Heater not hot

We were coming back from Colorado in our Mazda 5 when the AC stopped working. Made it home and did a little research. Changed filters and guess what? Air was back like new.

 

It's not as bad as I thought it might be for potentially being 13 years old, but it's still definitely not in good shape. Air compressor will help to some extent, but I'd just replace it. They're cheap.

 

well it worked. pretty obvious when i turned the truck on how much more air blew out. actually got hot on my drive to work and had to turn the heater down like i used to. thanks TW.

 

@mynewtoy you were right, I fell flat on my face thinking it wouldn't make that much of a difference!

 

off topic but this just made me accidentally laugh out loud in class right now.....like PULL THE FILTER ALREADY! haha

 

Go and buy a new filter while you're at it. They're cheap, any auto parts store will have one, and it'll be 100% clean.

 

they're cheap enough that it is dumb not to replace yearly in my opinion

 

going to next time im at the autopart store temp fix

 

Mine will suck in wet leaves and pine needles and doesn't smell great after a while. That alone is a good reason to just swap it. Sure, an air compressor will get air to flow again, but that paper filter is going to hold any smells it's picked up.

 

mine also.

 

Dude, do you ever change your air filter? That thing looks like it’s never been changed

 

nope. no idea it was back there. now it will be part of the regular maintenance.

 

i should probably check mine

 

so what other weird small stuff should i check

 

I change mine every year

 

im gonna start doing this every fall

 

mine has done the same thing only it was the a/c not cooling like it should.

 

that filter was originally white. I bought the washable filter so I don't have to replace it

 

Are the heater hoses going into the firewall getting hot? If they are not you have an air bubble in the cooling system you need to deal with. Make sure the radiator is full of coolant and rev it at idle to about 3k rpm. The bubble will work out and the heater will blow hot again.

 

it blows hot it was the filter. much more enjoyable drive to work today. thanks though