portable heaters for cars??
 

Here's the situation: A few months back I bought an '88 Taurus as a temp. replacement for my g/f car that burned up.
The day after we bought the car(POS!!) the heater core went out.
Our plan is only to keep the car until income tax time so we can afford a better car for her. As you know, winter is approaching and I don't want to spend a couple hundred dollars in having the heater core replaced.
Do they make a portable heater unit that would plug into the cigarette lighter?
What can we do to keep frost off the windshield without replacing the heater core....if anything?
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL WE GET RID OF THAT POS!!

LOL it's funny you say this... when I first got the stang the heater core was out. I bought a portable heater from k-mart for like 25 bucks. It sucked. You would have to hunch up in front of it for a smidgen of heat, and it made the wires and plug sooo hot I was always afraid it would burst into flames!! Good luck! Be careful! This was years ago, maybe they've made improvements!

You could try to do the VW thing. They insulate the headers and then have an opening into the car. Very effective. I'm not sure how you would accomplish this with the Tarus though.

I have a spare heater box under my Old Bronco seat.

I ran the hoses through the firewall into a wood box that houses a heater core. I used a old Mustang blower motor to....uh...blow.

But I had all the parts to do it with, didn't cost anything.

If I could only hook up my George Forman Grill some way. I could cook, drive and stay warm.

Id say just shell out the money and do it right. Im sure it will save lots of hassle in the long run.

JCwhitney has the best I've seen so far, I was, and still am going to get one for my rear window on the hatchback, it always fogs up.

Here's a few of them online: JCwhitney.com

http://www.jcwhitney.com/images/imagecache/I1840.gif

That's the one I had.. stay away!!!!!!!!!! But hey like I said.. maybe it's better now!

I went through the same thing when I was in my teens. I bought three of them and hooked them up to a heavy duty togle switch. When I turned them on my amp gauge was pegged and they still didn't work. I would just do it the right way.
That shure brings back old times:p

I have the same problem but my heater works. I use a portable car fan (with the bendable stand and dash clip),I place it on the rear panal next to he window then plug it in the cig lighter. Works great in the winters of So.Cal.

Hey, as long as it can defrost the windshield, it's good enough for now.

Ya, that 60 deg weather can take a toll on u.

I was thinking of getting one of those same heaters for my rear window, do u think it will work? For the '79 Hatchback?

I don't know because I'm thinking that you would have to set that heater on something to get it up to the same level as the rear hatch window unless you could stand it facing upwards.
I'm sure there has to be a way if you're determined enough (LOL)

I was thinking of mounting it on the ceiling, poiting down to the window, since I do not have a ceiling cover yet, I could put the heater in the cardboard(wood? don't know) that is there, then put on a the new cover.

He did not say that the cold was the problem! The concern was de-frosting the window.
The statement about "the winters of So. Cal " was ment to be funny. geeez :rolleyes:

$$$
 

How much does a new heater core cost? I would think the aftermarket thing would cost more anyway.

Rev

Re: $$$
 

It's not the cost of the heater core itself. It's the "pain in the ***** factor" that sucks about it. The book time is like 8 hrs and that's a quality shop doing it. I'm not going to spend $400-500 on a $600 slider that we plan on getting rid of in the spring or spend 2 weeks trying to do it myself :(

I know, I was being sarcastic:D

Im sorry, no harm no foul k lol:D

I'm from Oregon, and we used to get south cali channels on our satellite. I was saying that because the news casters in the middle of winter said stuff like, "It's going to be a chilly 55 deg out there today," We always used to luagh at that because it was about 30 were I was.