My Ranger has no heat. My Ranger is an 07 Sport Regular Cab 2wd, 3.0L, standard shift, 42k miles, never abused, never off-road. I have a factory repair manual on this truck and I have gotten this down to a couple things. About the problem, I haven’t ran the heat since winter, its been a hot one this year in AL! Rangers are notorious for having really hot scalding heat. Well mine has stopped working. When the temp knob is placed in the ‘warm’ or ‘red’ position, and the blend knob is in the ‘floor only’ position like the manual says to test, there is only cool air, no heat whatsoever. The manuals test says that it could be either A) Air Blend Door stuck or actuator not working; or B) Heater Control Valve. Anyone experienced this before and have any tips? I’m sure all this stuff can’t be as easy as the manual states. I didn’t get time to look at this during this past weekend, but I hope to get it nailed down in a couple of days. I do have plenty of time before it gets cold though before I will actually need it.
The typical blend door failure results in it defaulting to heat. The plastic around the linkage on the door cracks and it will fail to heat. If your problem is centered around the blend door, it would be a problem with the servo and that’s most likely a wiring or plug that is busted or loose.
The valve is what shuts off the flow of coolant to the heater core in OFF an MAX AC. It is vacuum operated, but i forget whether it fails to open or closed on loss of vacuum.
Well yesterday I popped the hood and turned the knob over to ‘hot’ to see if the coolant lines to the heater core get hot. Well they get hot just like the book says, and they get really really hot!! Hahaha! I felt of the bottom of the plastic casing where the bottom of the heater core would be and that felt hot too. So, I know its getting hot, but, no hot air coming out of any vents. So next thing, air blend door/actuator. I will take pics of my progress and post them so everyone can see how this is done.
__________________ 2007 Ford Ranger Sport 2wd Standard Shift, Black Exterior, Medium Dark Flint Interior, 4.10 Gear Ratio, Power Pckge, Keyless Entry
Had one night after school of fog and cold, almost had to stick my head out the window to see for the 2 mile trip home. had to fix it.
It turned out to be the Blend Door Actuator, its a small white box that sits just on top of the heater core plastic housing. You can see it when you lower the glove box all the way down. (press in on the sides of the glove box door to release each side from its keepers) There are 3 small 8mm bolts that are just a real pain to get to, I had to get an adjustable 8mm ratcheting wrench to get them out. Then its just a matter of unplugging the old one and pulling or prying straight up on the module to get it out then the installation is just the reverse of removal. There isn’t much room in there, if you have small hands like me, this shouldn’t be a problem, if not, I would suggest finding someone with small hands to do this project. Don’t force anything, this module seems to be breakable to me. I actually had to plug the module in before reinstalling it and using the hot/cold knob to line up the actuator door with the actuator shaft so it would just fall into place. Works perfectly now!! BTW-I found out the hard way that if there is no heat, your windows will not defrost! The air coming out of the vents was so cold that it actually froze the condensation on the outside of the windshield while I was driving. So beware of the consequences of this part going bad.
__________________ 2007 Ford Ranger Sport 2wd Standard Shift, Black Exterior, Medium Dark Flint Interior, 4.10 Gear Ratio, Power Pckge, Keyless Entry
One of the most common (and inconvenient) problems with the Ford Ranger is when it has no heat coming from the heater. Not having a functioning heater makes driving much less comfortable, and can be a sign of certain issues.
At the simplest level, there are two main reasons why the heater is not working. If it’s not coming on at all, it’s usually either the blower motor or some other wiring issue. If the heat is blowing, but blowing cold, it has something to do with the coolant getting to the heater core, or the heater core itself.
Ranger No Heat: How the Heater Works
At the simplest level possible, the heater works by passing hot coolant from the engine into a tiny radiator called the heater core. At this point, the blower motor blows air across the it and the newly heated air blows on to the driver and passengers. If the heater has stopped working in your Ranger, this process has failed in one way or another.
Ford Ranger Heater Not Working: Diagnosis
A word of caution: If there is no coolant in your overflow, you can refill it by adding more to the overflowreservoir. There is almost never a situation where you would need to take the radiator cap off of the radiator to add coolant. The exception to that would be when you would have reason to believe that the hose going from the reservoir to the radiator is clogged. Anytime you’re putting your hand around the radiator or fans in the engine assume that they are hot and that the fans can kick on at any time, even without your key in the ignition.
Low Coolant
While not having enough coolant may make your engine run hotter, it can also cause your Ranger to not be able to create enough heat. Is there isn’t enough line pressure, due to low coolant, then the heater core will not be able to get any coolant itself.
You can verify this by checking the coolant level by taking a peek at the overflow reservoir. The overflow reservoir will be connected to the radiator by a tube coming from the top (usually right by the radiator cap). It should have separate lines to indicate “cool hot” and “cool cold”. Some vehicles only have full hot. Never touch the radiator cap unless the vehicle is ICE COLD.
Bad Thermostat
The job of your Ranger’s thermostat is to regulate the temperature of the engine. It does this by allowing water to enter the engine when it is getting hot, and by keeping coolant from entering while the vehicle warms up.
Sometimes when a thermostat goes bad, it stays stuck open. This allows the coolant to continuously enter the engine. When this happens it’ll feel like the heat is barely working, or you may notice that it’ll work if the vehicle isn’t moving, but if you get on the highway it stops working.
If your Ranger has a built in temperature gauge, take a look at it and see if it is in the spot it is normally in after a bit of driving. If it looks like it is colder than normal, that’s a pretty good indication that there is something wrong with the thermostat.
Heater Core
The heater core itself can go bad. Over time, they are known to clog and fail. If you have a heater core that clogged, it’s not going to be able to pass coolant through. Without the warm coolant going through it, there can be no heat. A bad heater core can also leak, so watch out for that. Feel your passenger floorboard to see if it’s wet.
Heater core’s are typically pretty affordable.
Hose to/from the Heater Core
There are two hoses coming to and from the heater core. They both should feel warm or hot to the touch with the engine on. If one of the hoses is hot, and the other one is cold, that is a pretty good indication that the heater core is clogged. If the neither hose has any heat, you may have air in the cooling system, low fluid, or low pressure.
Water Pump
If you look at your temperature gauge, and the engine is running hotter than normal, but there is not heat coming from the heater you may be having issues with the water pump. Try taking the vehicle out of gear and revving the engine a little. If you feel the heat start to blow hot for a few seconds that’s an indication of a bad water pump or low coolant. Also, the serpentine belt going to the water pump going bad can it not turn as fast as it needs to.
Conclusion: Heat Not Working Ford Ranger
It can be tough to find why your Ranger’s heater is blowing cold. But, using the info above about how and why a heater would fail can make it a lot easier. If there is anything you would like to add, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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My 2007 Ford Ranger has no heat when I turn it on, but the COLD A/C works beautifully? All of the sudden the heat stopped working. It doesn’t get humid or tepid at all, just no heat. What can I look at? Keep in mind, it’s not electrical, it’s a manual knob.
it’s almost as though (keep in mind its cooler here), that it blows cold air when I turn the knob to heat.
Look under the hood and find the heater hoses. They will be about 1 1/2 inches across and go through the firewall. Feel if they are the same temperature or one hot and one cold.
they should be the smaller hoses that come off the engine and enter/attach to the firewall near the passenger side,
2 Answers 2
Coolant Level
Thermostat stuck open
Heater Control Valve
Temperature blend door
Plugged heater core
Coolant Level
Coolant level that’s even a little low can affect heater performance. It’s near the top of the system so there could be enough coolant to prevent the engine from overheating but not enough to make it through the heater core.
Thermostat stuck open
If the engine isn’t reaching operating temperature then suspect a stuck open thermostat.
Heater Control Valve
The heater control valve is inline with the inlet heater hoses running to the heater core. Look for 5/8 inch to 3/4 inch inside diameter hoses that pass though the firewall on the passenger side. Feel the one closest to the driver side at the firewall, this is the inlet hose. If this hose is not hot check the heater control valve. Follow that hose back until you find a valve that has a vacuum line attached to it. Make sure the line going into the valve is hot, if so then pull the vacuum line off the valve. There should not be vacuum present on the hose with the function knob in the floor position. If there is no vacuum on the valve, and the hose between the engine and the valve is hot at the hose between the valve and the firewall is not then you have a bad valve. If there is vacuum on the line then you likely have a bad function switch.
Temperature blend door
While that switch looks mechanical it’s actually a potentiometer that controls the temperature blend door actuator.
This will require further testing, with a DVOM. Leave me a comment if everything else checks out.
Plugged heater core
If the inlet hose (closest to drivers side) is hot at the firewall and the outlet hose is only warm or cool you have a plugged heater core.
