BURIED under the dash. $30 part, $500 in labor.

 

I was going to suggest a socket set, screw driver set, 3 case o beer and about 8-12 hours of excruciating/anurism inducing stress just to be able to see it.....

 

Is this before or after he gets done with those 3 case o beer?

You need to provide him steps... like a simplified instruction manual.

 

Would if I could but I've never been that far into my dash.
Wont if I have anything to say about it. It'd be worth the $500 labor bill for me.

I'll rebuild an engine, tackle a rear end, do basic wiring, rebuild front suspension, might even tackle automatic transmission if I have time.... but the dash pisses me off. My hands are to big......... I don't know who they get to put them together,,,, they have little short fingers or more joints than I have..... cause I cant bend mine like they need to.

 

That dash was put together by midget brain surgeons...

 

He can check his blend door using the wire trick, and if the blend door isn't moving then he needs to check the blend door fuse first before he has to even think about tearing into it.

 

How far should I go before I feel the door if it's closeing? What side is best to start on? Thanks everyone!

 

I'm not 100% sure as I've never done it. My guess would be that you'd know when you are in the plenum chamber and as it swings I'd think it would take up the whole area of the plenum so should feel it. I would think but I wouldn't swear to that.

Did you check the fuse and also check the **** to make sure that it's not stripped?

 

Yeah, sounds like a broken blend door. Your truck will look something like this midway through replacing it.



ETA - I can hear the guy saying, WTF, holy s@#!, you gotta be sh@&#** me...

 

8 hours into it his truck will look like that...

 

Then another 14 hours of trying to get it back together before he finally says **** it, and takes it to a shop, where the bill is now $1000 because they have to figure out someone else's mess.

I'm telling ya, check double check, re check again all the easy stuff again and again....... pray to God that you find something that you missed. Make triple damn sure that the contol **** is not stripped. Take it off and manually turn the shaft with a pair of pliers..... Heater core or blend door are your worst possible heater problems.....

Didn't the 97 F150 have an FCV (Flow Control Valve) on the heater hose under the hood?

My wifes 97 exploder does.... looks like this.....



Thats an actual picture of the one on her 97 Explorer. (pay no attention to the grease, I never clean hers....)

It's right inline on the intake heater hose, close to the firewall. If you look at the very bottom you see a little rod on the bottom of the servo.
When I turn the temp control to hot it opens up and it puts off heat, when I turn it to cold it restricts flow, doesn't shut it off, just restricts it till the heater won't work. It went out and was stuck on Cold 2-3 years ago.... Think it was like $5 and literally 5 mins to change.
Simply take the hose clamps off the heater hoses, unplug the vacuum line, then reverse to install new one. It even has arrows to tell you which way to install it. You can not mess it up. I'd even let Mattineer change it for me, it's that freaking simple "HE" couldn't even mess it up.

If you have one....
To check...... start engine, have someone help because it barely moves... have them turn the temp control to hot while you watch it. Then back and you watch.... If it doesn't move, pull the vacuum line off and have them turn it again. Use your thumb "if you don't have a vacuum gauge" and check to see if the line has vacuum, I cant remember the exact number, but it's very low pressure. One way will be vacuum, the other will be release. (I think Hot is vacuum, cold is it's natural state where the spring pushes it back to cold.)

I did get hers to working before I replaced it with a can of WD40 and a manual vacuum pump. Then the next time I was at the parts store I asked how much it was and it was so cheap I figured it was good security just go ahead and replace it.

ETA: Once I discovered that was the problem, that it wasn't opening.... If I didn't get it to working, (whether it was the actual FCV or if it didn't have vacuum) then I was just going to remove it, plug the vacuum line off and put a piece of pipe in it to splice the heater hose together so it got 100% flow all the time until I could fix it. She'd had heat coming out all the time until I fixed it, but thats better than no heat.

 

I am willing to try just about anything,,,,,,,,,,, BUT not that! That is how my dash would look when I take it to the shop for the midgett brain surgeon to put back together.

 

I looked for that valve, but my 97 does not have one. I took the glove box out and I think I could see the blend door. As I turned the controls, it opened and closed. Would that point towards the thermastat?????

 

The input hose should be noticeably warmer than the output.

If they are not, then you know that it's not dissipating the heat off the core. (Which you also know because the cabs cold.... )

If you can see the blend door is opening, then next option is clogged core.
Use a radiator flush.....



Pick it up at any auto parts store or wal-mart.

 

BTW instead of starting a new thread.... your better off to use the old one for many reasons....

One you already have several people replying so if they are subscribed to the thread (which they likely are because it's default, you have to physically un-check the box in order to not be subscribed to a thread that you have posted in.)

So now everyone that has posted in this thread gets an email that you still have a problem.... plus you get this little icon next to your thread to those who have posted in it telling them its a hot thread they have posted in and has new replies.......

Anyone who hasnt posted in it gets this.... telling them it's a hot thread and makes them want to open it......

Your other thread gets no replies.......