cold heat / sloshing water / idle dropping when cold outside
 

I noticed a strange problem this weekend and I'm needing some help on where to start. we drove it to some friends with the top down, sun was out and it was around 70*. went to leave several hours later and the wife was screaming for a snuggy so we put the top back up, tempurature was maybe low 50's* / high 40's*.

1) the heater wasn't really warm after a couple of minutes, like it was set in the middle instead of full heat... we were probably in the car 15~20 minutes and the heater never got hot. I was wearing flip-flops and we drove home with the heat almost full blast on the floor and it never got uncomfortable like I think it should. am I expecting too much? I've used the a/c a couple of times and it usually takes 15 minutes or so, but it will get too cold eventually. is the heater the same way?

2) I washed the car on Weds and it's been sitting in the garage ever since, Saturday was the first day it had been driven in a week. drove it pretty much all day Saturday and never heard a peep. on the way home that night in the colder temps I noticed the sound of water sloshing, sounded like it was coming from the driver side firewall area. what the truck is up with that? I know if it had water in the rails I would have heard the noise before that night.

3) I have noticed the idle drooping before, but never really payed that much attention until Saturday. on the way home that night I noticed any time I would clutch in the idle would drooped pretty hard, like 500rpm or so. it did not do this all day, just on the way home in the colder air.

are these things all related or do I have a bunch of little problems, why would they only surface in colder temps? is my car geriatric? does it need a shaw? does it need to move to AZ or FL?

another thing of interest... my temp gauge doesn't seem to like the heater either. it didn't work the whole way home Saturday night, I started tinkering with the heater on the way to church yesterday morning and it went dead like you just killed the engine. worked fine all day Saturday and all day yesterday, except on the way there. :loser:

stuck open t-stat and/or low coolant level.

thanks for the tip Paul, I'll check it as soon as I get home. I'll probably just replace it anway since they are cheap and I would say it's the original.