when i turn on the heater in my car the air blowing out really smells bad. it doesnt smell all the time just when i first turn it on then it goes away. and it seems that i am going through coolant like its the thing to do or something. any suggestions??
well , sounds like its your heater core, is the floor boards wet?
well you can bypass it , but the heater wont work anymore. or you can find an article on how to change you heater core , i know alot of people are dont wanna do this because it does take time , but if you have a whole saturday , it can be done in a few hours.
since nicer weather is coming im probably just going to bypass it for now. but how do i bypass it?? and i just wanted to add that my floor boards are not wet so could it possibly be something else?
since nicer weather is coming im probably just going to bypass it for now. but how do i bypass it?? and i just wanted to add that my floor boards are not wet so could it possibly be something else?
Sorry, I don't know how to bypass it, but it definately sounds like your heater core. I probably has a small leak, and a small amount of coolant collects in the air box around it. When you turn on the heat, you get a whiff of that coolant, and it goes away after it evaporates.
It'll only get worse over time, so you'll need to replace of bypass it. Unfortunately, your car is just a year or 2 too new. Before '89 or '90, the core was pretty easy to change. The later models are a huge PITA!
You can find a lot of online articles on how to do the replacement if you do a search. Many will give you great tips on how to avoid having to do the replacement again any time soon.
If you do it yourself, take your time. Plan to do it over several days, and if you can think of anything else you want to take care of at the same time (like replacing the carpet, or painting the dash, etc.), do it at the same time.
However, a friend of mine who does A LOT of work on his '93 coupe (and many of his other cars) says he would personally pay someone to do the replacement for him. Shop around. You'll get quotes anywhere from $400 to $700.
A Ford service department will charge around $700, and they'll hate every second of it since it is just about the only thing they do that takes longer than what the rate book says it'll take.
Read the online articles even if you have it done for you. You'll get an idea what is involved, and you can make sure whoever does it does it right.
To bypass the core, just get a coupler (try hardware store or parts store) and join the two hoses that go into the firewall on the passenger side together.
I hesitate to show you this nasty dirty pictures, but here goes. You can see the hoses joined together (look between black air intake pipe and a/c lines near pass side firewall - notice the brass tips of the heatercore poking out of the firewall) http://www.72mach1.com/Engine from Passenger Side.jpg
I changed the core out and it was somewhat of a job - took the better part of the afternoon and an extra set of hands. I did not find it *that* difficult, however.
Word of caution: Get the Ford core, not a cheap replacement. You want to do this job right the first time.
Heater cores do suck to replace, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. If you have some knowledge about the car and take your time, it will be no problem. I actually just recently replaced my heater core and took detailed step by step photos. Take a look, and see if it helps you out at all. Also note that if your car does not have factory AC, the heater core will take about 10 minutes to replace.
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everyone talks about how difficult it is but it doesnt seem to be that difficult from everything i read on it. just time consuming. i will guarantee that it wont take me nearly as long to replace it as it did when i changed my rear axles and gears in 20 degree weather on a gravel driveway. i couldnt wait for warmer weather i had to get them on