No heat?

Tiny
CHAPELHILLDIGGER
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER
  • 2.4L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 151,000 MILES
My heat quit working in January of this year on my vehicle listed above. I have flushed the system, changed the thermostat, made sure all air bubbles were out of the system. I have moved the cold-hot dial to make sure that the blend door is working properly and it is, the air condition works great and all vents are blowing out as they should on the different settings. I have felt both heater hoses and both are hot and still no heat. On cold mornings when I let the car heat up to the halfway point on my temperature gauge there is barely any heat and what I find strange is when you start driving the temperature gauge starts falling and on very cold mornings earlier this year it would fall all the way back to the bottom of the gauge. It has never overheated or even gone past the halfway point on the temperature gauge. After doing some research I find this car has no heater control valve or blend door actuator, not sure about any vacuum lines being bad, I have not heard any hissing coming from underneath the dash. Could someone please help me figure this out? Thanks. -Mark
Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 AT 4:07 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
CANNON1349
  • MECHANIC
  • 862 POSTS
Hello, there is a cable that operates the temperature door inside the HVAC system. You can inspect this by removing the center instrument cluster bezel and the air conditioning head unit. While you're in there you can inspect vacuum hoses and even reconnect and watch to see if the door moves in response to temperature selection. I will post the instructions and a diagram below. Please let us know what you find.

REMOVAL
1. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.
2. Remove the center bezel from the instrument panel. Refer to Instrument Panel Systems for the proper procedures.
3. Remove the center air duct from the instrument panel. Refer to Ducts for the proper procedures.
4. Remove the heater-A/C control from the instrument panel. Refer to Instrument Panel Systems for the proper procedures.
5. Reach through the instrument panel center air duct opening to access and remove the screw that secures the temperature control cable housing retainer to the top of the heater-A/C unit housing.
6. Disconnect the temperature control cable end from the blend-air door lever.
7. Remove the temperature control cable through the instrument panel heater-A/C control opening.

INSTALLATION
1. Position the temperature control cable through the instrument panel heater-A/C control opening.
2. Reach through the instrument panel center air duct opening to access and reconnect the temperature control cable end to the blend-air door lever.
3. Install and tighten the screw that secures the temperature control cable housing retainer to the top of the heater-A/C unit housing. Tighten the screw to 2.3 Nm (20 in. Lbs.).
4. Reinstall the heater-A/C control into the instrument panel. Refer to Instrument Panel Systems for the proper procedures.
5. Adjust the temperature control cable. Refer to Adjustments for the proper procedures.
6. Reinstall the center air duct into the instrument panel. Refer to Ducts for the proper procedures.
7. Reinstall the center bezel onto the instrument panel. Refer to Instrument Panel Systems for the proper procedures.
8. Reconnect the battery negative cable.

Thanks,
William
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 AT 6:14 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
Check it out, CANNON1349 nice work!
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Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 AT 6:07 PM
Tiny
CHAPELHILLDIGGER
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Hi, As I stated in my post the blend door is working as it should. When you turn the cold/ hot dial the air flow changes and you can hear the door close. When you turn to hot it barely blows warm air for a minute then turns cold. The main thing I am wondering about is the temp gauge going down when you start driving in cold weather. I still would like to know if this system has any vacuum lines associated with the heating system. I know this car does not have a heater control valve which has vacuum lines. Thanks !
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Thursday, October 2nd, 2025 AT 3:52 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
Yep, use a garden hose to flush the core out, remove the heater hoses. Sorry if you have read and responded to this we had a hiccup in the website, all fixed now. :)
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Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 AT 10:45 AM

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