Heater issues

[brandoncpm]

Hi fellas,

Long time board watcher first time poster. Just picked up a 69 Chevy K20 in pretty near original configuration. The truck is sweet with almost no dents to speak of and what I believe is the original paint job. 77,000 original miles and overall good runner. 350, 4 spd, etc...My first question with this truck is about the heater. The previous owner had installed a heater out of???? It doesn't work and wasn't hooked up when I bought the truck. I am in the process of hooking it up and trying to figure out why it won't work. Has anyone here installed aftermarket heaters or should I try to find one out of a junkyard truck??? Just wanting to know some opinions of some long time owners.

Thanks,

Brandon

[So.Cal.Super]

Welcome to the board!

How about some pics of what your working with?

[Mister-B]

We kinda need more details, but I'll take a stab

Here are the main parts you need:

1. Heater Core
2. Hoses running to and from heater core
3. Heater blower motor
4. Heater cowl/box

I'm all for junk yards, but the only part I would buy for this project there, would be number 4. You can get a brand new motor at Autozone for like $25. A brand new heater core from there is another $25 or so. The hoses are insignificant from a price standpoint. Just get them new.

It's a fairly big job. Search my old posts for how to do it all.
Posted via Mobile Device

[TobyArnot]

[Aaron Burkemper]

Is the heater electric or does it use coolant from the engine?

[THE BOSS]

I have a almost complete heater AC system for the cab if you need one.

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by THE BOSS

I have a almost complete heater AC system for the cab if you need one.

FYI

Please note that you must be a supporting member to post classified items. This includes but is not limited to What Its Worth, Want To Buy, Want To Trade, and For Sale. Please consider supporting the forum by subscribing. Further information on the subscription levels available are located here

If you need any further assistance with that please contact any Admin for help.

[54blackhornet]

Brandon, if you don't have an original heater set up got to a salvage yard and try to find a 71 or 72 pickup with the front clip removed, that still has the heater box mounted on the fire wall. Remove it all from motor side and then go inside and remove distribution box. It is not a big job to do, just a bunch of screws. Heaters by me are worth about $50.00. Then remove blower motor and toss it along with the core, a couple of new hoses and you should be good to go. The control leavers are also prone to break from moving back and forth for 40 years so you might want to check them while you have them out. Hope this helps you a little, I just replaced mine this winter.....
Posted via Mobile Device

[THE BOSS]

Originally Posted by THE BOSS

I have a almost complete heater AC system for the cab if you need one.

not for sale, i have no use for it and i do not want to store it.

you may have it for free!

[TBONE1964]

Brandon, welcome. You will get some good information here. My question to you is, does/did the truck have factory A/C? If it does, the firewall is made a little different for the heater box. You can still use a non A/C heater box but you will have to fab up some block of plates to cover some holes in the firewall.

I agree that the easiest way to solve you problem is to find a factory heater box from a salvage yard or someone posting here that wants to donate his to you.

Good Luck.

[brandoncpm]

Thanks for all the help. I will post some pictures when I get home. I am at a birthday party for my daughter right now but will post some pics when I get home. Right now I have reconnected the cables that hook to the control levers and when I turn the fan on the radio crackles and the screen flickers so I believe it is drawing some current when I turn the motor on. I am guessing that the fan motor is bad or seized or something, that is going to be my first investigation making sure the fan blower motor is getting power, if not I will go from there.
Posted via Mobile Device

[jeffahart]

Won't work means two things to me.
Not Blowing air = electrical or just bad fan motor.
Core not getting water = bypass valve stuck and not letting water into the core.

[brandoncpm]

Trying to post some pictures, having a little trouble. Sorry, newb. Can I post pictures from an iPhone or do i have to save them to the computer first? Thanks.
Posted via Mobile Device

[54blackhornet]

Yes you can, I do from my iPad its easy
Posted via Mobile Device

[brandoncpm]

Here we go attempt #2 uploading pictures.http://brandoncpm.80196@uploads.photobucket.com
Posted via Mobile Device

[brandoncpm]

Ok, enough of the iphone garbage. I am posting from the computer now. Here's a couple pics of the truck, will get some from under the dash heater area soon. I am thinking it is the fan motor\electrical issue as the motor seems to be drawing power but not doing anything.

Thanks.

Brandon

[brandoncpm]

Here's a couple more, I couldn't resist now that I finally got the pictures to work.

[VetteVet]

VERY NICE TRUCK
It does sound like the motor is binding. There is a small orange wire that runs through the firewall to the engine compartment to the fan motor . This wire carries all the current for the fan motor. If you disconnect it you can run a jumper wire directly to it from the battery positive terminal and it will run at full speed. Make sure you have a good ground on the motor housing as well. If it runs freely then the resistor in the cab may be bad. If you want to remove the fan motor you can lubricate it with wd-40 and it may come back. Who knows it may be clogged with mice nests or leaves. In any case you will have to remove it to install a new one. If you do then get one for an AC truck because they are more powerful.

[brandoncpm]

The first major project besides getting all the little mechanical stuff fixed will be a paint job. The clearcoat is all peeling off and there is some rust in the drip edges around the doors but other than that it is in really good shape. I really like the Dark olive and white cab/stripe. I also am leaning towards the medium blue and white cab/stripe combo. The wife hates it, wants me to paint it yellow......Women.

[brandoncpm]

Thanks for all the positive feedback, sorry I have been a little late on the replies, 2 year old, self employed, etc...etc....THEBOSS thanks for the offer, I would take you up on it but Kalamazoo is a LONG ways from Oregon. The truck has factory AC but it has beeen gutted, going to start my search for an AC setup out of a junkyard truck. Might have a bead on one locally, better hurry.

[brandoncpm]

So, I got the heater blower motor partially working. It only works on one setting which is Medium??? For some reason I cannot get any of the other settings (Low, High) to work. Anybody come across anything like this is in your travels so far??? Could it just be a resistor or something? I picked up a new motor and don't have a problem replacing it but I am a little worried about replacing the motor if it is an electrical issue somewhere else. The electrical is pretty hacked up underneath the dash. Thanks in advance.

Brandon

[THE BOSS]

most likely it is what i call a rheostat, it in the right side of the heater box duct work in the cab, it has 3 prongs that plugs into it held in with 2 screws

or the fan control switch is bad, one or the other, but most likely ^^^

[brandoncpm]

Thanks,

I was thinking about replacing that next, it looks VERY old and crusty. It was just dangling under the dash not mounted to anything. It looks like the PO had swapped in a heater setup out of some other vehicle and not a whole lot matches up. A lot of wires not connected to anything under the dash, oh great, it's almost like being at work.....(electrician) Not automotive. Thanks again for the advice. Slowly learning about this mechanical world.

[VetteVet]

Originally Posted by brandoncpm

Thanks,

I was thinking about replacing that next, it looks VERY old and crusty. It was just dangling under the dash not mounted to anything. It looks like the PO had swapped in a heater setup out of some other vehicle and not a whole lot matches up. A lot of wires not connected to anything under the dash, oh great, it's almost like being at work.....(electrician) Not automotive. Thanks again for the advice. Slowly learning about this mechanical world.

The device you are discussing is called a resistor. it has three connections for the three speeds of the heater motor and looks like this.



The wires for this little bugger come from the heater switch which is fed by a 14 gauge brown wire from the fuse panel and it is wired like this.





here is the complete diagram showing the fan switch in the top center of the diagram and the wires going to the resistor. ignore the arrows they are for the accessory wirw going to the key switch.




as you can see the brown wire feeds the light blue and yellow and the orange wires for the different speeds. The light blue and yellow are the slow and medium speeds and the orange wire is the high speed which I said you should disconnect on the engine side of the firewall and run a jumper wire from the battery positive to test the fan motor shown below.

[brandoncpm]

Thanks for that very helpful information. I really appreciate the time you took to find the wiring schematics. I can work with that! Now if only the wiring that is under my dash would match what is on the schematic.......I get the feeling I am not the first person to work on this heater if you know what I mean. Will let you know what I find when I get it fixed, hopefully soon, it's cold out!