Internet Mechanic

OK, so for the past 2 days I have been attempting to help someone diagnose a problem on their vehicle via the internet, Evony to be exact.  Now he has sent me pictures of the areas under the hood I had asked for, told me what it is doing, what it is not doing, etc.  The problem is that he says he is not getting heat inside the car.  The engine is fine and warms up but no heat to the heater core.  The hoses are hot by the water pump and thermostat, but are cold at the core.  Now, he it automatically thinking the core is blocked, hence no coolant flow through the core.  So, I ask, is the inline heater valve working, no valve he tells me.  Hmm, no valve.  Could you take some pictures of the heater hoses and send them to me?  Sure!  So I get the pictures and no valve.  OK.  Try taking off the hose from the water pump and hook it up to your hose and try and run water through the core, but at the same time have the hose off the thermostat so the water doesn't go into the cooling system.  But before he does this I ask is the radiator full?  He looks and he says yes, but is kinda like jelly.  I said you don't have the right mixture then, and it is freezing.  He says when he bought the antifreeze the guy said it was premixed.  I said, check the bottle.  It is straight antifreeze.   I tell him to fill with at least 1 gallon of water if he can get it into the radiator.  He says it is too full to do this.  OK, take off the hose from the water pump, and let it drain into a container.  OK, this he does and puts the hose back on and he can now get a little over a gallon into the radiator.  Now run the car for about 15 minutes and see if you have heat.  Yes, heat is working!!!  All in all a good feeling for helping someone with a problem.  Now I have always been interested in cars.  My father worked on his own cars and was a mechanic at some point.  So I caught the car bug early, about 6 years old.  I would be under the cars with my Dad, helping (probably getting in his way but he never said anything) when ever I could.  Now my Mom wasn't thrilled about me getting all dirty, but I loved it.  I know how to do my own work, but somethings are beyond what I can do, either because of tools, cannot get under the car, or just don't know how to do it.  Although on the older cars there isn't much I cannot do.  It is the newer cars with all the computerized stuff I have the problems with, as you need computers to read the computer.  Oh well, a rather nice feeling to help someone solve a problem, even though I wasn't there to get dirty.  DARN!

Luv Ya,

Nikki