armybuck04101
New Member
Hey Guys,
I managed to get the dreaded Driver Side No Heat issue on my LHD 2005 LR-3.
The issue coincided with a cooling system failure (cracked coolant manifold) and a dead battery, so naturally I started chasing a potential air bubble in the system to no avail, and then possibly blend door motor failure. After that I gave the system a good flushing with CLR and a large fish tank pump and bucket. Felt like it might have improved a bit, but couldn’t be certain.
What was so damn puzzling was that the passenger side was roasting hot through this whole experience, which really added to the confusion.
So anyway, having explored the air lock, flushing the core, and the blend motor (which was found to be working), in my mind the only option remaining was the heater core itself.
I won’t go into the details on how to remove it, but it wasn’t terrible, and frankly if it was warmer than -15*c outside, it would have almost been an easy job really.
Anyway, with the heater core removed I set out to try and see what the issue was.
Using the same fish tank pump (its big from Amazon), some CLR, heater hose and a bucket I went ahead and did a bench test of sorts. I filled the laundry tub around the bucket with hot water to keep the process warm.
Low and behold, the end closest to the passenger side was getting nice and warm, but the other end was cold. Did the back of the hand test. It was literally at the 3/4 point is where you could feel the temperature drop off. This explains why the vent closest to the drivers window was occasionally lukewarm, but the vent closest to the radio and the footwell were always freezing cold.
I’m going to leave it with the CLR pumping through it to see if it will eventually unclog itself, but if not, its time for a new heater core.
So, when in doubt, this may be your only option to get heat back.
I managed to get the dreaded Driver Side No Heat issue on my LHD 2005 LR-3.
The issue coincided with a cooling system failure (cracked coolant manifold) and a dead battery, so naturally I started chasing a potential air bubble in the system to no avail, and then possibly blend door motor failure. After that I gave the system a good flushing with CLR and a large fish tank pump and bucket. Felt like it might have improved a bit, but couldn’t be certain.
What was so damn puzzling was that the passenger side was roasting hot through this whole experience, which really added to the confusion.
So anyway, having explored the air lock, flushing the core, and the blend motor (which was found to be working), in my mind the only option remaining was the heater core itself.
I won’t go into the details on how to remove it, but it wasn’t terrible, and frankly if it was warmer than -15*c outside, it would have almost been an easy job really.
Anyway, with the heater core removed I set out to try and see what the issue was.
Using the same fish tank pump (its big from Amazon), some CLR, heater hose and a bucket I went ahead and did a bench test of sorts. I filled the laundry tub around the bucket with hot water to keep the process warm.
Low and behold, the end closest to the passenger side was getting nice and warm, but the other end was cold. Did the back of the hand test. It was literally at the 3/4 point is where you could feel the temperature drop off. This explains why the vent closest to the drivers window was occasionally lukewarm, but the vent closest to the radio and the footwell were always freezing cold.
I’m going to leave it with the CLR pumping through it to see if it will eventually unclog itself, but if not, its time for a new heater core.
So, when in doubt, this may be your only option to get heat back.