heater not working...

[bvk]

My recently purchased '98 GTS has a strange little problem that I thought I'd ask around on here about.

The heater doesn't seem to work, but under the hood everything seems fine, so before I go digging I thought I would ask you folks here.

Turning the hot/cold dial moves the lever connected to the heater hoses (behind the RHS front wheel) and the heater hoses are definately hot after driving, which tells me I've got hot water in the feed and return.

The car doesn't seem to run any warmer than normal, sure the temp goes up when idling or dawdling around town, but nothing past 230 - and driving at speed for a few seconds brings it right down to 190 again.

it's not leaking coolant or anything, but even with the car hot and fans and thermostat on full it doesn't blow hot air, which is kind of weird. I don't think it's a water pump problem...

anyway my service manuals should turn up soon, but if anyone has any advice or has seen this problem before I'd appreciate a response. I live in nor cal, so it's not like I need the heater but it still bugs me a little bit.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

The heater only blows out the defrost vents and the vents in the footwells. Vipers have very crappy HVAC systems. Part of Viper ownership

 

[Viper Wizard]

bvk Welcome and Congrats!!

Chad is right were the heat comes out! If you still don't have heat, on the right side under the dash at the bottom of the heater/AC box there are two vacuum actuators. There is a little plastic cover with a couple of screws holding it in place covering the actuators, remove the cover. The acuator that is round on the end is your heat door. Make sure you have vacuum to it. You can [while she's idling] you can move the arm coming out of that actuator by hand to see if then you get heat. To check to see if the actuator can hold vacuum, pull of the vacuum line, move the arm by hand and put your finger over the ****** on the actuator to see if it holds the vacuum [arm stays in place]. Hope this helps?

The other actuator [square end] is the fresh air door.

Heater door actuator #4874375 MSRP $94.50 [less 20% VCA discount ]
If you need it or you need more help, give me a call.
914-763-3136

 

[AviP]

bvk, if you haven't figured it out yet, Chuck Tator is da man with all the answers. He is the "Viper Wizard"!!!

 

[bvk]

Thanks for the help guys!

I feel pretty silly now, I was only testing it with the blower set to the AC vents (air pointing at the face). I'll turn that dial and try again tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the info Chuck, if it turns out this wasn't just user error I'll follow your instructions!

I posted an 'intro' thread (and pictures!) in the new viper owners section, but yes so far (after a month) I'm still blown away that this thing is sitting in my garage... and no disappointments when behind the wheel either

 

[CamanoViper]

You're not alone. It's been on my list since I got it to rip the dash out and figure out why I can't get any hot air out the vents. I never would have guessed it was made that way.