How Long Should It Take a Heater to Warm Up in Cold Weather

When you turn on your car’s heater, it should start blowing warm air. If the engine is already at operating temperature, this should happen immediately. However, if your engine is cold, it will take longer and if the weather is cold, the process is even lengthier.

There’s no real answer to how long it should take a heater to warm up during cold weather. It really depends on several different factors. One of those is the type of vehicle you’re driving. Most older cars can require several minutes or so to come up to operating temperature and for the heater to start working. However, some newer cars require only a minute or two. Another factor is the temperature – if it’s very, very cold (think northern Minnesota in January), then it can take longer for even newer cars to build up enough heat to create warm air in the cabin. Other considerations include the following:

  • Thermostat Condition: The thermostat in your car restricts coolant flow depending on engine operating temperature. If it’s stuck open, your heater might never blow warm air because the engine’s operating temperature never reaches the right level.

  • Low Coolant: If your engine coolant level is low, your heater might blow mildly warm air, or it might blow only cool air. That’s because your car’s heater works on coolant – the coolant cycles through the engine, absorbs heat, and then transports that to the heater core in your dash, where it’s used to warm the air blown out of your vents.

If your heater takes a long time to warm up, or never warms up at all, it’s a sign that there’s something wrong, and you’ll need to your heater inspected and diagnosed by a professional mechanic.


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Recent Heater is not working Inspection reviews

Excellent Rating

(216)

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Attila

20 years of experience
1104 reviews
Attila
20 years of experience
Saab 9-3 L4-2.0L Turbo - Heater is not working - Elizabeth, New Jersey
Attilla was on-time and diagnosed the problem quickly. He has worked on my sAAB twice before on other issues and I would go with hime again if needed.
Audi A6 Quattro - Heater is not working - South Orange, New Jersey
Attila arrived early, explaining every step of the process and gave me additional guidance for my car.

Chris

7 years of experience
105 reviews
Chris
7 years of experience
Nissan Titan V8-5.6L - Heater is not working - Griffin, Georgia
Chris is a very friendly person. He knows his stuffs. He was able to diagnose the problem with my 2017 Nissan Titan and advice of his recommendations to fix the problem. Him and Jason worked on the problem and order the parts needed for them to replaced them.

Marco

30 years of experience
329 reviews
Marco
30 years of experience
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 V8-5.3L - Heater is not working - Corona, California
Excellent service very knowledgeable of vehicle. Diagnosed my truck promptly. And made repairs. I would definitely call again if needed for repairs on my vehicles.

Luis

16 years of experience
244 reviews
Luis
16 years of experience
Jeep Wrangler V6-3.8L - Heater is not working - North Las Vegas, Nevada
Luis did an awesome job, love the ohitos off all new parts and work that he did on the my vehicle. Wish we could have fixed the heater issue but it is a lot bigger of a job than a few hours so it is understandable. Again thank yall for the help, this is the first mobile mechanic I used and it went off without a hitch.

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