So yesterday I was driving home and noticed smoke coming out of my hood as I pulled into my driveway. I noticed that this part shown below is broken, and coolant was spraying everywhere. I took it off and noticed that there was rust inside of it. Does this mean anything bad for any other parts of my car? or is rust normal for that area? Also I don’t know what it is called, so unless someone here can help me I guess I’m just going to take it to the dealer and ask for another one. Thanks a lot

 

I'm not sure the exact name but it controls coolant flow to your heater core. It runs hot coolant through your heater core and takes the heat and puts it inside the cabin to warm it up in the winter time. Rust isnt a good thing because that means corrosion inside of your cooling system. A good flush or replacement of some parts of your cooling system should alleviate the rust.

 

Smartman is right, that's the part.
I think it's called "heater core bypass valve" or something like that.

Lou

 

They call it "heater valve" at Advance Auto Parts and it costs $17.77.

Check here: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...pe=394&ptset=A

(you might need to punch in your zipcode to see the item)

Lou

 

Thanks alot, I just put an order in for the part. So I guess my next step is to drain and fill the coolant.

Thanks again for all the help

 

yea man, throw a 180 t-stat and some water-wetter in there while your at it if you have a extra 10-15 bucks, its we'll worth it in these cars