My wife was coming back from the beach this past weekend and it was cool outside, and she turned on the heat, since she had her top down and windows down. Well only cool air was coming out of the vents. I tried it again the other day, and once again only cool air coming out of the vents. The temp outside was in the mid 70's. The a/c works fine, but when you turn the dial to the hotter temp for heat, the air doesn't get hot. It's not cold like the A/C but no where near warm. When we bought the jeep this past January, the heat worked fine. Are the JK's prone for heat issues? any common problems?

I have noticed a faint coolant smell after driving the vehicle, but I can't seem to find any trace of coolant leaking under the hood or under the jeep, and her coolant level is pretty consistent in the overflow tank. Not sure if this coolant smell is related or not.

thanks ahead for any input

 

If you open the radiator, do you have coolant to the top? It's a bit of a visual trick there with a very shallow piece right at the top that makes it look full when it's not. I'd start there. Next would be check condition of the coolant to ensure it isn't muddy (mixed coolant!).

 

The last I checked it, it appeared to be full, but I didn't inspect it that much, so I'll check it again. I know the coolant in the overflow tank looked good, so I'd assume the coolant in the radiator is the same.

 

y, the #1 cause of no heat is low coolant and air in the system. Definitely inspect your coolant level a couple times after heat cycles. The 3.6L also has a bleed screw on the thermostat housing which can be helpful at times if you need to bleed the system.

 

thanks, i'll look into it. Obviously the no heat isn't what i'm mostly concerned about b/c summer is hitting full swing here in NC, if there is an issue with the cooling system i want to address it before it becomes a problem or leaves my wife stranded.

 

You might watch a few youtube videos about purging air pockets from the heater core. Some vehicles can be quite stubborn to clear air that is trapped in there. It's not hard....basically cycles of revving engine for periods of time followed by periods of idling. If it's not air trapped in the heater core causing the no heat, then you might be looking at a clogged heater core which would suck. I've not had a clogged heater core myself, but I'd suspect the rest of the cooling system would work normal in that situation.....just no fresh hot coolant would be flowing back through the heater core lines.

Also, just in case you are not aware, these things are very sensitive to mixing different types of coolant. You should have OAT in your '13 unless that was purged and something different was added along the way. I just stick with Mopar OAT from the dealer.

 

thanks for the input. when I was originally looking at everything I noticed the coolant was almost purple in color, is that the OAT coolant? I've never seen purple coolant, but when looking at it, it didn't seem discolored or dirty or anything.

 

Yes, they put a color additive in the Mopar coolant, but it looks different at different angles and light. Looking in the radiator cap it usually has an orange tone to it. Pull some out and put it in a clear bottle and it's purple. The real issue is when people need to top off a bit and they just use whatever random coolant is around. 2013 is when they started using OAT instead of HOAT, so there's always a little confusion about it and people start stressing about the colors cuz the HOAT was orange.

 

My 2013 did same thing this past fall. Sudden "no heat" on a cool day. Took to dealer thinking Clogged heater core but it was the blend door actuator failed. There was no obvious warning noise or chatter, just sudden "no heat". Actuator replaced and works fine since. There are Youtube videos for replacing actuator replacement if you are so inclined.

 

so I checked the coolant level, the radiator is definitely full. I will look into the blend door actuator.
thanks