It's that time of year again. My 2000 XJ's blower/heater only gets warm when turned to max red.
It's OK but all my other vehicles are pretty hot if you put your hand close to the vent. Is this normal for an XJ? I haven't seen the size of the heater matrix/core, that's what determines the amount of hot air available isn't it? And the engine temp I guess.
The fan is fine and works on 1-4 well.
Does any one have hot air?

 

Check to see if you have one of those useless restrictors in your heater hose.. When they work properly, they slow down the hot water getting to your heater core. If clogged or stuck partially closed, you won't get the flow needed for good heat. I wouldn't replace it, just bypass it with a piece of pipe and some hose clamps. Don't forget to plug the vacuum line.

 

I don't think I have that, my pipes go straight from the front of the engine to the bulkhead and disappear.
I have flushed and back flushed the matrix but thinking about it I can't remember if the heater *** was turned fully to red to allow the flush water through the core. I might do that again.

 

You wouldn't have the heater control valve on yours. If I'm not mistaken they stopped putting them on in 96 or 97. Run your engine and heater until it is at normal operating temp. Check bother hoses going to the heater core and see if they are at the approx. same temp. If one is cooler then the other you may have a clogged heater core. Just a thought.

 

My wifes 98 Sport did this last winter. We bought her cherokee sport while we lived in Phoenix...owned by a little old man who garaged kept it....what a gem.

Anyway there was never a need for serious heat in Phoenix....all we ever worried about was AC.

When we returned back to NH a couple years ago we noticed the same issue....poor heat from the heater. My poor wife had to deal with last winter as we had an apartment and no garage to get into to work on it. Thing would barely keep ice off the windshield on artic days.

I back flushed it about 2 weeks ago( yah lazy all summer)....and the crud that came out of it was amazing...most looked like sand?

Anyway...NOW it blows boiling hot...not just hot...very hot.

But it took a few minutes of flsushing with a hose to get it to run clean. Probably flsuhed it several times over 5 minutes. everytime I would stop and then do it again more junk came out.

 

I did the flush treatment using our garden hose.
I removed both pipes from the front of the engine and shoved the hose down 1 and then blew out until clear water came out. Then I blew down with my mouth to clear it out dry (this would have been easier with a compressor) , then I put the hose in the other pipe and repeated.
I did this about 10 times until no more brown water came out.
Fitted the hoses back on. The whole job took about 10mins.
Then I put some extra water in the expansion tank and took it for a run.

Now I get HOT air and much sooner. Fantastic

Thanks for the advice