Spider Heater woes

[<la_migra@domain.elided>]

> Can anyone tell me what I can do about my heater?  Sometimes it will blow 
> warm air for a little bit, but then starts blowing cold air.  On at least 
> one 
> occasion it has switched back to blowing warm air for a little bit.  Very 
> currious!  Im thinking that there must be either a bubble in the cooling 
> system, or maybe there is a valve somewhere that is shutting off the supply
> 
> of hot water to the heater...  Well thanks in advance for any help.

I had the exact same problem several years ago with my '85 Veloce.  Believe it
or not it turned out the be the water pump belt.  I know what you're thinking:
 Huh?  

I tried everything to track the problem down.  Bled the system to an inch of
it's life, checked for leaks, blockages etc.  In the end, I changed water pump
belt and the problem went away instantly.  My theory is that the belt was
slipping just enough to have sufficient flow to the radiator for engine
cooling, but not enough for the heater.  In fact, the engine did run a tad
cooler after with the new belt.  It sounds crazy, but it worked on my car.

Good luck.

-Lalo
'88 Verde
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