant in there

i had a car back about 17 years ago when i knew less that didnt have antifree but didnt overheat either since it was this time of year up in VT well someone who knew more than i suggest i check my coolant and bingo no coolant. i drove like that for a few weeks

 

[TurboBuRick]

The operation of the heater valve is deceiving. The valve is spring loaded and suppose to be normally open.

When heat is called for vacuum is removed and the spring pulls the valve open. If the spring on the valve is broke it will not open. No heat.....

For right now it can be wired open.

Rick

 

[usetaboost]

or just delete it

 

[whitehot1]

Autozone has the heater control valve in stock for $9.49 it's not metal like the original so it won't rust and works good. I've been using one of them for 15 years without a problem. Here is a link if you should decide to get one.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/1987-Buick-Regal/Heater-Control-Valve/_/N-iidqmZ91sh0

Rockauto has the metal one like the original for $30.00

 

[jlat]

hello people; I don't like plastic parts but everything is going that way from MA sencors to heater control valves. I like the no rust thing as the HCV that came with the Buick can get pretty ugly. I'd like to see the plastic one installed. But I've talked about this before and that is to take the valve off completly. I was told to do this on my van and I did. It was suppose to help with better heat and still give you cold AC. It didn't really help with the heat and the AC works but I might try it with the TB.
whats your thoughts
IBBY
PS today it's like 9 degrees here in Mass. and the heat was alright. Not great in the van. I even blocked part of the rad. to see if that would help. It helped in getting up to temp. faster but that's about it. It has to of helped.

 

[LS954]

so you say normally open with vacuum right? so once i remove the line, like i did, shouldnt i had seen the valve arm move? I didnt see it move. I might just try the one from Autozone and see what happens.
Also which of the A/C controls shuts the vacuum to the valve, is the the mode selector or the temp selector?

 

[jlat]

hello; How about an experiment? Bypass the HCV and see what happens. It won't hurt anything as you have no heat now. Just plug the vac. line and they sell these cheap plastic adapters at the parts store for this type of thing.
IBBY

 

[whitehot1]

It might help to install a 195 degree thermostat. I'm in Ohio and i run a 195 stat. in the winter and a 160 stat. the rest of the time when the heaters not needed. The car is not a daily driver but i do drive it sometimes during the winter and i like to have heat when i do.

 

[LS954]

i would like to leave having to by pass it as a last resort. well i picked up a new valve, the plastic one, and it indeed is normally open, so i hooked up the new valve to the vacuum line and this is what i have. With the temp set to cold i have vacuum and the valve stays closed, i blew air through it and nothing comes out the other end, when i set the temp control to heat vacuum cuts off and the valve opens back up. I then hooked the vacuum up to the old valve which is still attached to the car and verified the arm moves but no change to the air coming out the vents. Tomorrow ill be removing the old one and verify its working by blowing air through it closed and open and verifying the coolant level.

 

[SpeeednV6]

I've never had issues with heat. 160 stat and drove in -0* Chicago winter weather. The cooler stat and no heat must be an ole wives' tale.