My 2003 Taurus is having a heater problem. I recently purchased the car (about a month ago) so it was towards the end of July. I immediately saw the air conditioning doesn't work so that prompted me to check the heater. The blower works fine however it blows cold air. If it is extremely hot the air is not really cool but not warm either, if it is under 80 degrees outside then the air is pretty cool coming out. I have checked a couple things :
-def not blown head gasket
-not using or leaking fluids at all
-temp gauge reads normal so thermostat is fine
-I've been told if heater core is bad fluid will leak
into car thru vent under the dash, this isn't
happening so I believe heater core is good
I also want to mention that the defoggers don't work, niether the front or the back, in fact turning them on seems to make it worse. I don't know if these problems could be connected any more than I know if the broken air conditioning is related but thought it worth mentioning. Winter is coming and I live in Michigan, someone please tell me what the problem may be and how difficult /expensive it will be to fix. I only paid $150 for the car and there is only one reason to drive $150 car... I'm poor lol I am also a single female and tho I have a fair knowledge of cars considering my gender (feminists are gonna hate me for that statement but the fact is most women do not know much about working on cars) my knowledge is still quite limited.

 

Hi Ang,
Lets see if we can find out what is going on .
You may already know this, but it seems like there may be more than one problem.
Since we need to start somewhere, usually if the heater core is leaking when you turn on the windshield defrosters it fogs up the windshield. The coolant recovery bottle under the hood may not be showing enough to see that coolant is going someplace.
There is a blend door under the dash which if not working correctly may be allowing some heat in the ductwork causing you to think the A/C is not working properly and also can keep the heater part from not producing to full potential.
I believe the rear defogger is an electric grid on the rear window. That is a separate issue and could be an electrical problem.
There are lots of knowledgeable folks here and hopefully more will offer to assist you.
As far as cost to repair, get a few estimates is probably the better route to go.
At least you will have some idea of what questions to ask.

 

I would look to the heater/ac blend door. It seems that I have read there was some trouble there.