Heater Cores or lines leaking?
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Heater Cores or lines leaking?
If you have replaced your heater core and you are experiencing the same problem again, ck your alluminum heater core linesets for a grove that is a defect during tube rolling or manufacturing. I replace heater core in my 2001 Dakota and a couple of months later I had the same symptoms again. Windsheild fogging up and the sweet aroma of glycol or antifreeze. I pulled the dash and heater box, in three hours this time compared to day and a half the first time. Opened up the heater box and to my surprise found very little antifreeze. I put heater core in a tank of water and pressurized to 30 PSI. No bubbles, no leaks. I still had first core in the shop, so out of curiosity I pressure tested the same way and low and behold the old one had no leaks. I got to looking for a trail of green under the floormats and found that the antifreeze was coming in from the lines going through the fire wall. The joint outside between rubber hose and alluminum was leaking and the foam gasket for the heater core lines was acting as a wick. The problem is the lines have a slite grove in them. If the rubber or some type of sealant is not used to fill this void they will leak. On the very end of the lines there is a swedged end and the in goes for a couple of inchs and it has another swedge that the lines are secured to the heater box with a plastic type clamp. When I reassembled I put a little silicone, careful not to get in the openings, and put the hoses on. Then I used two narrow clamps on each hose. One directly over the outer swedge and one on the flat part toward the fire wall. Also was careful not to push rubber hoses up to tight against the firewall. As an added measure of not allowing an exterior leak to get inside, before installing rubber hoses, I masked off one half inch around the foam gasket and opening for the heater core lines and siliconed the entire area, also mask off your lines. Use black silicone. When dry take a razor blade and follow tape line and remove tape. This will leave a nice neat water tight seal, that looks factory.
One more thing allow all to dry and set up before leak testing. I am comfident that there are many out there who are changing cores when it is this same problem. After removing the dash two times this is a simple repair. So far so good with dry windsheild and no smell.
I hope this will help some other soul from changing core multiple times when this could be your problem. By using two thin clamps, you can rotate them so the flat part of the clamp where the screw is, are at diff. times on the clock if that makes sense This allows the same amount of pressue on the hose all the way around, which will fill any low spots in your alluminum lines. The groove I found in my lines ran with the lines from swedge to swedge, the anti freeze was following the small channel to the foam gasket. What put me on to this was, I remembered when I replaced intake gasket, I went ahead and replaced water pump and all hoses including the heater hoses, and I had a problem then Dec 2009 with getting heater hoses to seal.
I would love to hear feed back and maybe others who have discovered this flaw. Dodge manufaturer flaw I might add, that the consumer is stuck with figuring out.
Have a great day.
As Paul Harvey would say, Now you know the rest of the story.
Darrell
One more thing allow all to dry and set up before leak testing. I am comfident that there are many out there who are changing cores when it is this same problem. After removing the dash two times this is a simple repair. So far so good with dry windsheild and no smell.
I hope this will help some other soul from changing core multiple times when this could be your problem. By using two thin clamps, you can rotate them so the flat part of the clamp where the screw is, are at diff. times on the clock if that makes sense This allows the same amount of pressue on the hose all the way around, which will fill any low spots in your alluminum lines. The groove I found in my lines ran with the lines from swedge to swedge, the anti freeze was following the small channel to the foam gasket. What put me on to this was, I remembered when I replaced intake gasket, I went ahead and replaced water pump and all hoses including the heater hoses, and I had a problem then Dec 2009 with getting heater hoses to seal.
I would love to hear feed back and maybe others who have discovered this flaw. Dodge manufaturer flaw I might add, that the consumer is stuck with figuring out.
Have a great day.
As Paul Harvey would say, Now you know the rest of the story.
Darrell
I am experiencing the sweet smell and a foggy defroster as well. I haven't replaced anything yet. I am looking to tear into it tomorrow. I am going to definitely test the heater core before I buy another (might change it anyway if I'm already into it). I will definitely be looking at all of the lines thanks to you.
So according to your post I have to take the entire dashboard out? Pleas clarify for me. I appreciate it! Dave
So according to your post I have to take the entire dashboard out? Pleas clarify for me. I appreciate it! Dave
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Getting to the core of the problem.
Gooday
Yes, unfortunately the steering column and dash have to come out, in order to access the heater/air cond. evaporator, blower box.
There is a video on u-tube of this procedure. It is a Dodge Durango, but is the same dash and removal process. Take not of what type screws come out of different locations. Take notes pictures and have a couple of coffee cans or something to keep all the screws from getting lost and put back in the wrong location. One more thing. Take your time on all the different wiring harness plugs. Some of them can be tricky. Don't understand why Chrysler used so many different type of plug fasteners. You are probably looking at 3-5 hours to get to the core, depending on if you have done this before or how good you are with mechanics. To save you some time, get you a short peice of 1/2 or 5/8 pipe or barb fitting and bypass your core. This will keep you from draing the whole system. If you have old antifreeze, it would be a good time to go ahead and drain the whole system and refill with fresh antifreeze. If you are working in a cold environment , be careful with the plastics, they are brittle at colder temps.
Good luck
and
Gooday
Yes, unfortunately the steering column and dash have to come out, in order to access the heater/air cond. evaporator, blower box.
There is a video on u-tube of this procedure. It is a Dodge Durango, but is the same dash and removal process. Take not of what type screws come out of different locations. Take notes pictures and have a couple of coffee cans or something to keep all the screws from getting lost and put back in the wrong location. One more thing. Take your time on all the different wiring harness plugs. Some of them can be tricky. Don't understand why Chrysler used so many different type of plug fasteners. You are probably looking at 3-5 hours to get to the core, depending on if you have done this before or how good you are with mechanics. To save you some time, get you a short peice of 1/2 or 5/8 pipe or barb fitting and bypass your core. This will keep you from draing the whole system. If you have old antifreeze, it would be a good time to go ahead and drain the whole system and refill with fresh antifreeze. If you are working in a cold environment , be careful with the plastics, they are brittle at colder temps.
Good luck
and
Gooday