[Chuck_IV]

the car heats up and is shut off and restarted.

So my wife hit a deer in the passengers front, a month or so ago. We got the car back early last week and since then, when the car is cold, say first start in the morning, the heat will never come on and it will just blow cold air, even after 20 minute of driving. However, if you shut off the car and restart it, the heat immediately starts working(fully heated air) and everything is fine. On subsequent starts of the car, the heat remains fine.

We took it back to the place that repaired the car and they bled the cooling system(which I have read can be a culprit) and topped it off but the issue persists. Just this morning I started the car and let it run for 10+ minutes and was ice cold air. Went back 5 minutes later, restarted it and immediately got very hot air.

This doesn't seem like a thermostat to me. It seems like the value to push the heat to the cabin is getting stuck. From what I have read, air bubbles in the cooling system can cause this, but they have already bled the cooling system.

I'm wondering what else can be the issue or maybe they didn't bleed it completely or perhaps there is some type of air leak letting air back into the system.

Anyone have some avenues to check?

Thanks.