heater core? March 22, 2006, 05:46:16 PM i have coolant coming form what looks like a drain on my firewall, its below the heater core hook ups, almost directly below it, and theres coolant from it, i know one of my heater core hoses is kinked off a little, but i was wondering if the heater core is bad or if theres some sort of pressure releaf valve that lets out coolant when theres too much pressure?thanks Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #2 – March 22, 2006, 06:21:03 PM son of a..... u know the restwell... looks like its off with the dash then... i know you can do it without taking it out all the way but i might as well fix the ole cracked up dash while im at it... thanks for the verification... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #3 – March 22, 2006, 07:49:28 PM YAY! Mine just went today too! This one lasted 6 years. The one it replaced was the original. There is some good detailed info here for you: http://www.coolcats.net/tech/troubleshooting/heatercore.html Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #4 – March 22, 2006, 10:31:10 PM yea, im printing that page off tomarow at school so i have some instructions for when i go to the junkyard to get one, there only 5 bucks there cus i cant afford a new one... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #5 – March 23, 2006, 08:25:23 AM I had it take a dump on the way home from work. No warning at all just some smoke from the passenger side (it was coming out the drain tube and dripping onto the header--like it actually was designed to do--who woulda thunk it?) I've changed it before so I knew exactly what the smoke was. Re-routed the hoses to get her home leak free, but with no heat. I'll fix it Saturday when my wife is off too so someone can watch the baby. Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #6 – March 23, 2006, 01:40:52 PM thats exactly what was happening to me was smoke and puddle when i accelerated, and it looked like a slow drip... i couldnt find it... one day it just let all out and there was a huge puddle and thats when i saw it coming out of the drain thingy, and thaught "... one more thing to fix" because iv been battling these coolant leaks ever since i got the car... first it was the radiator, then the hoses going to the water pump, then the water pump, then the timing chaing cover gasket, then the hoses going to the heater core, now the heater core... so i guess the whole coolant system is about new... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #7 – March 23, 2006, 02:04:14 PM Quote from: 88cougarxr7i was wondering if the heater core is bad or if theres some sort of pressure releaf valve that lets out coolant when theres too much pressure?thanksThe heater core is the relief valve. ;) I thought mine had sprung a leak yesterday during an errand run. As I pulled into a parking lot I began to smell the distinct (evil) smell of antifreeze. I got out and found a trail of fluid tracing my path to where I had parked. Turns out the lower radiator hose popped off. :o Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #8 – March 23, 2006, 11:41:45 PM u lucky sob... wish that happened to me... right now this cars driving me absolutely crazy, nothing but one problem after the next, im starting to loose faith in it and wanting to get annother GM project car instead considering my grand prix has 222XXX miles on it and still runs like the day it was made, and my cougar only has 180XXX and has had shiznitloads of problems for me so far... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #9 – March 24, 2006, 08:40:50 AM Quotemy grand prix has 222XXX miles on it and still runs like the day it was made, and my cougar only has 180XXX and has had shiznitloads of problems for me so far...A lot of it has to do with how the car was taken care of by previous owners. My first Cougar was absolutely maintenence free as it was originally my step father's and he A) brought it back to the dealer for anything and B) has ALWAYS driven like a Geritol taker.This one needed a few little things when I first got it. tune up, brakes, intake manifold gasket, and O2 sensors. It had been sitting in the previous owner's driveway for almost a year and he had just put a brand new AOD in it so it would run and he could sell it. Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #10 – March 24, 2006, 09:10:27 AM sounds like you got one hell of a deal... i thaught i was getting one hell of a deal with my 175 dollar cougar thats in good condition... HA... a million problems later its almost road ready... basicly all it has is engine problems... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #11 – March 24, 2006, 09:45:35 AM I couldn't pass this car up. I bought it new year's day '98 no rust, around 40 K on the motor that was in it at the time, 3.27's in the rear, AND a new tranny. I'm curious as to how the previous owner saw fit to sell me this car for the price he did. He let me have it for $1900 and every other one I was looking at was going for around 2500 and needed LOTS more work. I know he moved to Florida 2 weeks later. Guess he had to unload it. Quotea million problems later its almost road ready... basicly all it has is engine problems...How much else you got left to fix? Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #12 – March 24, 2006, 11:04:25 AM basicly, all thats left is a tune up and heater core... iv so far have done the following work-water pump-radiator (got one out of a newer cougar and converted the tranny lines)-timing chaing cover gasket-oil pan gasket-all the piping for the heater core-all the piping for the radiator-3 oil changes in the less than a thousand miles iv driven her because of contamination from variouse leaks i had to fix-alternator bolt came loose and had to tighten it back down with an impact-pcv valve-working on painting the interior pieces so they look newerso iv done quite a bit of work on this car so far... but again, i only paid 175 for her, and around 200 in parts later... its just when you have a car like that, it just seems every time you look at it, it has a new problem, and that drives me crazy because iv wanted to drive it since the day i got it... Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #13 – March 25, 2006, 07:50:14 PM Well, it's Saturday and I did the evil deed. Guess what? ONLY TOOK 3 HOURS:D I LOVE SHORTCUTS! All hail Coolcats!:bowdown: I used a 14mm socket as a restrictor. Quote Selected
heater core? Reply #14 – March 25, 2006, 08:15:30 PM Quote from: 88cougarxr7basicly, all thats left is a tune up and heater core... iv so far have done the following work-water pump-radiator (got one out of a newer cougar and converted the tranny lines)-timing chaing cover gasket-oil pan gasket-all the piping for the heater core-all the piping for the radiator-3 oil changes in the less than a thousand miles iv driven her because of contamination from variouse leaks i had to fix-alternator bolt came loose and had to tighten it back down with an impact-pcv valve-working on painting the interior pieces so they look newer so iv done quite a bit of work on this car so far... but again, i only paid 175 for her, and around 200 in parts later... its just when you have a car like that, it just seems every time you look at it, it has a new problem, and that drives me crazy because iv wanted to drive it since the day i got it... Dude, don't complain about that kind of stuff. You got your car for dirt cheap at $175. I bought mine for $900 and within the first year and a half did the following...-waterpump - started leakin while in school-heater core - Blew on my way home one night-hoses - sprung a leak at a grocery store-belt - normal maintenence-alternator - deaddddd-battery - went with the alternator-tires - wore out too fast, partially my fault-brakes - normal maintenence-various emissions components - egr, pcv, vaccume hoses-shocks and struts - floaty, floaty-replaced y-pipe - Broke off while driving. I did get complemented on the car's sound at the gas station though:hick: Not to mention that the motor leaked oil and all the other annoyances the car had. Basically what I'm saying is that it isn't going to be perfect. There is always going to be something to repair. It may feel like you are getting nowhere with it but hey, it's a car. Even that Grand Prix is bound to have it's problems. It just hasn't shown them to you yet. By the way, I would bet on that around 175-180,000 miles is when these things are the worst. That's where most of my problems occurred. My car was owned and maintained by the same Ford mechanic for atleast 7 years. Figure that one out. Stick with it though. Hell, you're doing better than I was. I've got more money into my car than I want to think about. I wish mine was $175. Atleast your motor and tranny didn't blow up, knock on wood. Quote Selected