Why does my van blow hot air for 5 minutes, then Cold Air? (Possible radiator Issue)?


I was in a small little fender bender when I bumped the JEEP's tire well in front of me at a stop sign. (No, I was not on my phone!) Just a simple accident. No damage to the JEEP in front of me, but my hood got dinged a bit. I drove it for an hour and it seemed fine. However, the day after it blew hot air for 7 minutes and then started blowing cold air. (I only drove it for 15 minutes) but retested it and same thing happened.

I noticed there is a slow radiator fluid leak dripping after I turned my car off.
I also noticed the FAN BLOWING after I shut my van down for a few minutes.
No Check Engine light yet.

Any idea what is wrong or could be wrong with the car?
Any suggestions as to things I could check before I take it in to get it fixed. I am broke. =-)

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4 thoughts on “Why does my van blow hot air for 5 minutes, then Cold Air? (Possible radiator Issue)?

  1. You said yourself that you see a leak from the radiator…which is causing low coolant, causing your heater to blow cold (heater core uses coolant to produce the heat). Replace your radiator, put new coolant in…make sure to purge any air from the system afterwards.

  2. in that fender bender you probably jostled a connection enough to start that coolant leak you noticed. You are probably running low on coolant and there is not enough in the system causing air pockets. It will blow hot air until an air pocket makes its way to the heater core in your dash. You need to fix the leak immediately unless you want to keep adding coolant all the time. i bet your temperature gauge shows the engine's running a little warm depending on how much coolant you've lost. hope this helps

  3. If you say your leaking coolant you'll want to have it checked out and repaired. In the mean time i'd be making sure your coolant is topped up. It could be that your coolant level is low and not flowing through your heater core so make sure its topped up. It could also be that you have air in your system so try and get what air you can out and take it in to get fixed

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