Hi all... I recently got stuck in the snow and needed my towed. There was a lot of snow buildup. (Even inside). Now my heater does not work. Everything else seems to be running fine. The temp gauge seems normal. Any ideas what it could be? Should I get it serviced immediately? Obviously it's not very comfortable driving.
Thanks.
Hi! No expert I (I'm only replying because it's been four hours since your post and no one else has) but last time I had a problem with no heat it was due to a bad thermostat. Good luck!
Yeah, turns out the thermostat was cracked and coolant tank was leaking. Also a leak in the water pump.
Took it to a Saturn dealer.
Everything would cost 700 bucks so I'm just having them fix the first two. Taking my chances with the water pump.
In my humble opinion, "taking a chance" on a leaky water pump is not a good choice. That pump not only circulates water through the heater, but through the engine as well (well, duh). I know, seems trivial right - but if that water pump fails, you can heat the engine up to a level where the heads will warp fairly easily.
It's your engine, hope you made the right choice ...
$700 seems a bit high. I bought a thermostat housing two years ago, it was approx $50. According to NAPAonline, a water pump is $32. By coolant tank,I presume you mean the plastic reservoir. Lets figure $50 for it new.
$132 in parts. $568 in labor seems pretty high, I would get a second opinion from an independant shop.
-David
the alldata manual rates the labor as 2.0 hours for the pump and .9 hrs for the housing.. the container would probly be around .5hrs for a total of 3.4 hours or 167.00 per hour.. I would find a good shop that would probably charge you 50 to 60 per hour.
I agree, when a water pump starts leaking, it will only get worse and could suddenly sieze if coolant gets in pump bearings. If that happens you will have a very bad day.
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