After running for 20 minutes or more , the heater continues to blow cold air , the temp gauge climbs until the fan comes on. the heater then begins to blow hot air, after a few seconds, it goes back to blowing cold..the temp gauge continuously goes up, then drops...and the air changes from hot to cold. is this a heater core or a thermostat

Low coolant, if there is an air pocket in the engine it will make it to the heater core. Once there , the air coming out is cold/cool. Once the coolant fills the heater core, it gets hot. If the coolant is fine hot or cold, then have the HVAC system scanned.

Souds like it's way low on coolant. The heater will blow cold air when the cooling system is so low that there is no water (coolant) running through the heater core. Then the thermostat opens, it trys to be normal but the system is low so it gets too hot in just a few minutes. If its that low, there must be a leak somwhere.

Sounds like the water pump is cavitating . Replace water pump. Check coolant level also. Open the bleeder valve usually located on thermostat housing to remove air from system. close valve when coolant is present while filling. close radiator cap and top off recovery bottle to correct level. These engines are prone to overheating, do not let temp gauge get in the red.

Have your thermostat checked, sound like it is not working when cold.

Any chance of a head gasket leak? Is the coolant level still full? These were known for head gasket issues. Coolant is a closed system and level will not drop unless there is a leak. Make sure there is no air in the system. Replace the radiator cap to make sure that it is operating properly.

CHECK COOLANT FAN FUSES AND RELAYS. CHECK COOLANT LEVEL.MAKE SURE ITS NOT TOO LOW BECAUSE IF COOLANT TOO LOW . BY NO COOLANT AROUND OR COOLANT SENSOR NOT SUBMERGED IN COOLANT COOLING FANS WONT TURN ON.MAKE SURE YOU HAVE 50/50 ANTIFREEZE AND WATER. CHECK FOR CLAPSE RADIATOR HOSES.CHECK RADIATOR HOSE AT WATER PUMP.IF HOSE LOOK CLAPSE REPLACE IT AND BLEED COOLANT SYSTEM.IF EVERY THING HAS BEEN DONE YOU NEED ENGINE BLOCK FLUSHED OUT.HEATER CORE ALSO COULD BE STOPPED UP.A VERY HIGH MILEAGE ENGINE WILL OVER HEAT.OLD ENGINE LOSES COMPRESSION AND HORSE POWER.PUTTING MORE LOAD ON THE OLD ENGINE WILL MAKE IT OVER HEAT.IF COOLANT LEVEL IS LOW.BLEED COOLANT SYSTEM.START THE ENGINE LET IT IDLE FEW MINUTES WATCH THE COOLANT TEMPERATURE GAUGE.WHEN TEMPERATURE START RISING.TURN OFF THE ENGINE LET IT SET FOR 20 MINUTES.TAKE A LARGE RAG PLACE OVER RADIATOR CAP ON COOLANT EXPANSION TANK SLOWLY OPEN RADIATOR CAP JUST A LITTLE TO RELEASE A LITTLE PRESSURE AT A TIME.DONT OPEN CAP RAPIDLY OR YOU WILL GET SCALDED.ONCE THE RADIATOR CAP REMOVED.IF COOLANT LOW ADD MORE COOLANT IN THE THE COOLANT EXPANSION UNTIL YOU GET TO THE COLD MARK.REPEAT THIS PROCEDURE START ENGINE LET IT RUN UNTIL TEMP GAUGE START CLIMBING A BIT DONT LET CAR RUN TO OVER HEAT JUST IDLE UNTIL TEMP JUST START TO RISE.THEN YOU TURN OFF ENGINE. WAIT 20 MINUTES.THEN USE LARGE RAG OPEN RADIATOR CAP LITTLE AT A TIME. DO THIS PROCEDURE UNTIL THE COOLANT IN THE EXPANSION TANK STOP DROPPING. THEN ALL THE AIR IS BLEED OUT THE COOLANT.WHEN COOLANT LEVEL STOP DROPPING, WHEN YOU DRIVE CAR AROUND.AND TURN OFF ENGINE.WHEN ENGINE OFF CAR SET FOR A WHILE KEEP CHECK ON THE COOLANT LEVEL IN COOLANT EXPANSION TANK. THE COOLANT LEVEL SHOULD BE AT THE COLD MARK IN THE EXPANSION TANK.MAKE SURE COOLANT IS IN THE EXPANSION TANK.IF NOT AIR WILL DRAW IN COOLANT SYSTEM. CAUSING ENGINE TO OVER HEAT.IF BLEEDING AIR OUT THE COOLANT SYSTEM DONT HELP AND COOLANT FANS DONT TURN ON YOU HAVE PCM PROBLEMS.

your heater core or the hoses going to it are bad. get them replaced and i gaurantee this will solve your problem. if the antifreeze is coming from the very front of the car than you have a bad radiator or hoses in the front of the car.

Sounds like you may be able to fix it by flushing your antifreeze and back flushing the heater core. Some car owners cheep out and put stop leak into the antifreeze, others dont change there antifreeze at all. Both are mistakes.

I think you could be right about there being air trapped in the system.
Or the heater core(radiator) is plugged.
Either way you need a pressurized radiator coolant pump to put the coolant in without air being trapped.
Although,i have seen it done by jacking the vehicle up high enough that the radiator was now higher than the heater core level, and then the coolant was put in.
But this is dangerous to try.

First when vehicle is cold like in the morning check and make sure that the vehicle has enough coolant/ antifreeze in radiator and reservoir. If coolant is need use a 50/50 mixture of water and antifreeze. You will need some time to do this let car run at idle until the temp guage is in the middle NOT+ normal operating temperature. At this point if the thermostat should be in the open position. Let vehicle run and check to make sure that radiator fan comes on. This should come on when guage is about midway/half way. If temperature rises above half going to h/hot and fan doesn't come on, you either have a BAD FAN BAD FAN SWITCH BAD FAN RELAY OR BLOWN FAN SWITCH FUSE. You will need to check all of the following I will help if its needed. If fan comes on and doesn't go off and vehicle continues to get hot even with fan running. Feel radiator hoses and see if the lower radiator hose is cool/cold. If it is you have thermostat that stuck closed. Replace thermostat and fix problem. If all the above is good and vehicle continues to over heat. THE BAD NEW IS THAT YOU MAY HAVE A BLOWN HEAD GASKET /CRACKED HEAD /BROKEN WATER JACKET. Basically you will need a HEAD JOB at least a head gasket. ONe tell tail sign of this is oil looking like milkshake/chocolate milk-a creamish while residue in oil or antifreeze. Contact if you need hel0p. Good Luck and thanks for using FIX YA