19th Jan 2008, 21:19

I have a 99 Taurus wagon 51,000 miles.. No problem with the heat yet. I noticed the coolant was very brown so I did a complete flush and disconnected the heater core hoses as well and back-flushed, also noticed the coolant bottle had small cracks, replaced that. The heater hoses have metal tubing connecting to them which rust from the inside out causing the coolant to turn brown. these must be changed before they cause the heater core to clog up with rust "mud". Also the bottom radiator hose has a metal tee that rust inside as well. flushing your heater core out at least once a year will hopefully keep you warm in the winter's ahead...

7th Apr 2008, 21:45

I have a '99 that I've had since new. The only problems I have had are the electric door locks have had to be replaced (won't pop up to unlock position), and yes, the Rotors do warp and vibrate the whole front end like the tires are falling off, to fix just buy GOOD rotors, not ones from Autozone or Advance or places like this, and the heat. To fix the heat, check the lines at the fire wall, both should be hot. On these cars, the heater core is sorta a bypass on the cooling system so when it clogs, it does not affect the cooling of the car (you can see this if you look at the lines). You can try to back flush only the heater core, but when I replaced mine, it had lots of brown "mud" looking stuff in there that I don't think would come out. It took me a whole day to do the heater core, and Yes, you have to take out the WHOLE DASH. I can see why shops charge for this. $1000, no way, few hundred maybe.

23rd Oct 2008, 02:00

I have seen a lot of Taurus and Sable cars built from 1996 thru 2000 so far, thru work done for my family and friends. I am not a mechanic by trade, but have always liked working on cars.

As for the heat issues that these cars have, I would say the first link in the chain to go bad is the water pump when the blades deteriorate, the debris from this flows to the lowest pressure area and the lowest part on the system, the heater core.

Now the way I have flushed these in the past was to clamp off the bypass hose, open to rubber hose to the steel line right off the water pump, and place a 3 foot piece of hose on to the steel line running in towards the heater core.

Next take the rubber line running from the thermostat back to heater core loose. Get a funnel that will fit in to this hose and shove it in. Now take a clamp and very gently squeeze the bypass tube just enough to close off.

Now take a garden hose and spray down in to funnel. Look to see if you have water flowing out other end. Is it brown an mucky? Does it have a lot of chunks in it? If this is what you have, it is starting to work. Keep running water till clean, then switch sides, run it thru again till clean. Now I would repeat for good measure.

But if you started to flush this with water and it would not budge, take a pressure washer at the car wash to it. This is the part where the funnel comes in to play as you are spraying into the funnel angle it to create vortex in hose, Work it in and out and it will start as a trickle, then a little more, then bam! you should have good flow. Now repeat on the other side.

I bet after this you'll have heat and hopefully no bad leaks. This could be done in 20 minutes with a pair of pliers, a screw driver and a length of tubing and a funnel, and you can accomplish this task for around 4 buck, or 8 if you go the power wash.

Good luck.

5th Nov 2008, 12:39

I own a 97 and used to own a 2000 Taurus. Live in Long Island New York. Both cars had heater problems.

I recommend two things:

A) Remove the heater hoses from the firewall (both), get a garden hose and insert into one of the hoses. Turn on the faucet at full strength (the better the volume the better the flush capability). Observe dirty water coming from the opposite unconnected hose. Then go to the opposite hose and run water through it. Again, the water volume should be high.

Then connect a spare hose to one of the Heater Core Nipples located on the fire wall - these will be exposed when you remove the heater hoses mentioned above, Again, flush the heater core with a high volume of water by connected the garden hose to the spare heater hose. Do both sides. Make sure you do this with the engine cold because water will be spraying about.

Next, connect the hoses back to the nipples. Fill up your radiator with coolant to compensate for the lost coolant and start the engine, let her run.

I did above twice a year for my kid who goes to school in Buffalo. She graduated, I have the car and decided I don't have the time to fix an obvious design flaw - so this is what I did about a year ago:

B) I removed the bypass hoses and connected the heater core directly to the engine. Now hot water is being forced into the heater and keeping coolant moving all the time. I have not had any problems. The car is toasty. This was a risky move, but I was desperate. I have had the car in this condition for over a year and noticed no differences in operation. My gas mileage is good, I have the standard 3.0L 6cyl engine. The car cost me $3000 so I gambled and believed I won.

31st Dec 2009, 19:28

I about a 1997 Sable last year, it has about 67k miles on. One guy said the heater core had to go and it will cost 600-700. Another guy flushed the heater core and it is working great now, but he too said if it clogs again, the core will have to be replaced, and that would cost $500.

22nd Mar 2010, 14:15

OK, so I've worked on cars for years, and the 99 Taurus 3.0s do have problems with the blades on the water pump. The heater core is a new one on me. But the reason I found this blog was the fact I have the same problem. Now I will flush the heater core; it's just not a bad idea anyway. But if your car is not over heating, then more than likely your water pump is fine. I think it's one of 2 things, either a flow problem or the door is not open to let the heat in. It's that simple.

24th Dec 2010, 10:41

I have a 2000 Taurus. Had the heater core flushed several times, new thermostat, inspected blend door motor; it is working and the door moving. Removed the inspection plate for the heater core. The core is very hot. Hoses going into the core are very hot, outlet hoses are very hot. Still no heat. What do I do to get heat?