It was a cool 108° yesterday and I would have just used my vent were it not for antifreeze fumes. I had the same forty-five minute drive each way I did last week and my car was fine until I turned onto a side street, the engine started warming up quickly, but it had been uphill. Then there is a mile or two downhill, so my car was able to rest. I topped off the radiator after my appointment and drove home to try to do paperwork before my next client. My car was just fine on the freeway and highway, started running hot in-town, and started overheating when I was parking.
It seems I would be fine as long as I pushed my car into parking spots, but I just drove my gas guzzler.
I did not feel I could put off fixing it any longer, but I need to catch up on notes and start writing progress reports, so I am trying to focus on work and just driving the Accord.
I decided to take a minute and try to make sure that replacing the heater core would fix the problem. I had thought about bypassing it for diagnostic purposes, as Freebeard suggested, but I read:
Quote:
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Your heater isn’t working. Another glaring sign of a bad heater core is a simple lack of heat. While it could just be the blower motor or another part of the system that has failed, if you’re seeing any other signs it’s a definite indicator. There’s likely a hole in your heater core that’s allowing warm air to escape before it reaches your cabin. Depending on the size of the hole, you could be getting a luke warm breeze or none at all.
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5 Signs Your Heater Core is Busted - Clean Machine Car Wash
I ran my car for several minutes with the brights on and the AC on max. It seemed to be at normal operating temperature. Then I turned off the AC and turned the temperature all of the way up.
It blew cool. Not cold like the AC, but cool like in the shade in the morning, before the sun actively tries to kill me.
I am still going to try to focus on work and consign myself to driving the pretty car, but I feel satisfied I know what the problem is.