I never did have a chance to replace the thermostat or heater. Now the heat has quit working. Beleive it or not we have been having temps in the 20's here in Bama. Seems both issues would be related somehow but I have no idea.
Has the heater coil gone bad?

Thanks,
Keith

That's thermostat or Radiator..

Are you refering to your temp gauge? Or is your heater not blowing hot air? If it's the heater, does it blow warm air? If it does, try switching your selector to recycle air instead of fresh air. My girl's sportage wasn't able to get warm(the heater) over the weekend and she switched the selector and it warmed up fast! Apparently, it was so cold that the heating coils couldn't heat the incoming air enough. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Recirculate mode is great for faster warm ups but you may build up excess moisture inside the cabin which will result in fogged/iced windows. To prevent that either turn off the recirculate mode once warmed up or switch on the A/C to dehumidify the cabin.

yeah forgot to mention that lol even with the a/c on your windows will still fog up though. Just switch back to free air after warmup is your best bet.

The temp is warming up. It is just not blowing warm air.

There is always hot coolant flowing thru the heater core. There are no bypass or shutoff valves. So if you have no heat then it comes down to 2 basic possibilities. Either the heater core is plugged or the cold/hot heater control is not working.

Get the engine up to temp and then see if the heater core return line is getting hot. That is the coolant line that loops under the exhaust manifold and joins with the lower hose. Follow it back until you find where it comes thru the firewall. Feel it there and see if it's hot. I don't know if it's possible to get to it under the dash unless you rip everything out. But the would be the best place to check. If it's getting hot then the problem is the heater control. You may have to rip the dash apart to find out what's going on.

I was afraid of that. I now think it is the heater control. The knob does not seem to have as much resistance when I flip it from cold to heat.

Thanks,
Keith

Try to pull the trim off around the heater controls/Stereo etc. It just prys off. Everything inside like the recycle button panel, ac knobs stereo etc have screws on each side and they will all come right out. You can see the damper control and such from there. It only takes a few minutes to pull it off and maybe you can see what the problem is. maybe one of the cables popped off of the guide r something. Also if you lay on your back on the drivers side floor ( I know its tough ) then you can access the lower damper controls without taking anything off.

Good luck. Mark

Cool. Thanks. I bought both of my Sportages off the lot in 95. You would think I would know something like that. I have never had to fool with it.

Keith