Ok, so Ive had a small coolant leak on the passenger side right about where the fender meets the door, about a foot in. I thought it might be the heater core, but ive had higher prioritys like the vacuum hoses (they were falling apart) and stuff.

ANyway, recently when I started the car up, ive had this super high idle, like 1500 or 2000...and it scared me, but I thought it may have had to do with the vacuum hoses (I replaced all of them over about a week)...

Anyway, yesterday I had no other car, and need just 6 more feet of hose and a 3-way connector to finishe replacing all of the hoses...SO i decided to drive the car to pep boys (only car available at the time)...

Well i drove there (about 2 miles) with the high idle...and it ran great so I didnt think anything of it...Went in the store, bought my stuff and came out, and saw coolant EVERYWHERE under my car, and my windsheild fogged up, and when I opened the door thin white smoke was coming out of the AC vents. I opened the hood and heard a hissing sound coming from the passenger side dash...

Now...from my understanding...thats the heater core right?

Could that be the reason for the high idel too?

And on a side note...can replacing vacuum hoses with differnt size hoses (as long as they are airtight) hurt anything?

 

YUP............Fogged windsheild/sweet smell/smoke-vapor inside the car.........
heater core!

Use the correct size vac. hose. Larger hose that is a friction fit not clamped will eventually come loose and cause vac. leaks, idle issues, etc.

Use can use it tho. in a pinch.

 

Yep, heater core. Just replace the one on my 1983 T/A. What a royal pain in the A__!!!
suks2bu37

 

Thanks Guys!

I appreciate it so much! Ill be replacing it this weekend...assuming I can find one All the auto parts stores around me didnt have it

As for the vacuum hoses...what I meant was my car came with tiny little plastic hoses that were so brittle they snapped when I touched them...I replaced those with slightly bigger rubberized hoses, but the connection at the fitting is very tight and secure...

So as long as the ends are secure, bigger hoses dont matter? For the bigger hoses I used all lthe correct sizes..

 

Mine was a easy 1 hour job.

 

Um...Im a little confused here...

In my haynes manual there is this long long list of things including pulling the entire dash apart...

The tech files on this board say you only need to remove the dashpad and the under side of the passenger side dash...

I followed the instructions on here because they looked easier, but I can only see the bottom 3 bolts...cant see the top 3 anywhere, even from on top of the dash, or outside of the car through the windshield

So which instructions did you guys follow?

 

Listing your car's year, make, and model is always helpful. Here's a link that may provide some useful info:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...e-82-86-a.html

JamesC

 

Sorry!

1986 Camaro Z28 carbed 5.0.

that link looks like its gonna help me out, im heading back out there now to see. Thank you!

 

All 3rd gen heater cores are 100% identical, so the year of your car makes no difference.

As for only seeing the bottom screws. That is normal for going up through the boom of the dash. The 4th is only reached by touch & fell. That is the only way I've ever done it. I've never pulled the dash pad or the whole dash.

 

Make sure the rubber heater core hoses aren't loose or cracked at the firewall.
When I had cores go bad, all the coolant stays in the car on the pass side floorboard, so unless you have holes in your floor I can't see how the coolant got under the car.

 

Since you have an 86, the instructions should be helpful.

JamesC