No Heat, Have Searched & Tested, Pics Included!

[Electrodynamic]

To preface my post, I have taken the vacuum lines off the solenoid, moved the plunger myself, and also checked the coolant level. Taking the vacuum lines off only allowed me to move the plunger. Moving the plunger didn't do anything (still no heat). And the coolant is in check.

So I started looking around and there are two "spare" hoses back there. Big ones. Like, coolant hoses. I'll let the pics explain:

Apparently someone installed a bypass which goes from here:

To here:

The only reason this would have been installed that my dad and I can think of is because the heater core was leaking. Is it common for the heater cores to leak inside the cabin? I'm tempted to hook it up like it was originally and see if I get heat back.

Any thoughts?

Oh, the bypass hose is orange, but it shows up white in the pics. You can see the orange in the second pic but it looks white in the first pic.

PS: I posted this in the performance section but received zero replies. I'd like heat ASAP and I think that no antifreeze going through what appears to be the heater core is the problem. I think that is the heater core but I'm not sure. I've only owned the car for 3 days and I don't have the shop manual.

[Electrodynamic]

Here are pics of the car after I bought it and cleaned it up a little bit:

[Electrodynamic]

No one knows here either, eh?

[djspawn00]

give it a day or two someone may chime in... but like you said I would check out that heater core....

[Electrodynamic]

Patience is a virtue I obviously didn't have last night. B)

Are the heater cores known for going bad in these cars? What I've seen so far are the solenoid's going bad is the major problem.

[Electrodynamic]

I'm going to the auto parts store to pick up some hose to replace the orange by-pass hose that's in place now. I tried removing the orange bypass hose last night but the hose is too small and won't come off so I'm going to have to cut it off. If all goes wrong (the heater core leaks antifreeze inside the cabin) I'll have to install a new bypass hose. I'll let you all know how it went.

[Electrodynamic]

For those of you who looked at this (and might look at this later), I took out the orange bypass hose and hooked up the factory lines and I have heat! I was worried the heater core would leak but I don't think it is. So far it doesn't smell like antifreeze and I don't see any leaks on the inside of the car.

[SirSam]

Let me know how this turns out for you, I have an issue where the heat will only kick in when I am driving over 15mph it is very odd. I just replaced my thermostat 3 weeks ago & all was working well until a couple days ago, the gauge starts rising & then goes down when I start moving. If I turn the heat on it'll kick the needle back down to normal but only when I start driving over 15mph. I'm trying to remedy it.

[Electrodynamic]

It's worked out great! I have heat now. I have no idea why the previous owner would have installed a bypass hose.

Yours sounds like either a water pump or coolant issue. Or a fan problem (temp goes down when you start moving putting air across the radiator).