GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have a 2004 base vibe. I'm having a problem with the heater. It doesnt blow hot air until you drive a mile or so and you have to accelerate pretty hard to start getting hot air. It doesnt matter how long you let the car warm up it blows cold air until you drive for awhile. It did not have this problem last winter. I did have the a/c charged a couple months ago. Could it be something the mechanic did? Please help I live in Maine and it is getting cold. It sucks not being able to defrost windshield

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »My guess would be maybe a bad thermostat. and a pretty good guess at that!

or low on coolant which the Vibes seem to have an issue with even without leaks. Check your coolant level. If its low and the engine is just idling, there may not be enough of a flow through the heater core to warm up the air. If its a bad thermostate the engine often will have a hard time warming up period be on idle or actually driving.

I vote for low coolant as well. Its just too low to reach the heater core.

top up coolant- still no heat?replace t-stat- still no heat?mechanic

thankx I will check and get back with you.

Check the coolant level first, like the others have suggested. I'm not a big fan of DexCool, so I went with green coolant on both of my Vibes. On both vehicles I encountered some difficulty 'burping' the cooling system. After filling the radiator and starting the engine, the ScanGauge went to 230F but the heater was blowing cold. I had to rev the engine and hold it at 2500-3000 rpm (in park) for several minutes to purge the system of air and then top off the radiator. I could tell the instant it 'burped' because the ScanGauge started to drop like a rock, leveled out at 184F, and the heater started blowing really hot air. A little side note, when the Scangauge showed 230F, the factory gauge stayed in the middle, maybe slightly less, where it always runs. That's a 46F swing and the factory gauge just stays in the middle and that's on both Vibes.

The Vibe has a great heater as long as the car is driven. But remember, if the outside temp is 30 degrees and the car is started and just sits idleing with the heat on full blast for 30 minutes, the temp guage will barely budge and the heater will blow semi-warm air. Everything is working fine, the thermostat stays closed, as it should. The problem is that the Vibe engine is not very large and easily cooled, so the heater core acts like a radiator and keeps the engine temp down. If you turn the heat off you will see the temp will go up. I have had a number of owners tell me that this is not so with their Vibe, but they all changed their mind after we did this test.Check your thermostat before just changing it for no good reason. You can tell when your thermostat opens by just feeling the lower radiator hose. It will get hot when it opens.