1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse Heater/AC Prob: Any Guesses

[Todah Tear]

On my 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, my heater and AC won't work after I changed out a battery that went dead (The car had been sitting for some time.) It blows the associated fuses too. Additionally, the coolant kept hick-uping out of the coolant tank (or at least it seems so. I wipe the area clear of coolant; take the car for a spin, and coolant reappears afterwards.)

Some say that it might be the selector switch has a short, others my thermostat, and still some say my heater core is bad. I hope that it is not the latter because I hear that is a bear to get to because the dash has to be removed. Any guesses???

Todah

[rbeemer]

Todah,

What you could do is take it to any repair shop and have them pressure test your engine cooling system, this will show where the leak is. I do not think it is your heater core- there wouold mostlikely be coolant inside the vehicle. To blow the fuses makes it seem more electrical, I am assuming that your heater/ac fan still works. Though the fuses may be blowing because coolant leak. I had a water pump that had a leak and my truck never overheated or got close to running hot. I would find coolant on the inside of the fan shroud and on the outside of the water pump but no active dripping.

Hope this helps,

[Todah Tear]

Thanks Rbeemer, the fan doesn't work either. Your response has given something to think about.

Todah

[WarPony]

Todah, you might have two separate issues going on:

1) The fan motor might be to blame for the blown fuses. If there's a short in the fan motor or it is dragging, the fuse will pop.

2) If coolant is coming out of the cap after driving it, either the cap has crapped out OR worse yet, the head gasket is going out or the head is cracked. That puts the engine compression into the coolant system. A typical coolant system runs around 15-17 PSI and an engine will build 150-200 PSI or more...........

Have you ever overheated the engine?

Jeff

[Jiminsav]

i know it's been a week, but what fan isn't working?..if it's the coolant fan, well, you might have issues.
if all of this happened when you changed battery, maybe the guy putting it in shorted out the positive side of the battery on some electronic box or something..stranger things have happened.