03 GT Heater Problem

[elrodvoss]

Its been a while since ive been here, but I got an issue I need advice on.In the past several days it has gotten MUCH colder here (10-20*F) and I have noticed that my heater is takeing longer then it ever has before to blow out warm/hot air. At 1st I though it was just the fact that its the cold weather, but once it started to blow out hot air, it would start to get colder and then just spit out cold air. Then go back to hot.The engine warms up like normal and dosent overheat. When I got home I checked the secondary tank for the coolent and it was mostly bone dry so I filled it with the correct mixture.I can only assume that there wasnt enough coolent to flush through the engine and heater core, but still enough that the engine wouldnt overheat (note: the temp guage never went above 1/2 way, this is normal).I just want some advice and see if there is anything else I should check out. I have a 600 mile trip in about 2 weeks and I dont want to get caught with something bad 1/2 through the trip.The car has 37K miles on it if that helps any.

[Raven]

Check the coolant level daily for a while. If the tank was empty, the coolant went somewhere and you may have a leak. With low coolant levels the heat would be intermitant.

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

i think you got this one figured out... low coolant is a great reason to not have heat.top it up and monitor

[djb383]

When the engine COLD, remove the radiator cap and make sure coolant is at the top of the radiator as well as the overflow bottle being about 1/2 full.

[elrodvoss]

Well this is just an update...The secondary tank was bone dry like I said before, and after I drove it I checked it again it was 1/2 empty. So I topped it off and it seems fine now.The heater is working alot better. When I 1st got the car, you could feel the heat when the temp guage was just hitting the line on cold. Then with the issues, I wouldnt feel any heat till the car was fully warm (temp guage at 1/2).Now its back to normal, so now I just have to see if I have a "leak" somewhere.Bottomline, its all good and thanks.

[CAN-AWD-VIBE]

good to hear... get a pressure test done to confurm there is no leak, and keep an eye on that coolant, it will go down from time to time even without leaks.