Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster.

I'm having a strange issue in which the part you can see in the attached picture is leaking coolant. I'm brand new to cars in general and have an 88 2.8 v6 TBI. The part I'm referring to is the black cylindrical part in the center of the picture. It appears to be leaking from the bottom. There also appears to be a vacuum line attached to the top. Also is the part safe to pull from a junkyard or do I need to purchase a new one from a parts store? Thank you so much for your help, & I hope to one day be a valued contributor of this community once I learn a lot more.

 

That is your heater control valve. I don't know what to tell you... I have replaced 3 of them in the last year in my car. They seem to be a weak link. They cost about $16, and I bought mine at Advance... they guarantee it for a year, so I haven't had to keep paying, but it's a PITA to have to keep changing them and replacing lost coolant.

 

OK thank you for the info. Also is Dex Cool ok to run in our cars? I switched from the green stuff to dex cool on the recommendation of a guy at orilleys but since then I've had to replace my thermostat twice and my thermostat housing 3 times due to cracks/leaks.

 

It's controversial.. You can Google DexCool or check out this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifre...cid_technology

 

Thank you for that link. I'll watch it closely.

 

I personally do not like DexCool. I had a 97 Monte Carlo and a 97 Venture van, both bought brand new from the dealer. They both had major issues with the DexCool, which eventually leaked through my intake gaskets on the Monte and ruined the engine. I'm sure some will disagree, but the green stuff has never given me any problems.

 

I actually found out about it when the plastic on the upper intake of my '96 Bonneville was eaten thorough. Had to replace it, and the gasket at ~$100. I missed out on getting it reimbursed though.

 

Don't use it, its bad stuff and there are law suits related to dex cool. The green stuff has a good rep! I had a 4 year old 2003 vette with 10k on it that developed a leak so I replace the dex cool after reading the stories on the net.