1999 Ford Taurus review from North America

I had the same "no heat" problem with my 99 Taurus as everyone else. Replaced the water pump and thermostat, as well as flushing the system.

A mechanic overheard me complaining about the problem while I was in the parts store. He spoke up and said you have a 98 or 99 Taurus don't you? He told me if no heat after replacing the obvious components, simply use a "quick-grip" style clamp to clamp off the heater core bypass hose. Once the car is at operating temperature, turn the heater on full power. Then carefully clamp off the by-pass hose forcing the hot pressurized water through the heater core. After about 30 minutes of idling, I went and checked the car. It was so hot inside it was hard for me to breathe. Once hot, remove the clamp and there you go.

I myself am not a mechanic, so I am not sure if there are any negatives to this trick, but I didn't have the time or money for a heater core or anything else for that matter. I did however have a clamp with nice smooth clamping surfaces that would not hurt the hose, so I gave it a try.

I would assume one would need to flush the system after doing this, because the gunk that was forced from the heater core had to have went somewhere. Personally I didn't. Wife is happy and car is warm. Mission accomplished!

Hope this helps and saves someone a lot of time and money.

Great traveling car. Good on gas and very comfortable to drive, especially on long distances. Motor seems to hold up very well.

I have 122000 miles, and after some typical maintenance, it runs and drives well enough that I would take it across the country if I had to.