Early this Spring, Heater Core seemed to be leaking... antifreeze steam coming out of windshield defrost vents. Passenger side never flooded or anything. Got warm outside, didn't need heat at all, so when I turned dial to cool, I guess it shut off the core enough to stop leaks for summer season. Now its getting cooler and its steaming again, although I still have dial on cold. Im puzzled because the steam comes mostly out on the driver side, I thought the core was directly behind passenger side dash. Is it possible it is a hose rather than the actual core? I guess I am screwed either way as I have to remove dash to check it.
Still hasnt flooded passenger side but antifreeze steam sucks to breathe. Question is, do I have any other recourse other than replacing the core? Could it be ANYTHING else?....
heater core haters unite!
- Thread starter TNWhite96GT
- Start date
I had one go in my old 85 Capri. Actually twice. Once under warranty.
The second time I had to fix it myself. It was a royal pain. Had to remove
the dash. Antifreeze does not lend itself to easy cleaning off your inside
of the windshield either. The reason you may not see any leaks on your
floor is the heater core is in a box with the AC evaporator. If your car
does not have AC it may be easier to fix. If it does and Ford still builds
em the way they used to, it's a pain in the butt. You have to get your AC
unit discharged as you will most likely have to disconnect it to get the
unit out. It took me 8 hours to remove and replace that one. It was the
first time I had ever had to do one, so might have gone faster but had
to take my time. It was also late October and kind of cool having the
doors both open to work. Good luck with it. Maybe it's a hose, but I
kind of doubt it.
The second time I had to fix it myself. It was a royal pain. Had to remove
the dash. Antifreeze does not lend itself to easy cleaning off your inside
of the windshield either. The reason you may not see any leaks on your
floor is the heater core is in a box with the AC evaporator. If your car
does not have AC it may be easier to fix. If it does and Ford still builds
em the way they used to, it's a pain in the butt. You have to get your AC
unit discharged as you will most likely have to disconnect it to get the
unit out. It took me 8 hours to remove and replace that one. It was the
first time I had ever had to do one, so might have gone faster but had
to take my time. It was also late October and kind of cool having the
doors both open to work. Good luck with it. Maybe it's a hose, but I
kind of doubt it.
Nater
New Member
Regardless of the setting on your dash if it's hot or cold, coolant/antifreeze will still cruise through the core. I would think it's a matter of physics with the steam--the warmer the temperature, steam will not be as visible as if it was cold. Think of it like breathing outside in warm weather vs. cold weather. The only other recourse is to bypass the core by hooking the hoses together under the hood.
yeah I though about that, but I guess when it got super cold, or super hot next summer I would finally have to change it out... Oh well. I guess I will just go buy one and spend my friggin weekend changing the core while it is still half way warm outside. 40 bucks and 10 hours of BS.Some may just spend the 400-500 dollars for someone else to do it, but not me. I have changed everything else ( except engine swap) and im gonna do this one too I guess..They need to either make these cores bulletproof or put it under the hood..of course if my car didn't have 200+ thousand miles on it this probably wouldn't be an issue...
Changed the core, PITA!!!!!. Wasnt a big deal once everything was out. Dash is akward to handle. I didn't know how to disconnect AC compressor lines, turns out its a $10 peice of plastic from Autozone. Only problem now is the pesky Air Bag light, and the annoyoing as hell beeping coming from the module under the middle of the dash behind the middle console... The connectors are all connected so I don't know what the problem is. I guess I will do a search and see if anyone else has the same problem...
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