New car, no heat

I just bought a used 06 Legacy GT with all the options and 114,000 miles for around $8,000. Half way through driving home to Charlotte, NC from Virginia Beach, VA I noticed the heater vents would not blow hot air. I'm wondering if I should try to get a dealership 330 miles away to fix it, or try to conquer it myself. I hope you guys have some answers for me soon, because old air locks my knees up.

Take it back for a refund. Most likely headvasket failure hidden by lower pre;ssure.

Most likely not head gasket I would say haha. Probably a heater core more likely, or the plastic cable off the heater knob broken. Does it have an aftermarket stereo?

If the engine gets warm and there's no heat from the outlets then it may be sludge in the heater core - a flush of it can be sufficient. There are other threads on that subject here, search around.

Nothing aftermarket at all on the car, bone stock. She drove just fine for the whole 330 mile trip home. No heat at all through any vent at all, but the blower works great. I was thinking maybe the core or the actuators that switch the vents between the A/C and the heater core. Also, it has the automatic A/C controls.

If no heat anywhere then it may be the actuators or the linkage for the heat flap.

 

One thing that you can do is to identify the hoses that goes to the heater core in the engine compartment and touch them when you have been driving for a while. If they don't get very warm - up to engine temperature - you may have a clogged core.

 

It's worth to try to flush the heater core. Can be done from the engine compartment, so you don't have to disassemble too much, but you need to remove the intercooler.

 

And do that somewhere with a drain. Top up the system with some fresh anti-freeze. If only a little runs out of the engine when you do that then I would go for concentrated to just replenish since that would be balanced by water left in the core.

 

If it's an actuator it can be a bit trickier since it's then either the servo motor or the head unit, and that can be harder to fix and more expensive.

 

And also check that the hoses to the heater core are connected and not circumvented in some way or plugged. In that case the seller may have sold you a defective car, same if the head unit or servo is defective.

Agreed on heat flap. If the car had an aftermarket stereo in it part of the installation calls for removal of the cable on the temperature control (assuming no climate control). Same would be true of removal of same and re-installation of stock stereo. They could've forgot to re-attach. Its easy if you know how and downright impossible if you don't.

I traded my SRT-4 Neon for this car, and I'm pretty happy with the performance so far. I'm trying not to let this small hick-up sour my enjoyment of it, but working night shifts and having no heat is the opposite of fun. It looks like there might be a steep learning curve from working on the SRT-4 to the Legacy GT. Do any of you guys have PDFs of repair manuals for these cars?

I traded my SRT-4 Neon for this car, and I'm pretty happy with the performance so far. I'm trying not to let this small hick-up sour my enjoyment of it, but working night shifts and having no heat is the opposite of fun. It looks like there might be a steep learning curve from working on the SRT-4 to the Legacy GT. Do any of you guys have PDFs of repair manuals for these cars?

 

"Vacation pictures"

 

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ilh/vacation/

Is there heat when the car is not moving? What is the engine temp doing. Could the thermostat be stuck open?

Anyone got vacation pictures from 2006?

 

To the OP. Do the suggested touching of the heater hoses after the car is warmed up. If they're both hot to touch "same hot as the regular hoses to the radiator" then surely it's the actuator or something related.

 

Check your coolant, if it's low that's where you start.

Anyone got vacation pictures from 2006?

 

You can just use the 05 pictures.

Simple things first, check your coolant with the car cold. Open the radiator cap and make sure the coolant is filled up to the top. You should be able to see coolant when you remove the cap.

Don't be discouraged by this minor hiccup. My Legacy has a ferocious heater and these cars are made for running in extreme weather.

"Vacation pictures"

 

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ilh/vacation/

 

I see you and raise: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4487789&postcount=359

I see you and raise: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4487789&postcount=359

 

 

Thank you!

Turns out it has multiple problems. Took the car, now named Sally, to my mechanic since the dealership agreed to at least foot the diagnostic bill. They put in a new thermostat, at which point the car began overheating. My guy Bobby noted that the timing cover and head looked recently opened. They now believe that the head gasket was put on incorrectly, thus causing a problem with coolant flow. Not sure if I'm going tot end up covering the whole cost myself, but I do know that this is a major bummer.

That sucks, but if you are lucky it's the cost of the work and a new head gasket, in which case the dealer you bought it from should take the cost for.

 

Make sure you take pics when opening the engine, it may be worth it in case there are disagreements.

So the car is still at the shop. It turns out that the previous mechanic was beyond incompetent. So far the timing has been redone (it was off by 2 teeth), new thermostat, and new coil and spark plugs. My guys are working on putting a new valve in right now, sine the timing issue caused some unfortunate interactions between a valve and a cylinder. All in, they're charging me around $1500, which means that even with the mechanic's bill I got the car for under blue book. Also, the dealer has stopper returning my phone calls. Hopefully the car will be done by Tuesday and I can finally enjoy it.

Well, you'll certainly have a claim to put in against the dealer. Hope it all works out for you.

Get a lawyer. That's BS, you should have a min of 30 days unless you got as/is.

I GOT HER BACK!!! She still has some wonky issues, but she runs great. Feels like the heater core is clogged, since every heat vent has differeent temerature air coming from it, and the key illumination light is blinking still.