blower blowing, no heat...

[janaka]

Well I bought my Z ('76 280z, F54 block, 5spd, factory a/c removed)from Florida this past winter (dec 30th) and I didn't think to ask about the heater. On my wonderful drive to Ontario, Canada (the people north of you, eh) I thought, hey I should turn the heat on as it was cold. well air was coming out, but i can certainly tell you it wasn't warm...

so all in all it doesn't bother ME per se, but my wife on chilly evening drives home kind of curses at me that I have fixed it yet so she can be warmer.

1)where would one start to dianose the issue of no heat into the cabin? I'm not sure if it was intentional as the owner was a Floridian and didn't need it, or whether its just in-opperative.

2) On my heater controls I can move my lever to any vent position but it only ever works on the footwells. When its at the defroster it still blows at my feet? is this common and is there a fix?

As always I appreciate any help in fixing this.

[Jeff G 78]

Sounds like a vacuum hose problem. Every Z I've owned has had cracked vacuum lines. I usually replace them all right away. Interestingly though, if you have floor only, you SHOULD have heat. Normally, when there is no heat, the problem is that all the air is flowing through the center top vents. You might have two issues. One with the vacuum system and another with the heater control valve, thermostat, or heater core. You might also do a simple check to see if the heater hoses are even hooked up to the heater control valve at the firewall.

Start with the vacuum hoses. They need replacing. Once they are fixed and the air flows from the selected location, check the water circuit. When replacing the vacuum hoses, don't forget to check the rubber elbows on the vacuum bottle for cracks.

[JimmyZ]

Make sure the heater hoses are actually running from the engine to the firewall. Some people bypass them if one busts on the road then forget to fix later.

I think there is a dashpot which controls the heat on the 280's. (I have a 240) Either the dashpot is bad or the vacuum line to it is bad/leaking.

Do a search for heat. One of the posts contained a picture of the dashpot out of an FSM. You may be able to manually prop the heater valve in the open position.