i say kind of an ergency becuz i gotta drive a few thousand miles cross country to go see my mom in the hospital just diagnosed with lukemia / cancer but need to get heat in my car fixed b4 i can go and i can't afford to take it to garage...

I am baffled as to what is wrong with heater ( if that's even the problem ) any ideas .... just bought the car 2 months agao and freezing

1. when you press any of the buttons on heater contol for up, down defrost etc nothing changes or happens always on defrost .... and cold air comes out vent for back seat no matter what you set it on......
2. you get heat for a little while and the it blows cold air ....

i can't keep stopping ever 10 miles to warm up ....

what i have tried so far .......

and seemingly the only way to get heat to come back is to shut car off ...wait a few mins ... ( why it works i don't know ) then start it up and you have heat again for a while and start all over again ....


i even took the whole dash console thingy where the controls are and cleaned the electical contacts thinking maybe they were dirty or one of the ruibber hoses got unhooked or cracked/broken but everything seems in good shape ..... don;t know ...

the last thing i tried was (without shutting car off) turn fan/controls off and wait a few minuetes and turn it back on and the heat seems to start flowing again ... ( for a while ) but i can't get o nthe road " hoping " it will work

anyone have any ideas what it may be or even how i can jurry rig it to stay on already ....

i don't think it's the thermostat or low water becuz i keep checking it and no air locks low water levels don;t see me to be losign any water ???