07 Forester No heat?

[JDsomjabrony]

I have a 07 Forester with no heat. Noticed it had no heat popped the hood saw coolant squirting from the overflow hose at the rad cap end but the over flow was near empty. After it cooled I clamped the hose filled the overflow to full made sure the radiator was full and warmed it up bounced the tac up and down a handfull of times and got heat test drove it and checked the fluid levels after it cooled and the next morning didn't have to add any. Worked fine the next day but today no heat again. After playing with it I noticed the upper rad hose will get warm to hot but the lower hose is stone cold the thermostat in the cabin rises to normal and stays there have never seen it read high at any point and both the heater core hoses are cold. The oil looks good no milkshake and the coolant seem spretty clean. Airlock? Thermostat? Any help would be appreciated.

[1 Lucky Texan]

what is the history of the car?

 

our cars NEED an OEM-style t'stat so, that must be confirmed. A bad rad cap could also be an issue. Worst case - bad headgasket.

[Fairtax4me]

Coolant should flow through the heater core all the time, whether the thermostat is open or not.

 

I would suspect a blocked hose or clogged heater core.

Check coolant level again (when the engine is cold) then let the engine warm up in the driveway. After it warms up on its own hold idle at about 1500 rpm for a few minutes and see if you start getting heat.

The way these cars work, you should have some heat as soon as the needle starts to move up off of the cold mark.

Let it idle until the radiator fans cycle on and off then check all the hoses. If you don't have heat by that point you have a clog in the heater hoses or the heater core itself.

 

There should not be fluid spraying out of the overflow hose. That says there is pressure in the hose which may be due to a blockage in the hose. Remove it and make sure the ends are clear. Try to blow air through it, if you can't, see if you can run a coat hanger through it to clear it out.

[JDsomjabrony]

I think I got to the bottom of it. Looks like the tube to the overflow had junk in it causing pressure and the lack of a hose clamp let coolant leak causing the coolant to go low and I believe it then sucked up some air from the empty overflow. I could hear air in the upper and lower hoses but I couldn't seem to get the air out till draining the system and borrowing a vacuum kit to refill seems to have solved the problem. Thanks for the replies I probably jumped a bit quick to post.