87 heater

I have never, since new, had good heat out of the heater even with a fully warm engine. Was told this is common to the 87 T/C. Is this true?

At least on my 87TC, the heater worked very well until I bypassed it due to a heater core leak. Of course I live in SoCal, where it doesn't get any colder than about 40 degrees or so even in the coldest part of winter. So I guess "works well" could be subjective. I never had any complaints about it anyway.


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Joe F.

My 87 TC page - Mod list with sources

I get plenty of heat out of both my 88s snd they use the same heater core as the 87s.

Which system do you have, manual or EATC?
What things have you looked at in regards to fixing it?

How well the heater works is somewhat subjective. IMO, Fox platform heaters are fair, not great. I own / have owned a number of Fox platfrom cars, and in every one of them, from my perspective, the heaters never work well when temps start to get into the teens, which is very common in the winter around here. Years ago, I had a 66 Olds Jetstar, and the heater in that car could get the interior up to 90 deg when it was -20 deg outside. No Fox platform car I have owned ever came close to that.

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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 20 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 02 Taurus Vulcan(wifes car)

Originally posted by dnaston:
I have never, since new, had good heat out of the heater even with a fully warm engine. Was told this is common to the 87 T/C. Is this true?

My original TC was an 87, manual heat/air
controls. If the temp. got below 20 the
heat was at best luke warm even though the
gauge was at 1/3. I even tried placing
cardboard in front of the radiator, no help.
I drove that car for about 8 years and 191K
miles.
I now drive an 88 with climate control and have been doing so for about 8 years also. The climate control in this car apparently has problems and would sometimes blow almost
cold air. I replaced the heater core last
year and voila, lots of heat. Unfortunately,
still when I go out on the interstate and run 70 it will eventually go to luke warm until I get to start/stop driving or go to a slower speed, like 50/55 or less. Then it
will begin to blow warm/hot even though the
temp. gauge always rides about 1/3.

Originally posted by Pete D:
I get plenty of heat out of both my 88s snd they use the same heater core as the 87s.

Which system do you have, manual or EATC?
What things have you looked at in regards to fixing it?

My system is th EATC
The air from the heater just never gets very hot like other cars. The engine gets plenty hot, I checked that. I'm fine in 40 degree weather, but once it gets to less than 30, the car just never gets good and toasty. Set the Temperature at 80 on a real cold morning, like 25, and the heater is still going full blast 13 miles later when I get to work. A car dealer friend, not a Ford dealer, when he saw my car, said how do you like that poor heater in that car, it is known ofr it. But, I guess I still wonder if I should be loking at the air blend door or something.

I thought I was the only one with this problem??? I have repiped the heater core and the oil cooler to be separate circuits and that has helped some. I also have flushed, back flushed and acidized. I even tried lime away in the cooling system. So now I know that heat transfer WILL take place because the system is like new. My car has 205,000 on it and I bought it with 202,000 in September. I have also replaced hoses and the water pump. The only thing that I question and I will start looking into what it will take is the fresh air door. It is always using fresh air except when the system is switched to max A/C. I have hooked up a vacuum pump to the fresh air diaphram and the heat is much better. I even manually closed it by hand while my daughter was driving and it was much better. This was when the outside ambient temp was 23 deg. F. When I get time and find a better solution on controlling the fresh air diaphram I will post the results. Sean.

Maybe I need to back pedal a little. The TCs do OK but nothing great. I've resorted to cardboard in front of the radiator. Jeff K mentioned a 60s Olds. The best heated car I ever rode in was a 63 or 64 Olds. That sucker would heat you right out of the car and do it quick even from a cold start. On the other hand I owned a few old VWs also. All I can say about them is you had to own one to know [Image: biggrin.gif] Compared to an old VW, a TC is like a heat wave in hell.


[This message has been edited by Pete D (edited 12-02-2003).]

That is absolutly correct Pete! I have a company ford E250 and that thing almost generates heat on a cold start. So I guess I am spoiled? The other down fall is that I am in the industial heating and cooling trade, so I will beat this horse to death until it works the way I think it should. Otherwise I will determine the problem and most likely it is a design flaw with the heater core sizing for the area in which the heater is trying to heat. Has anyone compared a TC heater core to any of the other fox body cars, or of the Lincoln Mark # series cars? If so are they physically the same size? What about subly and return piping sizes on it as well? Most likely the luxo barge cars that cater to people that have certain expectations when they pay over $40,000 for a car. Sean.

Originally posted by Seanm5005:
I thought I was the only one with this problem??? I have repiped the heater core and the oil cooler to be separate circuits and that has helped some. I also have flushed, back flushed and acidized. I even tried lime away in the cooling system. So now I know that heat transfer WILL take place because the system is like new. My car has 205,000 on it and I bought it with 202,000 in September. I have also replaced hoses and the water pump. The only thing that I question and I will start looking into what it will take is the fresh air door. It is always using fresh air except when the system is switched to max A/C. I have hooked up a vacuum pump to the fresh air diaphram and the heat is much better. I even manually closed it by hand while my daughter was driving and it was much better. This was when the outside ambient temp was 23 deg. F. When I get time and find a better solution on controlling the fresh air diaphram I will post the results. Sean.

When in heat, outside air is always used as a source for air so that humidity levels in the car dont build up and cause the windows to fog. With that said, I have done the same thing as you in my 91 Escort winter beater. In the Eacort (which has a heater that works much better than the Fox heaters, but still wont really roast you), there is a seperate FRESH / RECIRCULATE lever, and if I put it to RECIRC and HEAT, I do get better heater performance, but unless it is really cold and dry out, I get window fogging.

With that said, you could probably but a vac T in the line to the RECIRC vac motor, and use a switch controlled, electrically activated solenoid to switch vac on and off to open / close the RECIRC door. Might need a vac one way valve or 2 somewnere in there also.


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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 20 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 02 Taurus Vulcan(wifes car)