So heres my problem. I just picked up a 2001 2500 last week. I don’t know a whole lot about this truck however it is not my first diesel. Use to have a 2004 powerbroke. I have no heat in the truck at all. The motor eventually warms up to the middle marker, takes about 35-45 mins. Even then once it has warmed up I have no heat coming from my vents. If I turn the heat on I get heat for about 3 seconds, then cold air. I live in Alberta and it’s -25c right now where I am so it makes for a long cold drive to work every morning and I would like to get this issue fixed, any ideas?

The first things I would check is coolant level, make sure theres no air in coolant system. Check the heater hoses going into cab make sure they are both getting hot, that could rule out the possibility of blocked heater core or valve not allowing heat to enter heater core. I have heard it is common for the heater door regulator can strip on the shaft and not open and close properly.

checked the two hoeses going to the heater core today at lunch (let the truck warm up for 20 min) heat got to about a 1/4 of operating temp and the one hose was hot the other was what i could call above luke warm but not really as hot as the other. i'm thinking that i have two problems t-sat and heater core

This is odd. IMO, seems to be slow to warm up. Thermostat? Though in the temps you must have, the engine might not heat up at all if the thermostat was totally broke. I'm wondering if the heater core is clogged.

I hope you not letting it idle to warm up? (Not good for it) I suggest you fire up the truck and just get driving easy till it warms up. It should be 190*F in about 5-10 miles typically. So my suggestion to you is flush out the system if it hasn't in the last 30K miles or if its unknown. Color of the coolant is meaningless. You going to have to flush out the heater core separately to see if you can get it to flow more. Double check your blend door motor to see if its moving correctly.

i'm gonna change the t-stat tonight and double check the blend door. Probably actually try and flush the heater core as well, better safe then sorry. The fun part is doing it in the -22c with wind chill it will feel more like -34c or -29f. I need a bigger garage. My 04 ford use to warm up in this weather in about 5 miles of driving but like was saying the dodge will not warm up for at least 15 miles. even then is does not blow warm air. Truck never really ideals for more then 10 min, even then i'll run the hi ideal if it's much passed 5 min

Yes back flushing may help.If you do have to replace it.Replace the ac too.They go bad and leak.You dont want to pull the dash twice.I have lame heat myself.I have to pull my dash out in spring and fix both problems.As a long shot i replaced thermostat and waterpump same lame heat,oh yea i also played with the blender door and the recircle door.No deal, still lame heat.

That strange... In 5-10 miles with my winter front I'm at 190*F. Using a cheap NAPA thermostat. Then my heater blows 140-160*F air in the cab. I actually seen the inside cab temp above 100*F before when I was sick. But it felt so good.

But my hunch is that the heater core is plugged up... That's because of the coolant going south. It becomes acidic or basic over time and starts eating the metals of the cooling system which produces those big white blooms in the radiator. Trust me it's not the water....

I'm using creek water now for over 9 years of my truck and absolutely ZERO issues... This is where my water comes from at this little dam.

And my cooling system is good at 100K miles...

Then at 170K miles

Not bad... So this proves it all about keeping fresh coolant in the engine more so than worrying about the water...

changed tstat last night, old one was bad the truck warms up faster now, however still no heat. On the bright side i can offically change a tstat in less the 3 min in this truck

Good chance the blend door is your issue, this site has some info and a low cost repair part. http://www.heatertreater.net/Dodge%20Ram%2095-02.htm

thats the plan to tackle tonight

I have had my blend door control out. It is in the passengers footwell next to the transmission hump. Dodge recommends removing the dash. To get it out with the dash in, it is close but you must pull back the rug & rip up a bit of rubber padding. Inspect the plastic coupling for cracks. Heater treater.NET sells a SS metal coupling. If the coupling is broke, the door will have run "out of range" so the control needs to be reorientated. It's not a big deal to open the gear case. Do NOT let the motor drop out of the case. There are no orientation marks on the case & the motor will fit in the case backward. (If reinstalled with the motor backward, you'll have to take it out again... like I did.) To reorientate the gear train, remove the top gear, wipe off the grease on the bottom gear. Turn the bottom gear & find a round casting mark in the bottom gear, orientate it at the edge of the second gear... reassemble. When you run the truck, the heater control will relearn it's limits.PM me if you have questions.

thanks for the helps guys, i'm going to look at the blend door tonight and will keep you posted

i too have experienced warm up problems. replacing my tstat did help. replacing my radiator cap made a world of differance in warm up time. it oant help your heater but your engine will love it. Mine was the one that came with the truck in 01, just never gave it any thought.