Question for those who have the rear heat option...

[2003LimitedAWD]

My rear heater core is hopelessly plugged up and I'm not sure if it's worth disassembling the console to try and fix it. I live in an area (upper middle TN) where we get all 4 seasons, but not too drastically cold in the winter. I'd say it rarely gets into the single digits.

My question is: Is this rear heat such a great option that you simply cannot live without it, or would you say that it's not really needed unless one lives in very cold climates? I'm trying to determine whether to go through the effort to fix the system or simply leave it disconnected. Aside from the core blockage, it appears that the coolant lines leading to the core have a lot of surface rust. My instinct is to leave it out of the system because it only complicates things and leaves more possibilities of leaks. But, if it's the best thing since sliced bread, I'll go through the trouble to fix it. Thoughts, opinions?

[dclambertt]

I like the rear heater in my '01 Ltd, although I'm sure heat would travel back there from the front heater eventually.. just takes longer. I use mine for moving cool air into the rear as well.

[2003LimitedAWD]

Oct 30, 2018 16:02:44 GMT -5 dclambertt said:

I like the rear heater in my '01 Ltd, although I'm sure heat would travel back there from the front heater eventually.. just takes longer. I use mine for moving cool air into the rear as well.

Thanks for the reply. I've had a few SUVs in the past and never really had any issue with the rear passengers getting enough heat, but those vehicles had factory ducting which fed warm air to the rear seat area. I'm a bit surprised that Mitsubishi would even have an option such as this in the Sport and curious as to why they would go with the more extravagant rear heater core system instead of a simple under-seat or center console ducting.

I think I'll just bypass the rear heater core for now and try to fix it later once the engine is back together and everything else is done.

[r0llinlacs]

I like the rear heater. It helps heat the entire cabin. I notice a difference even in the front. But my front heater core isn't the best, the rear runs much hotter.

[2003LimitedAWD]

Nov 6, 2018 10:04:45 GMT -5 r0llinlacs said:

I like the rear heater. It helps heat the entire cabin. I notice a difference even in the front. But my front heater core isn't the best, the rear runs much hotter.

Thanks. For the time being, I simply bypassed it. In the moderate TN weather, it appears that the front heater core is more than sufficient and has me burning up pretty quickly.  I’ll pursue cleaning the rear core at some point.