My Expedition's in the shop

[wavinwayne]

Like most of us BITOGers, I can't stand to let anybody but me touch my vehicles. Sometimes, however, we just don't have a choice. This morning, I finally broke down (pardon the pun) and put my wife's Expedition in the repair shop.

The heater won't blow hot anymore, and I know the heater core is clean & has good flow, because I personally flushed it in the Spring of this year. I've also ruled out a stuck open thermostat, since I replaced it with a new Motorcraft within the last 6 months. I think the blend door has either broken, or something is blocking it from closing all the way. The shop is probably going to have to tear the dash completely out of the Expy to get to the blend door, so this aint going to be cheap.

No real reason for posting this, except that I just needed to vent a little. Wish me luck BITOGers - maybe the problem will turn out to be something simple & cheap. The repair shop is supposed to call me sometime today & let me know what the problem is. I'll post again when I hear back from the shop.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

I'll say a little prayer for you that it's a leaky vacuum line and they find it without having to tear the dash out.

 

[Drew99GT]

What shop??? There are good honest shops out there, you just have to research and find them. And I've never found a dealer service department that fit into that category!!!

Good luck! I know it's frustrating but I wouldn't rip out the dash either.

 

[wavinwayne]

Drew,
The shop is Rousseau's Auto Service, which is a small, independent garage in Scottsboro, AL. My in-laws have used them for many years. Their prices are reasonable, from the repairs my FIL has had them do on his vehicles. From what I could gather, the shop seems to be capable, honest & reputable enough. I'll find out soon enough, I suppose. They're classic good-ole-boys, that's for sure.

 

[wavinwayne]

The repair shop owner just called & said my Expy is fixed. He said all they did was flush the heater core, and that solved the heat problem. I ALREADY did that! He said they flushed it AT the heater core, whereas I did it from the hoses going into the firewall. Without quizzing him to the Nth degree, I'm not sure if he & I are talking about the doing the same thing????

AFAIK, to actually flush the heater core AT THE CORE, you would have to tear the Expy's dash completely out. Oh well, I'll pick it up in a couple of hours & see if it really is fixed. It's going to be hard to tell, since it's about 75° here today.

THe heater was blowing lukewarm air before the shop touched it; I'm thinking they may have felt like it was actually blowing hotter than it really was, with it being a warm day. We'll see.

I'll post back later this evening with an update.

 

[wavinwayne]

Got the Expy back. Heater works again. Shop flushed heater core seemingly the same way I had previously done. I can't imagine what they might have done differently. Oh well, pro mechanics 1, wannabe DIY wavinwayne 0. Heater works, wife happy again.

Total cost of repair today = $65

 

[oilboy123]

Tefba coolant filter???? Just a thought................

 

[Chris142]

That block must be full of rust particles. You need some coolant filters for sure.

 

[wavinwayne]

Chris142,
I remember back in the Spring when I flushed the entire coolant system, there was a lot of rust that came out of the block drains. At least now I've got an idea of what causes the heater to slowly stop working on this Expedition. BTW, where can I buy coolant filters and how difficult is the install?

 

[Chris142]

These are the most common around.

http://store.cal-mustang.com/showdetl-7-8712-28-0.html


I've never seen one for a heater hose. I bet you could either make one with some thin copper pipe and metal screen mesh or put an inline coolant filter for a semi in the hose before the heater core.

 

[Cutehumor]

A few years ago, I recharged a 96 sunfire with ID refrigerant. after a few days, it blew hot air. I had a leak somewhere. So I went to an independent repair shop for blowing hot air when the a/c on. the guys just said I was low on freon, they recharged it. told me they couldn't find any refrigerant leaks. Well after a week, it was blowing hot air again. Went back 2nd time to the same shop, they got mad saying "someone else must have worked on the car"