Is that normal? engine warms up far quicker than the time it takes for the heat to kick in, shouldn't it come out hot as soon as the coolant reaches normal idle-temps? It does eventually work, but is never really blowing real hot, just warm-enough.

Also (possibly related) the fan motor seems abnormally noisy, like something is caught in it, but the air flow seems typical (not constricted).

 

Foam in 1 of the 2 blower motors(or maybe in both) you turnb on recirc to open recirc doors under dash. Turn off ignition and you can see squirrel cages inside the blower motor assemblies. The foam for the recirc door comes off with age and sticks in the fans creating a card in bicycle spokes sound. Fish it out with a long pice of coat hanger fashioned to do the job. There are 2 blowers 1 on each side of the dash so either check them both or unplug 1 and see if the noise stays(its the 1 you didnt unplug) or goes away(you found the guilty blower)
on the heater check power and operation to the aux heater water pump. You should be able to feel it operating with your hand back by the coolant reservoir. Someone can post a pic if you dont know. Past that flush the cooling system with a good flush kit. If all the above doesnt ork at theyre woring properly you have a plugged heater core. Remove the hoses and blow out the core with compressed air with both hoses off(watch out for the coolant shower)

 

You might also want to make sure the coolant level is correct. Incorrect level can cause air pockets and create heating issues.

Also, are all of the heating modes working properly? Could there be an issue with the blend doors?

 

Thank you Brutal, that was an excellent primer for discovering the issue! How do I access the fan plugs (photos?)

Also, what does the aux heater water pump look like? Is it connected to the heater control valve (which I think is the thing dead-center in front of the firewall, near/behind the throttle body.)

What would flushing the cooling system do? (how could that fix it?)

TN8, coolant level is right and heating auto/man/defroster and vent controls all work fine (is that what you mean by modes?)

 

The fan power plugs are clipped onto the bottom of each blower motor.
The aux water pump is forward and down from the reservoir next to the back of the drivers side cam cover. A flush is designed to fluch gunk out of the cooling system, especially the heater core that only gets limited use and sediment blocks the internal cores resricting flow. And I hate to be a thanks ***** but since I dont get paid for all these valueble bits of infooooo.............
click on the thumbs up thanks icon bottom right of valuable posts

 

haha, never noticed that button! You rock, thank you for teaching me some really helpful info!

 

Brutal, You da man!

Thanks again for all of your posts. Your first hand knowledge is greatly appreciated here.

Now I'll borrow this info and see if I can finally figure out why my car only delivers heat when it feels like it.

Ken

 

Okay, tried to fix the fan and got stuck at step 1. The fan clip is easy to spot, but where are the vanes supposed to open?!

Also, not sure that this is actually the cause of the issue as the noise does not seem to be from either fan motor but rather the top-vent area near the windshield. I stuck my ears in the footwells and on both sides they seemed to be rather quiet; sit back upright and the noise is much more pronounced, seemingly coming from the top windshield-defrost vents near the middle-area.

 

I suspect that you can't hear the fan noise inside the car, because the fans are mounted to the heater/ac assembly housing, unless the recirc doors are open. But there is a somewhat open path from the windshield base louvers down into the heater/ac assembly, to the fan cages.

 

Well i went for the common issue, if its that high up you may have a valet tag or something else that fell down the demister vents. Try to blow debris out with an air blower and compressed air