1991 accord lx. I have a problem where i am unable to blow hot air from my heater. I get Barely luke-warm air, but my engine is up to temperature. The slider feels really smooth, so im assuming there is something just disconnected behind it. where should i look to find if thats the case? Or am i way off and its electronic therefore i need a heater core?

Please advise...
Thanks
Jeff

 

Make sure the heater control **** isn't busted. Have you checked the antifreeze level?

 

Your t-stat could be stuck open. Does your car take a while to warm up?

 

no the car warms fast, there is no problem there. coolant level is fine.

 

chk the heater **** like CHIO suggested. i haver seen a lot of those break .. .if it is ok,, turn the **** from cold to hot and have someone look at the heater valve ( engine compart ) make sure that it is opening and closing properly

if it is not,, possible cable damage or came undone

 

After reading your post, I took this photo of our 92 heater control tonight. Does you heater control look like this?



If so, I think desert nailed it - the temp control cable is either badly kinked, or it is unhooked, or some cobination of those.

Desert is also right in how to diagnose whether the cable is working. Lift the hood, look near the passenger side firewall, and find the two heater-core coolant hoses. One of them has a valve that is operated by the temp cable.

While someone is watching the valve, operate the temp control slider.

If the valve doesn't move, or moves only a little, likely the cable has either come completely off the temp control lever, or the plastic cover on the cable housing has come loose and the wound core is sliding within it as you move the lever back and forth.

I just replaced our cable myself a few weeks ago. The thing didn't work right from day 1 and we took it to Honda many years ago and they didn't fix it, either (for almost $400, I might add).

The cable itself is maybe $10, but it is a time consuming job to get to it, unfortunately. The large, one-piece plastic trim that goes around the gauge cluster, heater control and the radio and the ash tray has to be removed, and this is not an intuitive, straighforward operation. The console plastic also has to be removed.

You really need a manual to find all of the screws that hold these pieces in place.

All of this is why there's a pretty big labor tab that accompanies that $10 cable.

If either you or Honda do the job and you still have trouble moving the temp lever away from the full cold position when it's really cold outside, do not force it, because you, or Honda, just may be doing the job again.

First, if it does indeed stick, wait til the engine is completey warm, then try to gently "shake" the temp lever off the full cold position. If it moves toward warmer, good.

Second, come back here and post your trouble and I'll tell you how to fix it simply so the lever doesn't get stuck any more in the full cold position.

Good luck.

 

Thanks a lot man. I will check that tonight. and yeha that is what my heater looks like exactly. I have downloaded the accord service manual for the 91, and have also done alot of work on my 87 integra which had basically the same dash, although i never had this problem.

Thanks again,

Ill let you know
Jeff

 

OK, so i checked the heater cable, had someone move the slider while i watched. It would wiggle a bit, but thats all. I disconnected the cable from the vavle, and moved the valve by hand to both extremes, i dont really care for now if it is controllable from in the car, i jsut need heat.

Neither extremes seemed to have any effect on the temperature of the air blown. The car was hot at the time, and both the coolant tubes going through the firewall are hot.

Any ideas on what to look for next?
Thanks
Jeff

 

check to see that the cable that opens up the flap that covers the heater core is also working, you can have that valve open all day long and the blower motor going but if the flap is not away from the heater core you get no heat. btw that consol looks exactly like the one I had in my '86 Prelude. hehe

 

How/where do i check the flap? Im looking in the FSM for the 91 accord, but havnt found anything yet. Do i just need to pull the panel from the console? or do i need to find it at the heater core in the dash?

Thanks
Jeff