Heat Only When On Throttle

[Pizzaman]

Hi guys, just wanted to check and see what you all thought about my latest "issue". Quite honestly, this (11 GT)being my 3rd Stang (93 GT, 01 GT)and most definitely the biggest disappointment. Wednesday of last week the heater did not work as I drove home. Called the dealer the next morning and scheduled an appointment. For a small section of the drive it got some heat but not much. Dealer calls me at the end of the day and says there was probably an air pocket in the system in which they bled out and that I was good to go. They did a block integrity check and all checked out fine. Drove about a mile down the road and it just didn't get very warm. Hit a red light and it was blowing ice cold. Whipped it around and drove it back into the dealer. Had a few choice words and walked out. They called me a few minutes later with the "sorry" pitch and said Ford engineers instructed them to put in a thermostat, which wouldn't arrive for 2 business days. Serviceman says, "our tech doubts this is it and they will check the head gasket if the stat doesn't work". Weird that a "common" part wouldn't be in stock... but anyway. That's where we stand, car is at the dealer waiting on the thermostat. Needless to say, I have had this car in this dealer 3 times now and have yet to get a problem fixed. Warranty is up in a few thousand miles.
Thoughts?

 

[Noobz347]

Do you ever smell anti-freeze before, after, or during these heater outages?

What is the coolant level at when this happens? Have you checked it personally at these times?

 

[Pizzaman]

Do you ever smell anti-freeze before, after, or during these heater outages?

What is the coolant level at when this happens? Have you checked it personally at these times?

Thank you Noobz347,

I didn't personally check anything. I have not smelt the antifreeze at anytime in that car. It was quite cold that morning and without a garage I just didn't want to get out there knowing that I was going to run it into the dealer.

 

[FordCustSrvc]

Hi guys, just wanted to check and see what you all thought about my latest "issue". Quite honestly, this (11 GT)being my 3rd Stang (93 GT, 01 GT)and most definitely the biggest disappointment. Wednesday of last week the heater did not work as I drove home. Called the dealer the next morning and scheduled an appointment. For a small section of the drive it got some heat but not much. Dealer calls me at the end of the day and says there was probably an air pocket in the system in which they bled out and that I was good to go. They did a block integrity check and all checked out fine. Drove about a mile down the road and it just didn't get very warm. Hit a red light and it was blowing ice cold. Whipped it around and drove it back into the dealer. Had a few choice words and walked out. They called me a few minutes later with the "sorry" pitch and said Ford engineers instructed them to put in a thermostat, which wouldn't arrive for 2 business days. Serviceman says, "our tech doubts this is it and they will check the head gasket if the stat doesn't work". Weird that a "common" part wouldn't be in stock... but anyway. That's where we stand, car is at the dealer waiting on the thermostat. Needless to say, I have had this car in this dealer 3 times now and have yet to get a problem fixed. Warranty is up in a few thousand miles.
Thoughts?

Hey Pizzaman,

With all this cold weather, it’s not good to ride around with no heat! Let me get this escalated to the customer service manager for your area. Please, PM me with your VIN, dealer, mileage, full name, and best daytime number.

Deysha

 

[Pizzaman]

Just to give a little update. They have replaced the thermostat and the radiator. Gave me the car back and within 30 minutes the heater stopped working again. Now its back in the shop. They stated that a water pump is coming and that they are going to pull the engine to check for flow problems. I would've thought that because it was intermittent that it would have been electrical? Oh well..

 

[FordCustSrvc]

Just to give a little update. They have replaced the thermostat and the radiator. Gave me the car back and within 30 minutes the heater stopped working again. Now its back in the shop. They stated that a water pump is coming and that they are going to pull the engine to check for flow problems. I would've thought that because it was intermittent that it would have been electrical? Oh well..

Any updates since getting this escalated, Pizzaman?

Deysha

 

[BlackBuggy]

Sounds like they are doing what they can by process of elimination.

As a customer, I am sure you would like them to replace all possibly-defective components.
But as a technical component supplier, they want to know exactly what is causing the issue and this is only possibly by fixing one issue at a time.

If the water pump were going bad, surely you would have some measurable coolant loss as water pumps are designed to lose coolant through a weep hole in the seal (this design keeps you from blowing your motor up when the pump fails and there is potential to build up heat/pressure in the engine- the steam/heat comes out of the seal instead of building pressure in the cavities of the motor). Have you been able to observe obvious coolant loss?

If they replace the pump, you need to find out if they have the pump analyzed and if it was actually bad. If it was actually bad, you need to know why it went bad.

My last point is important because if the new pump fails as well, something is overworking or hurting the water pump. Hopefully, you got that one PPM water pump.

If it makes you feel better, my AC pump died at 60k miles.

You have to wonder what they value more- customer satisfaction or the bottom line $?

 

[ken.culp]

My '13 had the heater go out too. Just got it back from the dealer. Consumer reports has blasted the Mustang on climate controls to the point they gave the model year an unreliable rating. At least we had heated leather seats... still very frustrating. Ford has the stats, they know....

Same experience , process of elimination... But surprised they started on yours with the water pump (was water temp a problem)? its the electronics most likely. It took about 6 days total and they only ordered one part at a time. But it did get fixed under warranty as I only had 18k miles.

Mine was complex...new wiring harness, actuator and climate control module. There's now 3 actuators or an electronic "door" that goes into the heater core (blender of sorts under the dash).



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