How Hot Is The Air Coming From Your Heater?

[kcac]

I've been looking at '98 and '99 Lumina LTZ's, and the ones I've driven had heaters that put out warm but not hot air. Definitely not adequate for the winter temperatures ahead. The salespersons' diagnosis have been "needs a new thermostat", which seems logical. That seems like the best case scenario. What is the worst this could be? A symptom of lower intake manifold gasket failure?

 

Does the heat coming out of these LTZ's (3800 engine) tend to be lukewarm? That doesn't seem right - every car I've had heaters that could turn your eyeballs into raisins when they were running at full heat. When I did the test drives, I drove the cars for about 20 minutes, 10 of which was at highway speeds, so the engine was warmed up.

[rockfangd]

i dont know both my cutlass and my intrepid get pretty toasty. They make me feel like i am going to pass out lol. When the coolant is good and the system is purged properly it should heat up nicely with a good thermostat

[89SupremeCutty]

my lumina gets so warm i gotta turn off the fan and turn the temp down. i havn't touched the thermostat ever on this car and i've put about 30k miles on it since i bought it.

[Spectrum]

If I keep it at full heat, fan on 1 blowing on my feet and the windows, I have to crack a window every now and then or turn the fan off to keep from dying on a 2 hour drive. That's in a 1997 Lumina LTZ (3100).

[9lumina6]

The heat in my Z-34 is very hot......smells like oil badly when u turn the fan on .............but if u need hot air.....she gives it to ya.

[88red4cyl]

I have absolutely no scientific method for this, it is just my opinion.. Personally, the heat coming out of my 3100 95 lumina seems a lot warmer than the heat on my 3800 99 lumina... I replaced the thermostat in mine last winter, so I know it is good...

[9lumina6]

I have absolutely no scientific method for this, it is just my opinion.. Personally, the heat coming out of my 3100 95 lumina seems a lot warmer than the heat on my 3800 99 lumina... I replaced the thermostat in mine last winter, so I know it is good...

 

My LQ1 has alot better heat then my L-67...........but then again my L-67 has a 180 stat......but even up to temp......its not as hot as the LQ1

[Addicted to eaton]

my l67 has a Very warm heater!! I always turn in on "max ac" and put it on 1 and wow it will cook you out of it! the Monte had a very warm heater to though!

[19Cutlass94]

Mines takes a while for it to get warm, but when it does, its freaking hot.

[mfewtrail]

I've never seen a discernable difference between the heat in ANY w-body of the year(s) you're asking about. With the stock temp t-stats, the heat should be really hot.

[ismellrealbad]

I've never seen a discernable difference between the heat in ANY w-body of the year(s) you're asking about. With the stock temp t-stats, the heat should be really hot.

 

im going to agree, but also add: in ANY car....as long as everythings ok, the heat is always hot enough to get too hot quickly enough even on a lower setting

[AL]

the heat in the vents is pretty warm... it will almost burn my hand if my hand is on the steering wheel in front of the vent... my seat warmers tho get hot in about 30 sec. and they will make you sweat like crazy.

[runt]

My car with the 180* doesn't get nearly as warm as my finacee's Intrepid with the 195*. Although, I guess that only makes sense. But, the 180* beat the snot out of the 195* that I HAD in there that went bad!

[Venom]

Something is wrong with the heater in my car because nothing comes out of any of the vents when I turn the setting, but I never use the heater anyways because Im such a big guy I generated enough of my own body heat to keep myself warm in the car LOL.

[3pt1lumina]

In my 96 and in my 97 LS, the heat is awesome. In my other 97 and the 90, the heat is fair...meaning if it is cold out you better wear some extra layers because it is never going to warm up to the point where you can turn it down.

[Addicted To Boost]

My old 89 threw some really hot heat, but took a while to warm up.

 

The TGP on the other hand warms up very quickly and turns the interior into a sauna momentarily

[mfewtrail]

FWIW, my '93 GP with a 180* t-stat is plenty warm enough after 3-4 minutes idling in 20-30*F temperatures. If I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt or light jacket, I have to turn the heat completely off after initially warming up the car or I start sweating. My parent's '94 Buick Regal with a 195* t-stat will burn your ass up.

[Addicted To Boost]

I should add that most of the time I owned my 89, it was seldom above freezing. It was even -50* for a good week straight and it managed to throw heat after about 5-10 minutes then.. Took 20 minutes of driving for it to start to get up to operating temp with a 195* T-stat.. I'm glad I won't be in mn this winter

[1990lumina]

I put a 195º star in the Lumina a few years ago and it is really hot after 10 mins or so. The 3.1 takes forever to warm itself up though - my TSX will start throwing heat after about 2 mins and it's only a 4 cylinder.

 

The Millenia would warm up fast too - but I'm sure the forced induction helped with that.

[88Regal Limited]

ya my regal takes a good 5-10 mins of idle time to warm up, or about 3-5 of driving time if you don't let it sit and idle. Motors warm up fast under load

[kcac]

Thanks everyone for the heater info. From what most of you said, lukewarm heat is not the norm, which is what I would have expected. My 95 Cutlass had a low heat problem that had nothing to do with the thermostat or the cooling system - there was a problem with a control valve or something like that under the dash - it's been four year so I don't remember exactly. Ended up having to spend a couple hundred dollars at the dealer to get it fixed.

[Schurkey]

Shove a thermometer in the heater duct. Given "room temperature" ambient air, you should have air temp within about 20 degrees of the thermostat rating. Maybe within about ten degrees. Run the engine hard, and the actual engine temp may be higher than the thermostat rating--and therefore the heater will be similarly hotter.

 

A 195 thermostat = 175 degrees minimum at the heater duct. Possibly hotter.

 

175 degree air temp does not feel as hot as 120 degree water temp if you move your hand quickly through either one; and it's less likely to burn you--but--it will "get your respect."

 

'Course, when the outside air temp is -40, the heater outlet temp won't be as high.

[dodgethis]

My lumina is always good about burning out of the car. I got the 3100 and it only took 5min to get it pretty hot. I will say this I had a 1995 cutlass ciera and had the thermostat replaced because of the temp gauge would say its over heating, but once it was changed it never got as hot as it normally did. I dont know if thats the reason why being the thermostat was changed, but that just my two cents on it.

[Night Fury]

My CS gets TOASTY! Even on the first setting it will cook you out within minutes...