Smurfette10

Hi there, I bought my JK new in 2010 and it's been awesome. It's the Islander edition in "smurf" blue. I have noticed that now that its colder in the mornings and I am putting the heat on, I only seem to get actual heat on the passenger side. The drivers side is blowing cold air, no I do not have AC in Jeep so no messed up buttons/switches. Has anyone else experienced this? Any idea what may be causing this or where to start to investigate? Just had some work done including transmission flush so looking for a painless ($$) solution. Thanks

Mr White

iTrader: (1)

Are you just not getting heat to the floor or are you also not getting any defrost to the drivers window?
Could be the heat hoses that are connect to the heater itself. Check 1st to make sure they are connect securely to the vent where the heat is supposed to exit. If yu lie on ur back and look up under the dash you may see their not connected. Let us know

JeepCACares

Joanne,

Not a common complaint but still annoying to any Jeep owner.
After you go though what Mr. White suggested and you if haven't found the issue, send me a PM and I can see what i can do to help.

Mulmur

Sounds like a familiar Jeep complaint... the heater core is plugged with casting sand as chrysler can't seem to figure out how to clean it out of the engines properly.
If you check some of the other forum sites you will see this comes up a lot and the fix is a new heater core and a chemical flush of the engine.... according to these other sites, the dealers should know about this one.

Smurfette10

Thanks for your responses. I have tried to look up underneath....not sure what I am looking for, but nothing seems out of place ( will have niece's boyfriend - car guy, take a look over holidays). How do you guys manage to get under there and see anything useful ? Kudos to you.

Do the hoses for both drivers/passengers sides come from same place, ultimately?....does not make sense for one side to be cool and one side hot if so, and it is a casting sand issue-wouldn't that affect both sides?

Recently had a transmission flush/service and front differential(?) seal replaced. Roughly 74000 km on Jeep.

What are potential issues if this is "heater core" thing and I do not deal with it asap, will this cause further damage to other parts or will it just be the inconvenience of low/no heat on drivers side?

I did see a blue wire with white "quick connect" not connected to anything near centre under dash....not sure what or where that should go ? will also stuff niece's bf under dash again to find source of wire but would be open for suggestions.

Are these hugely expensive repais (the heater core/chemical flush)? At 74000km, I am no longer under warranty except for the powertrain I believe.
Thanks again .

Mulmur

When the heater core plugs or starts to plug with casting sand you simply have reduced heat... as mentioned, on the JK, it seems that the drivers side goes cold first. Driving this way should not really damage anything as far as I know. I still suggest you troll some of the other JK forums and look up heater core issue and you will see plenty of them and how they got fixed.
Unfortunately, IF this is the problem, the dash usually has to come out to change the core which is a fairly big job, but once done and the engine properly flushed it should not happen again.
Finding a dealer that understands all of this might be a challenge from what I see on the forum, however if you give them copies of the fix's that you look up on the forum sites, they should figure it out. I'm not sure if chrysler has a service bulletin on this issue or not, but again, if you look at the other sites someone will likely mention if they do.
As this happens quite often according to the forums I've read, I don't know why Chrysler wouldn't cover the fix... no harm in asking.

JTPhoto JK

I was under the impression that this was a Pentastar issue. I have not heard of anyone with a 3.8L with this problem.
I am also curious as to how a plugged heater core can allow heat to one side but not the other. The heater box in the 07-10 is one unit so no heat is no heat on either side..

I would say it is the diverter flap in the heater box not fully opening/closing or a hose off..
Is there heat to the upper driverside vents?

Mulmur

If you look at some of the other forums, you will see that some of the older jeeps have had this as well and as I mentioned, it blows cold on the drivers side for some reason and yes it could also be the diverter flap.

JTPhoto JK

Well I did a search on 5 major Jeep forums and came up with only one thread with the same issue (none with the sand issue) and that fellas dealer has changed the heater core, thermostat, rad and flushed numerous times and it hasn't fixed the problem.
It was suggested it may be the control on the dash.

Smurfette10

I have an appointment at dealer Friday, called today and asked if they had had any similar complaints, was of course told No, and nothing in their bulletins either.... Guess I will wait to see what they say and go from there. No longer under warranty at 74000km and trying to keep up regular preventative maintenance does not seem to be saving me any $$ so far.
Will update after the Christmas break.