Heater issues.

[jsly04XLV]

Had the boat on the water last night and air temp started dropping quickly so I said no worries.... I've got a heater. Problem was, I had air but no heat. Used it last weekend and it worked fine. The only thing that I've done in the last week was install the new amp rack and amp. Didn't see any water so pretty sure it's not a crack in the core. Is there a fuse for the water valve that opens to allow hot water to circulate over 1000 rpm. Any help would be appreciated... my wife is not a happy camper at the moment as she seems to live with that vent under her towl.

[dusty2221]

Was this at idle?

[jsly04XLV]

nope. This was well above idle.

[mmandley]

The heater system is pretty simple, no doors, no vales, just water in and water out. Fan motor, and on/off switch.

To test to see if its working you will need to start at the engine, on the water pump it has the outbound hose and inbound hose.

You will know these two hoses as they are the only rubber hoses that go forward threw the V drive area under the floor plates. Pull one off and point it down to the bilge, have someone start the boat for a second, < has to be done on the lake, or with a fake a lake. > See if you fet flow from the hose or the pump. This tells you if its the supply or return LOL. If you get no flow, and you try this same thing with the other hose and get no flow then your heater is pluged, or ruptured.

If you get flow threw it but its low or slow then you have a plug in the engine cooling system not allowing proper water pressure.

If you get no flow out of the engine then you have pluged engine cooling system, water pump is failing, or impeller is failing.

If you have water flow threw your heater core and its still not getting hot then you have to wait till the boat is on the lake and warmed up so you can do the troubleshooting all over again because you need to know if the return line from the heater is hot. DO NOT start the boat while its Hot and stick your hand under the Out port of the water pump. It will burn the piss out of you. At this point in the trouble shooting you should know where the out bound line from your heater is.

Other then this the only reason you would have a problem with your heater is if, the fan isnt working, and thats a whole nother troubleshooting guide, or the somehow the fan motor is spinning backwards and actually sucking air into the heater not blowing air out.

I know what you mean with the misses, Claudia does the same thing with a towel and heater vent. I just drink more beer, makes me want to pee, jump in the lake all better.

[DOCDRS]

Mandley is spot on. Thinking about what he said..... blocked heater core......how do you winterize your boat?....I am thinking that if one winterizes via antifreeze rather than draining the block and poking the drain holes to allow and internal rust deposits to flow out, these stay inside the engine. Then on spring start up water rushes into the engine stirring up deposits and they flow out the block into the heater core eventually plugging it. This being the case , I would disconnect both heater hoses and blow thru the block hose to see if its easy. I would expect some resistance. To try and clear the core if thats the problem I would hook a garden hose up to the circulating pump end and with a simple ball valve flow regulator try and back flush the core. I would have the block hose in a bucket. to see what all comes out. .02

[jsly04XLV]

Thanks for that writeup mandly. Problem has ben solved. Solution....broken belt. I believe the belt was slipping yesterday leading to breaking last night in the cold. Openned hatch this morning and saw the belt laying nicely behind the engine. Don't think it happened while riding due to the position of belt today. Replaced belt and walla. Wife way more happy than last night. Thanks for the responses. Ever find your way out in our neck of the woods make sure to let me know.

[zabooda]

So you would have had a loss of charging and the recirc water pump. Did the engine show a rise in temperature? Just curious.

[jsly04XLV]

Engine temp was a little warm but nothing that caught my eye. My wife did notice the charging issue though as the volts were on the low end of the scale instead of in the middle where it normally was.

[KrazyTrane]

my thermostat goes out on a regular basis. when those go they are made to keep the water cold going through the engine so it never really heats up which means your heater wont get warm. sounds like you fixed the problem but this is my late 2 cents. Since you can get the thermostat and gasket from websites like skidim.com it is worth it to buy now and have on hand