Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Heater Core Leak

Daughters cAr has a heater core leak.

Best approach?

Will a radiator sealer work until she has the money for a new core?

Depends on the leak. If it's a pin hole in the tubes, sealant might hold it. If it's a hose connection, probably not.

I never had much luck with sealers.Most are about useless with any antifreeze.
I had no luck at all with repairing one.If like newer radiators, they would be plastic.

Have her turn the heater off, so no more fluid runs thru it.
Once the coolant runs thru it and it leaks thru the heater ducts and defroster ducts,it's hell getting it out of there.

Can't dad lend her the money for a new core?

Probably getting it out/in in will cost more in labor than the new core.

See if Rockauto.com has one. They usually have the best prices on auto/truck parts

On a lot of newer vehicles, there is no water shutoff. The water runs through the core all the time. It's inside a box with movable doors that open and shut to control the air flow over the core. Shutting off the heat only shuts the door.

It's an 05 Mitsubishi Galant.

I looked it up and that one does have a shutoff. It's an electric solenoid behind the dash. If you turn off the heat, it should shut off the water.
Having the core replaced might get pretty pricey depending on what all they have to remove to get at it. This website says anywhere between $300 and $1000.
HEATER CORE

edited to add: I just noticed that even though I googled 2005, that site is for a 2002. It might not apply.

Thanks. I know labor will be the lions share especially here.

Yea,I have a 98 Dodge with a leak in the Air Conditioner tubing under the dash. The fix isn't too bad but $700-$1000 just to get at it.

The shut-off valve only stops flow, not pressure, as pressure in the cooling system rises with temperature. Remember, you have a core inlet and outlet, and pressure equalizes throughout the system. It will still leak when it's turned off.

As a mechanic Badger, what is your view on sealers?

Can't get it to your shop.

Stop Leak products are sketchy at best but typically they are a joke.
There is no free lunch on a heater core leak.
If you let it go, you'll have to watch coolant level and you will get a coolant stench in the cab.

To do it right, you have to fix it/replace it.
And that can be ugly depending on access to the core in your particular vehicle.

The leak stop worked for me a long time ago on a '67 Fairlane. Just hoping to get to spring for a real repair. Fully aware of the 'right' way to do it.

Vince- The kid is stubborn (where does that come from?) and independent. Insists on carrying her own weight.

Sealers are death to many components in modern cars. Heater core tubes and radiator tubes are typically much smaller in diameter than cars of old, and they will clog both. Best to bypass the heater core entirely by looping the heater hoses together until you can get it repaired.

That'll make for a long cold winter!

Thanks, though.

guy I work with has a Dodge pickup that had a heater core leak. he stopped it with Bars Leak or something of the sort. that was a year ago and still holding. IIRC, it took a couple of doses.

Best advice yet.
The longer it leaks the worse the stench in the cab.

Anti-freeze is corrosive. If it leaks on the carpet, it can ruin the carpet and also rust out the floorboard under it.

Saddlesore, Do remember back in the old days we used to stop radiator leaks with oatmeal, Had the heater hose come off the heater in a 39 Olds one night at the drive in movie and burned my girl friends foot and leg, now that was a real Rodeo, makes me laugh to remember it. Rio7

I think the timing is perfect.
Buck up, old man and get the kid's heater core fixed for Christmas.

Don't do the stop leak unless it's in a junker that you don't care about.
It can plug radiator capillaries, heater core capillaries and any small passageway that it might settle in.

If the vehicle is a nasty access number like a Grand Cherokee it will cost you $1000 +/-

:twocents:

Back when there was Zerone along with Zerex which was a alcohol based anti-reerze, I stopped a few leaks with Bars Leak.
I drove a 49 Plymouth for two years with a cracked block. Got so bad,I would drain the fluid our at night and put it back for the day.

With the coming of todays anti freezes,I had no luck with such leak stops

I once replaced the heater core on a '77 Wagoneer. The core fit inside a box under the hood and was really easy to get at. However, it was held in place by 2 bolts through the firewall...behind the a/c condenser. You needed an arm with 2 elbows to get at them. It took my dad and I 3 hrs to put those 2 nuts on. I would have just left them off but it rattled too loud.

Had an older Buick like that. You had to cut a hole in the fender well to get to a bolt

I think automotive engineers should be required to work on their inventions before they're allowed to be sold. Maybe then they'd invent something that would be easier to fix.

I replaced a heater core in an '01 F150. Part was about $40 at NAPA, every place around wanted $1k for labor.

Too bad, you can't do the work yourself...

My wife used to have a '98 Dakota. We spent $750 to get a mouse nest removed from around the core. Everything under the dash had to come out to get at it. We had them put in a new $30 core while it was apart. Cheap insurance.

What makes you think he can't do it himself... maybe lawrence he just doesn't want to deal with it... we await patiently for your rant about men not being men cause they don't work on their own cars anymore and the only good vehicle is a 1977 chevy C10 that gets 10 mpg.

Best approach is to fix it right. I'd be concerned that stop leak products would clock up the radiator and cause the engine to overheat. I'd imagine some of the passages are a bit tighter in an import car than your old Fairlane.

I did once have a small leak in a radiator and as an attempt at a quick fix to hold fluid to get me to the repair shop I globbed on some RTV at the point of the leak and after letting it set up overnight was surprised it held pressure for a few days before I could get it repaired. I would suggest the same approach if she can put eyes on the heater core to squeeze a blob of blue RTV around the leak. I have no idea if it will set up overnight in AK winter temps, likely not.

Car won't fit in the garage right now. I'm sure I 'could' fix it. Pretty sure I got enough chit to do and don't 'want' to fix it.

Some are easy to fix but then there are the others. For some, you'd better have a good service manual on hand, and I don't mean Chiltons or Haynes. You'll need a factory manual to get all the other stuff apart and reassembled that has to come out to get at it.

I hear ya! I used to do most repairs on our cars, now I'm to the point that aside from oil changes and swapping winter/summer tires I'll take it to a shop. I think trying to replace the clutch on a Rav4 was the breaking point for me.

I worked on HMMWV's for 6 yrs in the Army that broke me of ever working on an vehicles again. Before I joined the Army I enjoyed turning wrenches. Thankfully I reclassed into another mos and I haven't had to to touch a hmmwv in 12 1/2 yrs..

Geez. Buncha old farts.

Just checked my 08. Has rubber hoses into firewall. Just pull them off and clamp together with hardware store fitting. Take about ten minutes.

W

If your daughters care doesn't have heated seats, an aftermarket heater is pretty cheap and easier to install than a heater core.

Whaaaaa... You are a fu cking cry baby...

Warmth is kind of a moot issue when you can't see out of the windows...this I know from driving around on the same roads that Ironbender's daughter probably runs on. -20 to -30º F has shown me a thing or two about the worth of a non-faulty blower over the last couple of days.

Bypassing the heater core would solve a big part of the link, but as Klik very astutely points out, it won't benefit windshield clarity.

Probably time for biting a TTSX and taking it in. Quotes are pushing $1K.

Don't know who's reputable if she's in FAI, but I had the tranny replaced for my wife three years ago- (for, not on ) on the car my wife was driving, and we have put near to 50,000 miles on it since. Gabe's did a real good job on that project, very professional IMO. Gave us all the options; didn't try to push one or the other to pad their outcome. And they're a NAPA associated car/truck shop if that matters.

I thought u wanted to bypass. Never fun driving while wiping or scraping inside of windshield. Been there.

W

Oh Lawrence you silly goose I learned from you the biggest cry baby on 24 hourcampfire.

When it comes to working on the biggest piece of [bleep] ever made I am a crybaby...

Car is on the KP, Klik.

That would solve the leak, but BTDT on the defroster-less windshield too.

When i lived outside Fbx My old Toyota ext. tank heater (for winter starts) released the check ball (backflow preventer) one winter at about -30* or so. Def went from warm to -30 right now. Very inconvenient for a few days. Had a 80 mile RT commute.

Alright I'm headed to kenai I have my Mexican metric wrench and hacksaw we are going to get this fixed mike!

Cool!
I told Siri to give you directions.

It keeps telling me to drive off the pier at port of anchorage? Please verify that's the correct directions

I was going to point out the fact that Siri is a ruthless whore, but I reckon it doesn't bear repeating.

Negative. Drive down the boat launch in Whittier. We're on the right. You can't miss it.

Right? Left? .... was confused for a moment and started wondering if you were actually hot.......or perhaps it was just the coffee, but on the left of course.

(Is it still raining down there/has it ever quit? Seriously though, I did see the sun down that way..........15 years ago. )

Got it

Cold now Klik. Not Fbx-cold, mind you, but a tad colder than 'normal'.

At least it's not 45* and raining!

Got nothing other than to say I've replaced one heater core in my life and it was far and away the most miserable work I've ever done on a vehicle.

I'd rather replace a clutch then another heater core.


Course you could wire a 'portable' heater to the battery