Mechanic help, Heater/Coolant system

[Buckmark]

177K on a 3.4 cut your future losses and sell it 

[Woodchuck]

177K on a 3.4 cut your future losses and sell it 

Not the worst advice I have seen handed out.

[timberghost72]

Sounds like you have a partially plugged heater core. With a partially plugged heater core you won't get much heat output except when you are reving up like you stated. Also it will make that gurgling noise due to inefficient internal flow.

If true that you are not losing coolant either internally or externally and you are not getting warmer than normal temps then its doubtful it is a head gasket. And if your engine temp did go up due to head gasket your heater would also get hot.

Let your vehicle run for a bit with the heater off tem at low setting and check your heater hose temps. Should be similar.

Then run heater for a bit temp hot. Check hoses again. Outlet hose should be cooler than the inlet.

Start with the basics first.

 

Where does the air to make the gurgling sound come from? A car's cooling system in proper working order is sealed and contains no air.

I would say you've answered that in your own response. It does not sound like this is a properly working cooling system.

It could possibly be air from not being able to bleed it out correctly due to blockage but it may not be air at all. It sounds like cavitation from the coolant not being able to flow through the heater core properly.

But who knows. Hard to say over the interwebs and without looking at it.

177K on a 3.4 cut your future losses and sell it 

Not the worst advice I have seen handed out.

 

[Timberstalker]

Sounds like a bad mix door.

@jackelope
@Woodchuck

[Buckmark]

Sounds like a bad mix door.

@jackelope
@Woodchuck

[jackelope]

Sounds like a bad mix door.

@jackelope
@Woodchuck

What the H E double hockey sticks is a mix door?

[Pete112288]

The mix door is what moves to adjust from the different options, dash vent, floor heat, etc. And it appears to be operating correctly.
My best leads so far is that there may be a partial blockage in the heater core area. I also was just told that it is possible that intake gaskets could be bad and could be sucking in air from that. The guy said that Dexcool is more acidic and can cause that to happen to the gaskets besides the fact of the age and miles of them as they are probably original. The mechanic seemed fairly certain that there is not a clogged heater core, but if it is only partially clogged.... 
I hope I can nail down one of those. The hoses seem all good at this point but wont be overlooked.
If with all that I can figure that part out it will be great.
Then gotta see why the fan only kicks on when the ac compressor is running.
Thanks everyone for the help, I appreciate it very much!

[jackelope]

The mix door is what moves to adjust from the different options, dash vent, floor heat, etc. And it appears to be operating correctly.

Temperature blend doors and mode doors. Blend doors adjust temperature and mode doors open and close to put air out the floor or dash or defrost vents.

None of them would cause the problems you’re experiencing.

Also, I was just messing with Timberstalker.

[Pete112288]

The mix door is what moves to adjust from the different options, dash vent, floor heat, etc. And it appears to be operating correctly.

Temperature blend doors and mode doors. Blend doors adjust temperature and mode doors open and close to put air out the floor or dash or defrost vents.

None of them would cause the problems you’re experiencing.

Also, I was just messing with Timberstalker.

 

[timberghost72]

The mix door is what moves to adjust from the different options, dash vent, floor heat, etc. And it appears to be operating correctly.
My best leads so far is that there may be a partial blockage in the heater core area. I also was just told that it is possible that intake gaskets could be bad and could be sucking in air from that. The guy said that Dexcool is more acidic and can cause that to happen to the gaskets besides the fact of the age and miles of them as they are probably original. The mechanic seemed fairly certain that there is not a clogged heater core, but if it is only partially clogged.... 
I hope I can nail down one of those. The hoses seem all good at this point but wont be overlooked.
If with all that I can figure that part out it will be great.
Then gotta see why the fan only kicks on when the ac compressor is running.
Thanks everyone for the help, I appreciate it very much!

If your intake gaskets were leaking between a coolant port you'd have coolant going into your intake not sucking air into your cooling system. Your cooling system is pressurized and your intake manifold is under a vacuum. 

[Fl0und3rz]

A blend door has no way to cause a gurgling air noise.

The water/gurgling noise is there because there is air in the cooling system.  It’s either losing coolant or there is air being introduced into the system. That’s my internet guess.

Had the gurgling after breaking into my F350's system. Heat worked. Ran it like that for a year. Then I topped off radiator and some in the overflow tank. Gurgling went away.

To be sure, you want to make sure you are adding coolant only to make up for displaced air and not lost coolant.

[Buckmark]

The mix door is what moves to adjust from the different options, dash vent, floor heat, etc. And it appears to be operating correctly.
My best leads so far is that there may be a partial blockage in the heater core area. I also was just told that it is possible that intake gaskets could be bad and could be sucking in air from that. The guy said that Dexcool is more acidic and can cause that to happen to the gaskets besides the fact of the age and miles of them as they are probably original. The mechanic seemed fairly certain that there is not a clogged heater core, but if it is only partially clogged.... 
I hope I can nail down one of those. The hoses seem all good at this point but wont be overlooked.
If with all that I can figure that part out it will be great.
Then gotta see why the fan only kicks on when the ac compressor is running.
Thanks everyone for the help, I appreciate it very much!

You need a new mechanic 
I could write paragraphs about what you've been told and all about the calamities of a 3.4 with this many miles and cooling system issues. But i wont, good luck.

[jackelope]

My opinion...take it for what it's worth.

I'd say quit while you're ahead but you're already in deep.

I'm with Buckmark. Your guy doesn't know what he's talking about. If you don't bag it, take it to someone who knows what they're doing(a dealership service department or maybe a different shop) and pay someone 1 hour's worth of time to accurately diagnose the problem. You don't have to fix it with them. Quit throwing parts at it, quit flushing the cooling system and quit guessing and have someone diagnose it.

Does Dexcool still have the same issues it had 15-20 years ago?

[Timberstalker]

May be the blend door actuator. Still researching this as I type.

@jackelope
@Woodchuck

More to follow.

[jackelope]

May be the blend door actuator. Still researching this as I type.

@jackelope
@Woodchuck

More to follow.

Fo sho. Didn’t think of that one. The coolant modulator in the mix door actuator motor is probably intermittently failing.

Are you stalking me?