So I had recently posted here in regards to replacing a faulty Hot Water Valve. It seems that that issue is resolved, but yesterday I got in and started my car, turned on the defrost and was met with a pretty awful smell after a few minutes. I would describe it as a burning wood/cigar smell. It also had a hint of cinnamon, which I've heard is a tell tale sign of antifreeze. My car hasn't been low on anti freeze lately, so it definitely doesn't seem like it's leaking. There's no moisture on the passenger side of the car's interior. I guess my question is, is there an easy way to tell if the heater core is in fact shot for sure? If it is, how much does one of these usually cost to have replaced at a shop. And how hard is it to do yourself. I can do most maintenance no problem but I don't have a garage at my disposal. Thanks in advance.

-B

 

Might as well change it, your car is 18 years old.. Mine went right where the bent copper hose goes in to the heater core. Leaked all over my floor, smelled, and left a nice coating of anti-freeze on my windows. The heater core was 45$, it took 3 days, but probably 4-5 hours of actual work. I also cleaned all of my vents, and some other fun stuff. But taking off the dash was the only hard part, that alone took an hour and a half. Good luck!

 

Thw burning wood smell could be leaves on the exhaust. I would look there first. Heater cores are no fun.

 

Just did a heater core on an 86 iroc. Even the mom & pop garages wanted 250 bucks to put one in. I got my core at Advance Auto for 25 bucks. Was a fairly simple install. Take off dash pad, Remove hush panels & speaker brackets. Then I believe there were only four more nuts or bolts and the dash pulls away from the heater box. (forgot, I also dropped the steering column). It really is easier than it sounds. The hardest part was getting the top heater box cover bolt back in. Took me 2 1/2 hours & a twelve pack . Just dive in and do it yourself. You will be glad you did.

 

fun fun, i dont advise taking it to a shop, besides the fact that it costs to much, sometimes they forget they get paid to do it right, i took my 88 rs in for a cooling problem, they said they "fixed" it, 3 hrs later my heater core blows up, its lik srapmetal every where, but surprizenly there wasnt any antifreeze in the passerager copartment, and not htat much to clean, but its was really fun taking my dash apart to replace it, have fun

 

i replaced mine in my 86 trans am. mine was a very minor leak so i could only smell it when i had the defrost on and it wasnt leaking into the passanger compartment (was i happy for that) but the reason i knew it was the heater core was becase the windshield foged up when i turned on the defrost. it costed me bout $50. all it took was lowering the steering column and pulling out the dash about a foot. it only took me bout 3 hours.
p.s. if you have someone help you pull the dash out it makes it alot easier but i just used a ratchet strap

 

2 people taking off the dash is the best thing, I had to show the girlfriend how to use a ratchet, as well as lefty loosey, righty tighty.

 

im in the middle of replacing my core but cant seam to find the right cores cause every where i go the copper tubes on the cores arnt bend the same as on the old core but once i get the new core it shouldnt b a problem it was taking it out that was the problem just cause the 5th bolt on the top of the heater core box other than that it was just the time of doing every thing and i think it was worth it xause the place i was going to take t to wanted 700-800 dollars and im onley 14 so i wasnt goin to do that so i say its not worth taking in just do it ur self and as far as a garge i dont have one ether but im doin fine the onley thing that sucks is the weather telling when i can and cant work

 

dont put anything but a delco heater core in there

I found out that napa carries the same stuff as all the rest when they showed me that same made in mexico pos that autozone had

 

ya the napa ones i found suck

 

i feel your pain i just discovered that my heater core had frozen and cracked i presume but anyway its leaking coolant everywhere all over my floor and my engine bay got a spray also so im gonna subscribe to this

 

ya its a real pain in the *** fixin it,also seeing as how i still cant get the right core but my grandpa is tryin to find the part 4 me i guess because hes who we got the car from he feels every thing that gose wrong is his fault so i ges i just wait cause i dont have the time to go lookin 4 the right part seeing as how i have school 4 most of the day and i cant drive so it takes me like 2 hours go go eny where .i hope i get it fixed soon cause its just been sitin there 4 just about a month. and iv onley had it for 2

 

you can still drive the car with a busted heater core unless you have it taken apart you just wont get heat

 

i know the cars still drive able its that im only 14 and dont have a licence

 

wow man that sucks at least you got time to work at it

 

ya i got the car from my sister 4 free cause it was becoming to much of a pain in the *** to have as a daily driver so that gives me the time to fix all the meany small problems it has and i started with the heater core

 

I just got a heater core from autozone and it's from mexico , ELCRAPO GRANDE wheres my receipt I'm taking it back , I'm not going to bust my hump to put one in if it's a POS from the get-go . THANKS GUYS FOR THE HEADS UP .

 

ya all the ones that say made in mexico suck

 

I don't know how long I'm going to have this car for, so I just bought the cheapest possible. But I guess, if I were to put in a nice, big V8, the heatercore would be taken out anyway, thats a few pounds of dead weight...

 

ya i didnt wont to use a cheap one cause this cars going to b a daily driver and i dont wont to do this again cause its a pain in the ***

 

True, but even the higher grade Delco version could also have it's flaws. I've bought ball-joints made in mexico, and my car hasn't fallen apart, I've bought bearings made in Mexico, I only had one problem where they didn't seat, but that was easily fixed. The only reason you hear the mexican ones are bad, is from people who have had bad experiences. If mine goes bad, I'm going to change it. It will be frustrating, no doubt, but you wouldn't buy another cheap one at that point anyway.

 

well iv had bad experiences with the made in mexico ones because 2 that i got the copper tubes where not even bent in the angle they should have been and wouldnt even go in right

 

go to gmpartsdirect.com and print out the order sheet with the price w/shipping

take it to your local dealership and tell them that you want to keep the business local and see if they can match or beat the price