Owners/anyone experienced with these cars have comments on the heaters? This one seems to be cold in comparison. Thermostats have been changed. Presently using 192 deg. yet still rather slow to warm the car and never really hot air from the vents. I've had other cars that produce so much heat you can't hold you hand over the defrost vent. Chatted briefly with another owner just today and they report similar.
What gives?
Put a sheet of cardboard over the rad to block airflow to the engine compartment, with a 6 or 8" diameter hole centered over the fan. The block "blast cools" to the point the rad hardly gets any heat. Same as an Aerostar. Without a winter front both 3.0 aerostars I owned were "ice boxes". With a winter cover, they were toasty.
The fan on the Tempo is electric driven.... it will not turn on if the engine temp is low...
Thge OP is going to be further ahead to fix the problem before there is any chance of additional damage....
Anyone care to guess how many forgotten pieces of cardboard I've removed from radiators in July????
Already have done that. It annoys me to hell to have to do this and not really a very effective way. Also not designed for easy access either. I have to pull the grill to make it easier. Further you have to watch carefully and on some days.
Fix the problem how though? I beginning to think it's a design problem. That's why I asked if other owners are experiencing the same situation.
I realize that. But on days when it is warm enough to actually warm up the engine, the hole centered on the fan avoids broken fan blades.
From my experience, it is. They overcool through the BLOCK on very cold days. Sit and idle, out of the wind, and it will warm up. Start to move and it's cold again. Feel the rad, and it is stone cold, open the cap and there is no circulation. Cover the "grill" to keep airflow through the engine compartment to a minimum, and everything heats up. Medium cold days not a serious problem, particularly in town. Cold days on the highway? Terrible.
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I recently retired a '93 extended Aerostar with a 3.0 that had such good heat my kids would complain that it was too hot when the outside temp was zero.
I suspect the heater core is partially plugged, in both the Tempo and the Aerostar. A lot of Tempo owners I've seen never do any maintenance to the cars except to change oil. If that.
Both my 3.0 aerostars had good heater cores, and with a winter front provided more than adequate heating even on the highway, and both had the problem from the day I got them - 37000km and 54000km.
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