Comments on: 1989 Toyota Cressida Heater Not Hot

By: Abdallah

Abdallah — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:48:07 +0000

Most vehicles have 4 radiator/heating hoses. The two obvious big ones go to the radiator. The smaller pair go to the heater core. The core it not necessary for the operation of the vehicle, it’s only required for heating the cabin of the car.

Any major auto parts store should be able to sell you a bypass connector. It allows you to directly connect the two smaller hoses that go to the heater core and thus avoid leaks.

Depending on where the hoses connect to the core it could be a 15 minute fix or a couple hour fix.As long as you bypass the heater core it shouldn’t negatively impact your cooling system. I will caveat this with the statement that if your car has enough mileage for this to be a problem, there’s always the chance of something going wrong.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:53:03 +0000

It depends on how bad the leak is. Your engine will overheat and be ruined if you run it without coolant. You can add coolant along the way but run the risk of burning/scalding yourself if you don’t know what you are doing. You can add coolant/water mix to the overflow tank and it usually will be sucked back into the radiator. This does not always work.

You can bypass the heater core altogether if you are handy by removing the two hoses and connecting them together with the correct size pipe. You can also cut the hoses and install valves from your auto parts store that will cut off the water flow. They even make special vise grips to pinch the hose to stop the flow. I would take the vehicle in and have a mechanic temporarily bypass the heater core for you if you can’t afford the new one.