So the saga w/the third gen continues...In recent efforts to trying to get the car running right again, I allowed the engine to run for the longest time it has in probably 6 months or more. The car hasn't really been driven at all, but has had various new parts installed, including most of the cooling stuff replaced.

I probably actually noticed it this time because the weather is colder, but as the car starting warming up (10-15 min of running), I start seeing a bit of steam rising up through the dash . At first, I was hoping it was just loose hose connections, and I tightened them. Unfortunately, steam still rises, and I noticed some dripped coolant on the passenger side floor.

So I guess the replacement heater core is bad then? I heard it's possible to remove it without tearing the entire dash apart. Can it be done with the right wrench extensions from above w/the dash cover removed, and not any kind of crazy reaching up from underneath w/the cover panel removed?

 

its less of a headache if you remove the dash and all, the job is a pain

 

When i replaced my heater core i took the whole dash apart, i would also recomend taking out the passanger seat just for extra space, also pick up a screw driver that has a long bendable shaft on it so you can get at anything at any angle

 

heater core is easy dont get intimidated by people saying that the dash need to come out or apart. just need to remove the upper pad, lower hush panel,pcm, rh speaker and bracket, the you can get to the heater box, and yes new parts can be bad, i would also suggest a brass/copper heater core and coolant sys flush.

 

I hate when that happens they should have a law that the company that made the defective part pay for replacing it labor and all.

 

im a ford mechanic at a dealership shop, ford warranties all their parts installed in professional ford shops for 12 months or 12,000 miles. i dont know if other companies do it, but we do and have been alot more often lately.

 

They more than likely did for his car.. 20 years ago. Definitely not going to happen now.

 

There is one other possible theory I do have, but it's probably a bit of a far-fetched one. If I didn't mention it already, when I first installed the core, and ran the car from time to time, unbeknownst to me, the hoses were not clamped quite tight enough on the core pipes. I probably didn't notice it before because the weather was warmer at the time.

When I first noticed this issue, I saw a little bit of coolant dripping onto the firewall, and tightened the hose clamps. The most recent time I ran the car was early this week, and I still had the steam coming through the dash. But here's what I'm wondering. Since the hose clamps were never tight enough to begin with, is it possible that there is a small puddle of coolant that got beneath the heater core this way, and it is simply getting hot and steaming off as the core warms up from the car running?

Bypassing the core is not an option for me, as I have a bad windshield seal and t-tops that leak, so the windows fog up way too badly to try and drive without a defrost! I would have had tried to have this issue solved by now, but w/the car at someone elses property, it's been tough to attend to it since my other car (the daily driver) was badly rear-ended last week (probably totaled).

 

I didn't remove my whole dash or even my seat it was really easy you take thefront panel off them your right to it

 

I have done the same thing on the heater hose clamps, not tight enough and when pressure would build up it would shoot a fine stream of anti freeze into the heater box. The funny thing is I could not tell from the outside that this was happening.

 

I just replaced my heater core two Decembers ago... I had the car in the driveway warming up one night and opened the door to find the car full of steam, talk about a panic attack at first lol figured it was smoke before I noted the smell..! Anyway, coolant smell lasted through my drill weekend so I decided to replace the heater core... Not too bad of a job, did it in one afternoon, without taking off the dash and accessing everything from underneath.. just laid on my back and searched with my hand ubtill I found the screwed holding it in place at the top...
I've got pics so I'll start a thread on the job once I get near a computer to upload the pictures...