heater core in a 1997 ford taurus?

Can anyone tell us why there seems to be a bypass hose to the heater core on my ford taurus. We can tell this is from the manufacturer that way however the hose to the heater core does not get hot but the bypass hose does. Does anyone have a idea of what the problem might be. When we compared the hoses to another ford taurus everything seems to be set up right.
thanks
liz

Elizabeth
November 2007

well i will tell you this i have had trouble with my heater core 2 times in 2 years the first time i took it to a auto repair shop 400 dollars and two days later i was driving my car with a 1 year waranty on the core and on jan. 15 it went out agian so i called the place that fixed it and it is still under the waranty they said bring it in and we'll fix it. i said give it to me and i will fix it myself. they said it will take you 6 hours to do it. with three people and one hour later the old one was out and the new one was in. if your not afarid to tear in to your dash you can do it yourself.

mrs.young
February 2007

probably won't want to try that one yourself. To replace the heater core you must take the whole dashboard out of the car including the steering column. on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most difficult this project rates at 11. It takes 6-8 hours for a skilled tech to replace it.

2000 taurus man(what a problem child)
January 2007