First - are our cars (mine is a 2000 SVT) prone to weeping heater cores? My car has a very slow coolant leak, no obvious traces under hood. I do sometimes get a whiff of antifreeze when running the heater (though not often) so that's what made me think heater core. Will a leaky core drip out the same drain as the A/C condensate, wet the carpet or?
Second - the Ford CD makes the job seem fairly easy, sounds like the dash can stay in place thank goodness. Anyone have any tips?
Third - I'm wondering if maybe it would be smart at this age to go ahead and change out the heater hoses while I'm in there - is that fairly straightforward?
Fourth - I saw a post somewhere referring to a discrepancy in inlet/outlet diameters - are there multiple types of heater core?
Fifth - I'm guessing Motorcraft is the safe choice for heater core source?
Thanks!!
Al Seim
2000 SVT Contour
Richmond, VA
0
Changing heater core
Started by 2000SVTC, Jan 15 2012 06:50 PM
2 replies to this topic
#1
2000SVTC
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Posted 15 January 2012 - 06:50 PM
#2
BuckeyeSVT
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Posted 15 January 2012 - 09:52 PM
It's very rare to see a heater core to go in these cars, I've never personally in the past 16 years ever replaced a heater core. The directions seem fairly simple, that is until you realize you have to remove the dash. Heater hoses are not easy to get at and normally last 150K or greater. I don't mind using Four Seasons parts... Motorcraft is good as well.
-Dom
-Dom
#3
2000SVTC
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Posted 16 January 2012 - 03:15 PM
Hmm -
If rare then I'd better diagnose more thoroughly before diving in. On the Taurus (I've had several of those) it was supposedly common to get weepage at the heater hose - to - heater junction in front of the firewall and get enough seepage into the interior to smell antifreeze.
Looking at the Ford CD - there is a procedure for removing evaporator and heater core that says "remove dash" but the procedure for just the heater core just says remove console so I was hopeful that was correct. A pessimist would argue that maybe the latter procedure was only for non-AC cars. But the "heater core" procedure does mention the evaporator housing but leaves it in place, it looks as if the heater core is at the bottom and can slide out separately....
I have no desire to pull the dash!
If rare then I'd better diagnose more thoroughly before diving in. On the Taurus (I've had several of those) it was supposedly common to get weepage at the heater hose - to - heater junction in front of the firewall and get enough seepage into the interior to smell antifreeze.
Looking at the Ford CD - there is a procedure for removing evaporator and heater core that says "remove dash" but the procedure for just the heater core just says remove console so I was hopeful that was correct. A pessimist would argue that maybe the latter procedure was only for non-AC cars. But the "heater core" procedure does mention the evaporator housing but leaves it in place, it looks as if the heater core is at the bottom and can slide out separately....
I have no desire to pull the dash!
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