2001 Ford Taurus warms up slowly.

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I noticed my daughter's Taurus takes a long time to get heat from the heater. My Camry can get heat quickly.

I have put in a new 192 degree thermostat as per factory specs. I have burped the system of any air as far as I can tell.

Is it just a Taurus' nature to be cold blooded?
 
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Does your engine reach operating temperature normally? If so, you may have a clogged heater core. Try cleaning it and flushing it out.
 
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Tauri are bread and butter cars for mom n pops. The heaters work very well.
Maybe a control or door is not operating correctly.
But in temps around zero F it can be tough in any car to get good heat. Try a recirculate setting, instead of trying to get fresh cold air heated. An AC setting may be best until it warms up.
 
Good responses from others. I concur with the heater core clogging. It is the Taurus nature to be prone to clogged heater cores. Especially if the cooling system has not been super maintained.

I would backflush the heater core. Just flush thru the water pump heater hose and out the other end near the thermostat.

Make sure you disconnect the heater hose at the thermostat area. Not sure that is the problem, but I have a 98 and even when the antifreeze is kept fresh the system does not stay probem free.

It is pretty easy to do. If that does not do it then you can check the heater box/blend door etc. Is the thermostat Ford or at least a Stant?
 
does the cabin take a long time to heat up or is it the engine temp taking a long time to warm up?

If it is the engine, i have had to put hotter than spec thermostats in most fords. Most people up here have to because they run cool in the winter. so if your spec is 192 try a 205, i have had improved winter fuel economy with the hotter stat. Still it would be a good idea to back flush the heater core. I have done the hotter stat on
92 aerostar 3.0L
95 aerostar 4.0L
95 Villager 3.0L
03 focus 2.0L DOHC

plus many friends and parts stores have recommended this to me for the winters here.


edit
i now read the whole post...i would do both things you will see a huge difference
 
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I would always stick with what the book calls for with respect to the thermostat. The people who designed the engine want it at a certain temp and thus you should use the proper thermostat.

Its still not clear, is the temp gauge moving to its normal operating temp range in a reasonable amount of time?

Cannot hurt to flush the heater core.

Could the thermostat have been installed upside down?
 
To help clear things up:

1. It appears to me the engine temp is slow to show normal heat reading (half way between H and V)

2. Heater takes what I feel is a long time to put out reasonable heat. Once it has got up to normal temp it puts out good heat.

**Maybe I am spoiled. My Camry puts out good heat within 5 minutes. The Taurus takes much longer than that.

Does anyone else have a Taurus? How long does it take to get good heat?
 
Yeah my taurus also takes alittle while to warm up. Maybe the camry has a smaller engine and cooling system that would take less time to heat up?
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
I noticed my daughter's Taurus takes a long time to get heat from the heater. My Camry can get heat quickly.

I have put in a new 192 degree thermostat as per factory specs. I have burped the system of any air as far as I can tell.

Is it just a Taurus' nature to be cold blooded?


When was the last time the coolant was flushed? I have a 2000 that took a while to warm up (in August). The engine stayed hot (really hot) for a while after driving. I flushed the entire system and added new coolant and distilled water...warmed up much quicker after the change and the engine is not nearly as hot.
 
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First are you positive thermostat is not upside down?

I agree with the suggestion to flush the system. You can use a flush tee and garden hose. If your water is hard then maybe drain a refill the radiator 2-3 times using distilled water then add full strength antifreeze. If you have city water then I would skip the flushes with distilled water.
 
Well my brother in law actually put it in. He works on people's cars all the time as a sideline job so I assume he put it in right.

I have had fluid changed recently but never flushed.
 
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Flushing the heater core is a good idea as already suggested. My Caprice had a similar issue and flushing the core did the trick. One thing I learned about Fords over the years is they don't like after market thermostats. I had best results with the Motorcraft Thermostats in Fords.

YMMV
Frank D
 
I do not think its just the heater core if the engine temp takes a long time to come up to proper temp. I would flush the entire system. If you still have a problem, then pop out the thermostat and see if its stuck open or upside down. If also could be defective.
 
I wonder if my Camry gets heat quicker because it is a 180 degree thermostat so it would open quicker than the 192 degree one in the Taurus?
 
All the cooling systems I've ever looked at, the thermostat does not restrict flow through the heater core, only the radiator. So I would not expect a lower temp thermostat to affect how fast the car gets heat.
 
I wondered how that works.

Does the heater core get warm water from the engine first somehow?

If the water pump is always spinning, how does this water move if the thermostat is closed? Is there a bypass or something?
 
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