My Car Doc: Auto 101: How your car's HEATER works
It happens every year: as soon that first cold snap comes in, I get dozens of calls with the number one complaint being "The heat in my car is not working; HELP!"
Avoid a chilly ride to work or worse, not being able to defrost in the morning to even get to work. The best way to do this is to make sure your coolant is up to snuff. Wait a minute....the COOLANT? I know what you're thinking, "John, you're off your rocker, I don't need cool, it's cool outside already, I need HEAT!"
I know, I know but hear me out, I promise I know what I'm doing. Your heater is NOT a microwave and it's not an electric oven, right? It's got to get that heat from somewhere, right? And your engine is a toasty 160 degrees under that hood (after it has been running for a while) so your heater uses the same system that keeps the engine cool to keep YOU warm. Basically, it works like this:
The coolant goes through the engine. It's job is to pull the heat from the engine, cooling the engine in the summer. However, it still works in the winter too, so that coolant gets warm.
The coolant is pushed through the engine by the waterpump.
It then travels through the heater core, which is like a little radiator under your dashboard.
The blower motor under the dash blows the air across the heater core that is now filled with super hot coolant (aka antifreeze).
The warm air is circulated through the cabin compartment, keeping you warm.
The air blowing across the heater core causes the antifreeze to cool off, so it returns to the radiator through the radiator hoses, water pump and back into the engine to be reheated.
So, as you can see, the coolant system in your car works like the circulatory system in your body.
If you haven't flushed your coolant system in the past four years, rust and sediment can build up in your heater core and radiator, clogging the system and causing the heat NOT to work.
That's where My Car Doc can help. We have a special for the next two weeks (Nov. 14 - Dec. 04); get a coolant flush for only $59.99 and save $10 off the regular price!
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