Titan Heater

tccart · 09-19-2005, 10:28 AM

It has been down right nipple-ly in the mornings around here the last week or so. I've been turning the heat up to max in the Titan for the morning commute, with the fan on maybe a 1/4 or so.

The air never gets very hot, and I find myself leaving the temp pegged for most of the drive. I've never had a vehicle that doesn't get uncomfortably hot within 10 or 15 minutes of highway driving.

For those of you who have gone through a winter or two already, any comments on the Titan's heater?

I'm wondering if there's an air bubble in my heater core.

keane · 09-19-2005, 02:47 PM

Mine doesn't seem to have a problem. It does take a little longer to heat up than my Frontier and the heat doesn't seem to be as hot; but it is a much bigger interior and that could explain it.

Steamguy · 09-20-2005, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tccart

It has been down right nipple-ly in the mornings around here the last week or so. I've been turning the heat up to max in the Titan for the morning commute, with the fan on maybe a 1/4 or so.

The air never gets very hot, and I find myself leaving the temp pegged for most of the drive. I've never had a vehicle that doesn't get uncomfortably hot within 10 or 15 minutes of highway driving.

For those of you who have gone through a winter or two already, any comments on the Titan's heater?

I'm wondering if there's an air bubble in my heater core.

You might want to check the level of the antifreeze - in the radiator itself. DO THIS COLD! If you had a bad cap, the system will draw air in and although you may never overheat, it can affect the way the heater works.

The thing I've found helps a lot with mine on these cold mornings in the mountains is to only turn the heater up to about 10:00 and then wait for the engine to warm up. The engine will warm up a LOT faster when it's not having to heat the cabin, also. Then once the engine hits operating temp, turn the heat knob up full blast and you should have plenty of heat in a minute, once the ducts are warm.

Also, if you start out with the defroster on full blast, it will default to the A/C being on, even if you turn the knob out of defrost and just to the floor heat. It will stay on unless you turn it off. The A/C will suck up a LOT of heat, so make sure the light's off.

Give that a try. But be sure to check that radiator - when cold!

Still thinkin · 09-21-2005, 11:12 AM

I am coming in to my second winter and my heater is not very good.
My air conditioning is also very poor.

tccart · 09-22-2005, 09:33 PM

Thanks for the tip about the coolant level. I checked it this morning, and it looked fairly full. ( the level was above the top of the rad core ) There was a bit of vacuum in the system when I first loosened the cap. I guess that's normal?

It's no big deal for now. The big test will be when we get a week of -30 weather in January.

Steamguy · 09-23-2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tccart

Thanks for the tip about the coolant level. I checked it this morning, and it looked fairly full. ( the level was above the top of the rad core ) There was a bit of vacuum in the system when I first loosened the cap. I guess that's normal?

It's no big deal for now. The big test will be when we get a week of -30 weather in January.

The coolant should be all the way to the top of the radiator and into the neck, where the tube for the overflow box exits. If it's not all the way up to there, then you have a bad cap. Period.

You should also have a quantity of coolant in the overflow box. If not then for sure you have a bad cap. Warranty should replace it.

So, why is it important to have the radiator clear full? On many modern vehicles, there can be water jackets in the engine that are designed to be just barely below the top of the filler neck. So it's important for proper cooling (and for the heater to work right) that they be filled with coolant.

When you're changing coolant, once the engine has warmed up, and if the radiator is a little low, you'll notice the coolant level will drop in the radiator after you start the engine. That's because we have crossflow radiators, where the fluid flows from one side to the other. Problem is, if the coolant is too low, air bubbles are sucked into the system and will get trapped (or slow down and pause anyway) in -- guess where -- the heater core. Then you have customer complaints about the heater not getting as hot as it used to.

So what you need to do is get the cap changed, and fill the radiator clear up full, and fill to the line on the coolant box. Then drive the truck for a bit with the heat on full hot to purge any air from the heater core. Make sure you warm the truck up completely. After that, let the truck cool completely, check the radiator and coolant box and refill as necessary. Check it daily for a while until it doesn't go down any more.

As a further illustration, in some cars (Hondas were one as I recall) you have spots where you actually have to purge the air after changing coolant. The car would run way hot otherwise. And the manufacturer installed purge points for that. But I digress.

Hope this helps.

Wowzer · 09-23-2005, 05:18 PM

No kidding!! I purchased my Titan is 12/04 and I'm disappointed in the heater performance. With the settings on hot/floor my feet were still cold. I placed my hand into the floor area with the heater running and I could feel airflow coming from the rear of the cab under the seats to the intake of the fan. This airflow is what kept my feet cold. It seems the heater system is just plain inadaquate for the large volume of air in the Titan interior. I have a KC. Perhaps the CC has a different setup that works better given it's even larger interior.

FarNorthTitan · 09-23-2005, 07:52 PM

I've got an '04 CC and live in Fairbanks, Alaska and the heater in my truck rocks, it warms up quickly and get's plenty of heat to the cab/passengers. It was "tested" last winter when I drove around in -40 F weather.

The Frontier we traded for the Titan would take a long time to warm up and couldn't handle temps below -25F. It could either defrost the windshield or heat your feet, but not both. I had to take it out once in -47F and that trip just plain sucked.

tccart · 09-23-2005, 09:07 PM

I'm going to have the dealership look at the coolant level. I noticed (after loosening the lid and hearing air either blowing out or sucking in) the overflow bottle has a warning on it to not open when the engine is hot. What's up with that? In my low-tech world, those overflow bottles have always been non-pressurized. Darn technology

Hopefully I can get into the service dept. next week, as I also have a brake fluid leak, and some heel/toe wear on my front tires. Nothing major. Still more than happy with the Titan.

Glad to hear FarNorthTitan is impressed with the heater at forty below.

tccart · 09-29-2005, 01:17 PM

Service dept said the level was fine, but the coolant strength was too high. Service manager's theory is that the coolant mixture transfers heat better at a lower concentration. He said they measured a higher temp coming out of the vents after cutting the coolant strength from -50C to -38C. I haven't decided if I'm happy with -38C protection.

I'm more concerned about the leak I thought was brake fluid. Turned out to be front diff fluid that puked out of a vent hose. The vent discharges up high in the engine compartment - close to the brake fluid reservoir and associated brake stuff. They think the front diff was overfilled, and some fluid got pushed up the hose when the diff heated up.

woodchopper · 10-09-2005, 05:56 PM

No one mentioned having the blower in the recirc. mode. It's that little light that comes on in the centre of the mode rotary switch. If it is recirulating you will get more heat in winter as well as more cooling in summer. The only draw back is your not getting a lot of fresh outside air being drawn into the cab. To work it push the knob inward and release.