1997 Other Saturn Models No heat in car.

ARTURO23

MEMBER
1997 SATURN
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
74,000 MILES

The fan blower is working fine but no heat coming out. Took it to a local mechanic and said he would have to take the whole dash board out and that it was a big job. Said I might be better off buying a portable heater that would w
ork off the cigarette lighter outlet. When I checked out these mini heaters.I don't think they would generate enough heat to warm my big toe. Any other options?

1 Reply

JUSTIN FREED

MEMBER
87 POSTS

If your engine comes up to temp just fine, your mech was referring to the "heater core." This is mounted not in the dash but below and it is pretty involved to get to.

I have heard of people using those heaters and some get by.I would think that is a pretty poor option.

Since your heater core is clogged, no harm in trying to flush the whole system to see if you could get something going. If that doesn't work, you are left w/ either no heat, a poor patch job (like some aux heater he was referring to) or. Find a nice warm garage, get some friends who know something about it. Cook a bunch of food and have a LITTLE beer maybe, and get you hands dirty. Oh, you will also need a reputable repair manual that can help you through.

Seriously, this is an involved project and time consuming but it is not undoable by your typical DIY'er. Give it some thought.

Hope this helps