Leaking Heater Core………
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=206107
Printed Date: 03 Apr 2025 at 3:44am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Leaking Heater Core………
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Subject: Leaking Heater Core………
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2025 at 4:49pm
|
2009 Ford Explore, 2wd. Not a horrible leak, more a constant drip. One independent shop claims 8 hr job to replace. Unfortunately we are traveling(just my luck), been topping off every couple hours, about 3/4 a gallon today. Kinda hate to use Bar’s Leaks or similar, won’t be back to base for about 10 days or so. Got plenty of coolant with me. Have been checking on it every hour or so. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Replies:
Posted By: DanWi
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2025 at 5:27pm
| Back in the day you would have just disconnected the lines at the firewall and made a loop bypassing the heater. Guess It's not that easy on newer vehicles,🙁 |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2025 at 5:43pm
|
I would not be afraid to add the Bars Leak.. Small leak with lots of driving... maybe just 1/3 or 1/2 bottle and see what happens. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2025 at 6:52pm
Agree, if slows the incessant drip to a daily drip that will save time and some money as well. Newer autos as my 2010 Impala, Core is NOT readily accessed, requires Removal of Entire Dash to drop the Heater Box.
|
steve(ill) wrote:Posted By: ekjdm14
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 4:48am
|
Ground black pepper, about 1 Oz. Works well for me, still limping along a rotten radiator for about 6 months like this & it's slowed from having to top up every couple hours of running to checking daily/topping off once every 2 or 3 days. Modern stuff can be a real pain for access, he11 with modern coolants why are we even seeing heater cores still fail? China?
|
Posted By: BuckSkin
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 7:00am
I am speaking from a terrible experience a few years ago in a Jeep Cherokee. I am a firm believer in pelleted Bars Leaks --- in older engines that can handle it; Bars Leaks will fix leaking head gaskets, cracked blocks, and holes in radiators. UNTIL, we park at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon; and, when I walk around the front of the Cherokee, I see a trickle of anti-freeze dribbling from between the water-pump and block = a pretty healthy dribble. I always keep one of those big-truck-sized bottles in every vehicle just for such occasions. After the engine cooled down, I poured in the Bars Leaks and topped it off coolant mix. AND THEN OUR TROUBLES BEGAN, becoming one of the longest trips and tests of my endurance and patience that I have ever experienced. The engine getting branding-iron-HOT, hoses blowing off, that hateful plastic jug swelling up and splitting; fix one leak and another happens. Bozo's Garage in New Mexico installed a brand-new water-pump - NEW, not rebuilt; which, by the way, locked up and slung the shaft within a week of getting back home. When I finally got to my sister's house in Lubbock, as I was in the Advance Auto, on the counter beside the cash-register was a stack of business cards; Jay's Mobile Auto Repair. I called the number; and, within the hour, this guy shows up driving a big red panel truck - an old converted tater-chip truck. I already had a brand-new radiator and new hoses in the back seat. What I lacked were all the various torx wrenches and special tools required to make the switch; plus, my sister lived at the head of a gated community that frowns on such foolishness as fixing a vehicle in the driveway. As soon as he got there and I told him the story, he said "I bet you dumped in a bottle of Bars Leaks, didn't you? " He then told me that with later model vehicles, the Jeep was a 1992, you had best not be adding stop-leaks to the system as the tubes in radiators are tiny in comparison to older vehicles and any sort of stop-leak will immediately plug them up. We swapped in the new radiator and problem solved; no more boiling over, no more hoses blowing apart, no more sitting beside the road waiting on things to get cool enough to work on. The moral of this story is, you better know the specifics of your machine before you dump in a bottle of Bars Leaks.
|
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 8:09am
|
1992 is not NEW... I have used this in 2000 - 2010 cars and trucks... Your radiator was crap to start with.. The "NEW TYPE SEALERS" do not plug internal passages like the radiator or heater tubes... They look for a differential pressure drop like leaking into the crank case or external to atmosphere.. If you had a MAJOR EXTERNAL leak around the pump, that was probably not a fixable leak. If you use 2-3 TIMES as much sealer as needed, i cant say what would happen.. But NORMALLY for small or average size leaks the bottles ( or half bottle) is more than adequate. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: Dave H
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 8:50am
So is it not possible to bypass the heater for the time being.  |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 12:20pm
I put 1/2 a bottle(the small bottle) of Bars Leaks in, if the rate slows a bit, I will chance it until we get home. Stopping every 100 miles or so is no big deal, between the dog, myself, and the Mrs., one of us usually needs a potty stop anyways, lol. The problem with modern day a/c in autos is for proper function, the heater core must be operating, otherwise the evaporator coil will freeze over shortly after the compressor kicks in. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Posted By: BuckSkin
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2025 at 1:41pm
Also, if you don't have anti-freeze in the coolant and run the A/C, you run the risk of freezing the water in the heater core.
|