[oohsam]

Hey guys
Last week, I disconnected my heater pipes, and flushed my heater core, as I had no heat in my car. I also replaced the thermostat and drained all the water out of the engine and filled up the radiator with coolant..

The heater started working and was pretty happy for a while. Then it started to not work again the other day.

It's been about a week and today when I was cleaning out the car, I noticed some coolant on my mats. Checked under the mat, and the entire drivers side was wet. Radiator reservoir was bone dry too.
Took the heater core hoses off again, thought maybe they werent tight and coolant was flowing down the pipe.
Anyway, redid them tight, made sure they were sealed properly, and filled up the car with coolant again. Warmed up the car and had the heater on hot.

Checked the copper pipes under the dash, and there was a slow drip.

It looks like the pipe may have a leak in it, on the cabin side. Is this common? Is the solution to just turn the heater off so water stop flowing through or do I have to cap the hose in the engine bay.

Looks like the fix may be a total heater core replacement...not happy!

[royce]

can you see where the leak is on the pipe? if so drain, clean and solder it up

otherwise you cant turn the coolant flow off and to my mind you cant block the pipes, you can loop them from the 2 connection points on the engine though

[oohsam]

Nah I cant see it, I think its between the cabin and the engine bay...
ah yep, that makes sense about the looping of the pipes.

Fark! Im so pissed.

[royce]

you can pull some stuff out of the way to get a better view, beats the crap out of pulling the dash out to find you dont need to

[oohsam]

I found the crack, its on the Bend, facing the firewall. Cant see the bloody crack for the life of me. I tried blind soldering about 10 times. No freaking good.

I ended up cutting some rubber tube and using 4 hose clamps over it. Stopped the leaking for now, to buy me some time.
Have to replace the core. Stupid thing.

Unless I get a mini camera, mount it behind and solder backwards....do-able, but....

[Jerryx4]

Sorry to drag an old thread but did u end up replacing the core..
I've been smelling coolent for a week or so now and just found a drip coming down the plastic heater edge on the drivers side.
I don't want to d/cnt the heater but nor do I want to do a core.
suggestions?

[oohsam]

Nah i didnt,
I cbf'd and thought i'd be a man and bypass the heater core.
Get urself to autobarn and buy a hose joiner, and by pass the heater core.
Problem solved, but you'll be cursing in winter just as I was.

always drove with gloves and a jaket haha.

[shep]

Lowrange have replacement heater cores, from memory they are around $150

[oohsam]

The price of the core isnt an issue, its the 10 hours pulling off the dash and putting it all back again thats a prick. !!
I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a syringe.

[Jerryx4]

Ah fuck me days