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| Coolant Leak on Ground - Passenger side (Page 4/4) |
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ArthurPeale
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SEP 03, 09:04 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by reinhart:
Curious how you didn't notice the coolant on the bottom side of the plastic heater core housing? If there's enough to be dripping out the floor board, the bottom of the plastic housing would have to be at least damp. One wipe of the finger would have answered your question instantly. |
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well, how do *you* sometimes not see stuff that's in plain view?
Those things that you're looking for, until..."oh, crap, I've been looking right at it this whole time!"
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Brent7088
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SEP 03, 02:20 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by reinhart:
Curious how you didn't notice the coolant on the bottom side of the plastic heater core housing? If there's enough to be dripping out the floor board, the bottom of the plastic housing would have to be at least damp. One wipe of the finger would have answered your question instantly. |
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I noticed the floor mats slightly tacky, but wrongly attributed that to carpet adhesive breaking down (should have known better). At that point I still had not even heard about a heater core leak from inside.
When I went to lift the front end to work on ball joints, that's when the leak was obvious. After taking a closer look at the housing, I did see very small drips on the edges, but no puddles had formed.
The car had been sitting for a long time without being ran; i guess if it had been started more, the coolant would have poured out faster causing actual puddles on the floor.
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Brent7088
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SEP 07, 10:16 PM
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Well I was able to get the hoses off the core pipes and got the core unscrewed and out.
I went and ordered a new core from Advanced Auto online, received it today and noticed it's about a 1/4" shorter on both sides than the original. Should I fool around with sending it back and trying for another elsewhere or should I fill in the surrounding excess space with foam? Any dangers of getting too hot and catching on fire from the heater core itself?
Also around the outer edges of the inner housing, I noticed a couple felt-type gasket strips of some sort and noticed one of them was peeling off from being dowsed with coolant. Should I replace that with something?
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Patrick
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SEP 07, 10:42 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Brent7088:
...it's about a 1/4" shorter on both sides than the original. Should I fool around with sending it back and trying for another elsewhere or should I fill in the surrounding excess space with foam?
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If you've got nothing better to do... sure, go through all that trouble!
| quote | Originally posted by Patrick:
The fact that a lot of the newer heater cores aren't quite as big (by about a quarter inch) as the original really doesn't make any significant difference in either the installation or performance. A tiny fraction of the air being blown through the heater box will go around (rather than through) the heater core. You'll never notice the difference.
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Brent7088
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SEP 07, 10:46 PM
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Ok - I just didn't know if it would wobble around from vibration or whatnot.. and didn't know if a foam filler would be a fire hazard from the heat of the core. [This message has been edited by Brent7088 (edited 09-07-2021).]
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Patrick
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SEP 07, 11:08 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Brent7088:
I just didn't know if it would wobble around from vibration or whatnot...
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The heater core needs to be properly secured. It does not need to be sealed airtight around the edges.[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 09-07-2021).]
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ArthurPeale
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SEP 08, 10:53 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Brent7088:
Ok - I just didn't know if it would wobble around from vibration or whatnot.. and didn't know if a foam filler would be a fire hazard from the heat of the core.
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The hottest the core will get is the temperature of the coolant, which won't be more than around 260 - and, that shouldn't happen if things are properly operational. Just fill in the space with something that won't ignite with a temperature that low.
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Brent7088
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SEP 09, 02:47 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Patrick:
The heater core needs to be properly secured. It does not need to be sealed airtight around the edges.
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Yea that makes sense.. I went ahead and installed the one I have, so I'll be testing it out in the coming days. I have the metal bracket tight enough to secure the core, hooked the hoses back up, clamped them tight so everything should be fine. Thanks for the advice Pat.
| quote | Originally posted by ArthurPeale:
The hottest the core will get is the temperature of the coolant, which won't be more than around 260 - and, that shouldn't happen if things are properly operational. Just fill in the space with something that won't ignite with a temperature that low. |
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Thanks for the input - I just stuffed the hole and around the pipes with a piece of that somewhat thick yellow foam. it shouldn't ignite but I'll keep a close eye on it after running the car awhile.
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