Hi, we just bought a 96 civic for my daughter and the heater doesn't work. The blower works fine but only blows cold air. We brought it to our mechanic and he said the heater door was broken and stuck shut, and would cost $600+ in labor alone, and honda didn't even carry the part any more. Maybe we could find a used part, but he also said maybe he could jam it open. I am open to trying that but don't know where to begin. Any help is appreciated.

I considered a portable heater but they all got bad reviews and it gets cold in the winters here in CT.

Thanks.

 

Check that the radiator is full to the top. With the engine cold, take off the radiator cap-- do not just check the white plastic tank. (The white plastic tank should be filled to the top of course, but needs to be somewhere above the "MIN" line.) Check that the heater hoses under the hood (black rubber hoses about 1 inch in diameter going from the back of the engine to fittings on the firewall) are hooked up and the water valve on the firewall is open. The hoses should be hot to the touch with the engine warmed up. Check that the engine warms up properly (gauge on the dash goes up about halfway after driving for a while). Any of these will make the heater stop working. Your mechanic should have checked these things of course. It is common on used cars to disconnect the heater core because it leaks.

Honda Automotive Parts

These parts are located under the dash near the center of the car. You can see part of it with the car assembled, to replace the whole box requires removing the dashboard (which is not too complicated to DIY, but time consuming, which is why it's expensive to have a garage do it). The lever on the bottom of the box (unnumbered part in the drawing located above the two part #9) should move when you move the dash **** from cold to hot. This lever drives the door inside the box, and also pulls on the cable (part 7) through the firewall to start the flow of hot coolant from the engine. Another cable (not shown) transfers the motion of the dash dial to the lever on the box.

 

I checked everything in the first paragraph and all seems to be working (I couldn't find any water valve but I assume that must be open if the engine warms properly).

I called the mechanic and he said the blend door arm is broken so needs a new heater case. Is this the right product:

96 98 Honda Civic Complete Heater Core Unit with Casing | eBay

 

Yes that looks right.