So I'm driving down the road to work, and It seemed as if the window was starting to fog up. So - I then smelled the faint scent of...antifreeze!! I thought to myself immediatley - this can't be good.

Pulled into the gas station and popped the hood....everything looks good...then I spot a green puddle running from under the car.

My last week before I was gonna tuck it away for winter and the heater core blows on me. And what a serious PITA it is.

Ani-freeze all over my new carpet...wet nasty... Anyways if I tried to do fix this like my Haynes manual says, I'll have to unbolt and move my console, drop the steering column...etc,etc...

Anyways, I refuse to go through all that pulling the dash out ordeal, and I'm halfway done now. I just removed the dashpad, unbolt the speaker frames and center cross brace, and I was able to shift the dash about 2" rearward so I could barely get at that stupid top bolt on the heater core cover. You have to practically be a contortionist to get that thing apart!

Now if I can get everthing back together without breaking anything....Geez ...it's about the only thing I have'nt replaced. Any "Tips" I need to observe while wrestling with this thing tomorrow??? I'm done ranting now.

 

Oh - and what takes anti-freeze out of carpet??

 

Ive never done it but heres the tech article in case u overlooked it. hope it helps good luck
https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...atercore.shtml

 

I had to repair my heater core a few weeks back. "yea I'm cheap"
It took a whole 10 minutes to remove it 15 to put it back in. Dont listen to the book, theres no need to rip the dash apart. I'm going to look in ther labor guide monday and see what time the R&R of a 3rdgen heater core calls for, I'm sure if the labor guide aurthor decided to take the dash apart its got to call for at least 3 hours ooooh I could make a killing just doing 3rdgen heater cores.

Edit: And theres no need to remove the dash pad either, it not like you could slide your hands down between the dash and the firewall with all the air ducts intact.

 

wow SSC. That's fast. And I thought changing my alternator in 36 seconds was quick I think my heater core took me the better part of two hours. A lot of that time was spent lining it up and figuring out exactly what to do(was my first core).

 

Very hot water, then blot with old bath towels to extract as much water and solution as possible. Do this mutliple times, since the anti freeze concentrate will get progressively weaker with every dilution. (Lather, rinse, repeat...) I had to do the same thing on my '86 when the carpet was only 18,000 miles old. Fortunately, it still looks like new, which is pretty sad (Pimp-Daddy Red/Grey scheme).

Too bad you didn't do an archive search before you started. On most ThirdGen cars you don't even need to remove the upper dash pad (I didn't).

When you're tired of changing heater cores, you might want to try Dex Cool antifreeze.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Incidentally, I think Brett is going to be ready to go. The doctor prescribed a high-protein seafood diet for faster healing...

 

When you're tired of changing heater cores, you might want to try Dex Cool antifreeze.


PLEASE DONT my friends (one of which is a meachanic for gm) said dont DO NOT use it. they have had alot of probl;ems with that stuff. it is not good for your car gm has a contract with them so recommended it at first now the cars are all having a problem that use it. it is almost like it is like acid. use the prestone.

 

if dex cool is the orange coloered antifreeze, that's what my sonoma came stock with. 35000 miles and no problems yet.

 

dexcool=crap in my opinion. I work at a GM dealer as a technician and I absolutely hate it. I wouldnt put that stuff in anything but the waste antifreeze container. and as for you having it for 35000 miles when was the last time you took your cap off and looked in the radiator most turn out to look like the cooling system looked like it was filled with mud.

 

I rest my case. Ive never personally heard a good word about it. especially from gm workers.

 

I had almost the same scenario happen to me with my heater core. I also took off the dash pad and pulled the dash out about 2" to get at that top screw. It was a real pain. But I finally got it all put back together and not a problem since.

One thing that I did to help soak up some of the anti-freeze was use one of those little hand held wet vacs. After that I put a couple of pages of newspaper under the passenger floor mat. Changed out the newspaper every other day or so. Newspaper can actually soak up a decent amount of water. After doing that for a bout a week it was pretty dry and no lingering smell.

Good luck. Let us know how the progress is going.

Bill.

 

Well everyone, it was a success. All fixed now. if you can do tis in 15 minutes or so SSC - you're my hero. No way I could have done this with the dash pad on. Either my arms don't bend that way...or I'm too old to bend that way..

Vader....Maybe since NOW - everything is pretty much new - maybe switching to Dexcool would be good??

I'm hearing conflicting posts. I'll try what you said on the carpet. I'm just not happy about it right now. So now I'll hopefully be leak free for another 103,000 miles??? - Figure the odds...

 

Yeah - I know what you mean- I could barely snake my hand down through the top and just "touch" the screw with my fingertips. It was a B**tch getting a rachet on it.

The paper thing sounds like a great idea...I'll try that.

 

listen to meridius....... im sure he see's exactly what i see every week at the dealership. Cars coming in left and right with intake gaskets leaking. that Dex cool is $HIT, i bet GM will switch back over or to something new in the near future or when the contract runs out. I know at the chevy dealership i work at we do probably 4 or 5 intakes a week and these are on brand new vehicles some that havent even got their first oil change yet.

 

the last time I looked at it was 3 weeks ago when I did my winter tuneup, and it looked about the same as when it was new. But my bird gets a good quality ethlyene glycol every 2 years. I understand some people have problems with it but so far its working for me.

 

I know from experience that the stuff isnt as good as they say it is. sure you dont have to flush it out for awhile but the truth of the matter is that your supposed to put an additive in it every so often and I know that that stuff isnt that cheap. As for the intake gaskets Im so soick of seeing them leak its not funny, the 3.1 and 3.4 seem to be the worst at keeping them sealed up. we at the dealership have even gotten to the point that we start to reccomend that as soon as the warrenty is up we flush it out completely by taking freeze plugs out and everything to get everything out and replace it with the green stuff. but as for the whole heater core thing you want to talk aout one that is a pain in the a$$ to do try doing it on a newer model GMC Full size truck, the whole damn dash has to come oue I mean everything right down to the steering column, now thats fun.

 

LOL i hear ya meridius.... gotta love those venture vans im getting pretty good at doing those... make some decent time and money on them the book pays around 7 hours i think i am getting them down in about 31/2 or 4. HAHA i hope i never have to do a heater core that sounds like a real PITA... the other thing that is killing me is all the fuel pumps!!! you would think GM would re-design them or start putting access pannels in the trunks or under the back seats... but oh yeah they enjoy making cars hard to work on

 

To SSC; How about spreading the news about how you really got around the problem changing the core without removing the pad. I find it hard to believe any core can be removed that easy. Mine is still good, but one day I am sure that info could be really handy
For my info and others--please share

 

Vader r u still comfertable using dex cool? take it from me talk in person to GM mech that have to deal with fixing the problems it causes. Kev

 

My friend at the GMC dealership tells me the same thing. Avoid the dex-cool like the plague. Lots of mud in the system, if it's mixed with anything else, too. Stick with the old green stuff.
-Rich-

 

I sincerly appreciate the advice. I also suspect that GM will NOT be changing back to a silicated anti freeze formula any time soon. They may change the formula for DexCool (can anyone say "DexCool II" ?), but because of environmental and warranty concerns, I think the plain green polyethylene glycol is going to be history in more cars than just GM's.

I also suspect that there is something wrong with a lot of cars out there, or their assembly. I'm down to five vehicles (finally). Everything I have has been on DexCool since 1997, except the air-cooled lawnmowers (only because I can't find the friggin' radiators). The only problem I've had is a water outlet gasket leak on the TA when I initially changed over. After cleaning the flanges correctly and replacing the gasket, I've had no problems. Taking a little more time up front tends to pay off, which is probably why I'm in "Day 3" of a clutch change on my truck. After cleaning, painting, polishing, rerouting wire harnesses, and other details that the factory forgot, I should have a better-than-average vehicle, which is just the way I like it. Incidentally, everything has been flushed and refilled on schedule, since I'm a maintenance kind of guy. I've converted the '86 TA and the '94 Impala SS. Everything else came with orange juice in it from GM.

I realize that DexCool has a smaller molecular structure and greater adhesion than the "old green", so it will tend to leak more. For those same reasons, it has a better latent heat capacity. I also understand that when contaminated it will readily precipitrate any solids, creating the "red mud" many of you see in cooling systems. But, just like the synthetic lubricants I use in everything, (lawnmower included) it doesn't create leaks - it only finds and exploits them. Any of you diesel or turbine mechanics will know exactly what I mean, since kerosene has similar properties. Ever seen an airframe that wasn't "protected" with a nice film of light oil?

I'm guesing that just like the original Auto-Trak and old Dexron II fluids, DexCool will have it's revisions, probably due mostly to the field service problems some have had with it. Remeber, alcohol used to be the best anti freeze you could put in your radiator for many years.

I could be wrong, and have every heater core, hose, fitting, and gasket let go on me tomorrow. If you don't see me posting for a few days, you'll know it hit the fan....

And for Confuzed1, do anything interesting last night?

 

Cool I hope for your sake it doesnt hitthe fan.
ROTFLMAO

 

I'm totally with Vader on this one. The problems you're seeing are a result of bad design, not "acidic coolant". GM's newer low torque intake gaskets suck, and are the cause of many coolant leakage problems.

MY experience with Dex Cool has been excellent. I am the Vehicle Maintenance Manager at a ski resort in Park City Utah. Our fleet consists of 12 snowcats, 20 general vehicles (trucks, vans), and some miscellaneous heavy equipment. We run Dex cool in all of it. Of course all the Chevy trucks and vans come with it, and so does all the Caterpillar heavy equipment. But the Bombardier snowcats, Polaris snowmobiles and the few remaining Ford junk that we have, they have all been converted to Dex-cool at their first coolant change interval, thus ending all cooling system maintenance for the rest of the time we own the vehicle -except for a cooland filter on the snowcats once a year(down from 4 times a year, plus doing ph tests and managing additives...Ugh!). I was the first ski resort in the region to use dex-cool in cats, and now most of the other areas have followed suit. And they're loving it now too.

Besides the "no" maintenance advantages, we have observed some other characteristics: Better cooling, and LESS leakage. I'll explain. The snowcats are obviously designed to run in cold weather -at night, in the winter. Due to cramped quarters within the frame, and the supposed operating environment, the snowcats have radiators that are technically too small for the power they produce. Because of the cold temps, most of the time, they work great. But when pushing large amounts of snow on a warm spring day, it isn't uncommon for them to get hot, and the operator some times has to sit for a few minutes to let the cat cool. When we switched to Dex-cool, the over heat alarm notes on the oporators logs disappeared. That tells me that the Dex-cool has better heat transfer properties.

The other interesting observation we have made it that when there IS a leak such as a loose bleeder nipple, the stuff seems to coagulate and actually slow or stop the leak.

I also run it in my Trans Am, my Chevy truck, and and in my personal Polaris Storm 160 hp mod sled. All with no problems. No leaks. Just good heat transfer properties, and no maintenance. In this case, newer IS better.

Oh, BTW. To the origional poster. The Camaro dash must be very different than the f-bird dash. I can change my heater core in just over a half hour. Passengers kick panel, access door to the heater box, and there it is.

 

<--- been using dexicool for 2 years now since the engine swap, no problems. Only issue was a bad stat gasket so went with the $9 chrome o-ring and then after installing my tranny cooler (moved radiator a bit) the hose came loose on the upper intake. That was a real mess. Still haven't had any problems with the dexicool and I'll continue to use it with some waterwetter and 50/50.

 

Back on the heater core topic, off Dexton or whatever

I went to do the heater core in my 1989(VIN'd 89) so here I am removing the entire dash.... some one clues in that since it's built in August it might be an 88...

With the 89 apparently you need to take the entire dash off.. but maybe you can do what I did with the 88.. there's 2 plastic covers and I was able to reach all of the bolts even though contorsionism is an advantage... It was much more of a pain in the but getting it back in and the pipes through the firewall but we did it...

One of the things that I did after this was 1, put a lower PSI rad cap on(13 instead of 15)... Kept the rpm's under 3000 till I put a washer in the input hose... went from 5/8s diameter to 1/4... I don't have any heating problems and this reduces the amount of coolant going to the core.... ergo less chance of blowing another core. Hope this helps.

 

Like SSC said, it's not really hard at all to change. The dash pad doesn't need to be removed at all. Remove the lower panel and the trim panel below the map pocket. Remove the two screws holding the ECM and slide it out of the way and you have a straight shot using a couple extensions to get that one screw that everyone says is a bitch to get at on the top of the cover. Remove the bottom 2 screws and remove the cover. You just have the 4 screws holding the heater core and it's out.

 

Can I ask you guys a question whats a dash pad , lower trim panel and lower panel ?

 

Thanks for all the info everyone....It works fine now. I ended up taking the dashpad off along with the passenger side speaker frame. That allowed a slightly better angle to get at the top screw. I also had to remove the hush panel too of course.

I think it's a trade off really..I suppose you could remove the kick panel and computer and get at it too, but I'd rather take the dashpad route myself.

As far as Dexcool goes - I have it in my S-10, and no probs. so far.

Oh yeah, and Vader - The Pack are back on track!!! "Titletown Baby!!!!"

 

Super sport,

The dash pad is the very top part of the dash. It's the part that always cracks out here in the Arizona sun. It is seperate from the rest of the dash and will come off. There are a few screw under the front lip and a few in the heater outlet on the top.

And be careful when you put the screws back in the top part. Don't drop them.

And yes that is the voice up experience speaking.

 

lol tahnks but it is kinda late, I sold my Camaro