I am having major probs with my heater core.First it was leaking a slight bit but in about 4 weeks coolant cant seem to stay away from my passenger side,though it doesn stain my carpet or anything,it stinks as hell and I have to try to dry it up as much as I can and not use my heat which I cant stand seeing my windshield fog up in a blink of an eye.Then after one of my teachers at college,my engines teacher puts in stop leak and at first I thought it wasnt working,now I think it worked too well cause not only did the leak stop,my heater doesnt even come on anymore and it will eventually start steaming,not smoke but steam,and my temp guage goes past red line and at times the coolant in the reservoir is boiling actually bubbling and I have to leave the cover off it to maintain a respectable temp.My car temp guage will reach past red line in about ten mins after starting it up even in this cold wheather of canada.I have no clue whats wrong but I know it wont be cheap to fix the heater core and now maybe my rad is f'ed up too.Any suggestions or comments about what might be wrong and what I can do even though Im broke and just about to replace all 4 disc brakes.How much does a heater core cost and should I do it myself or have someone charge me an arm and a leg to do it for me?

 

I payed about $40 for mine, and I believe you get some money back for a core charge. Anytime you have antifreeze leaking into the car you need a new heater core. I see you have an '86 TA. Well, if the birds are like the Camaros your are extremely lucky. As far as I know the '86 maybe other years you only have to remove a small black panel on the passenger side. Where as all the other years you have to take out the whole dash about a 6hr job. And follow my advice from the other heater core post about taking the old one to the store to make sure the pipes match perfectly.

 

Just had the heater core done in my '92 bird. Cost $212.00 including the core. I was getting quoted 6 to 7 hrs labor at most shops. But this guy took it out the lower left side inside with out moving the rest of the dash board.

 

I did it in my 87 camaro a couple days ago. All that was involved was removing the top dashpad, the passenger side speaker and speaker support(just to get one bolt), the drivers side kick panel, the box surrounding the core, and the four bolts holding the core to a plastic support that bolts it to the rest of the dash. Took a little less than three hours with some breaks to get a drink and play with the mutt of some pretty girl walkin by :p

 

There's a chance the stop leak stuff may have plugged up your radiator, but when you say it pegs the temp. gauge within ten minutes or less, the last time one of my cars did that it was due to a stuck thermostat. Come to think of it, that could also be the reason you're not getting any heat through the core either. You need to replace your core either way if it's leaking. Stop leak has about a snowball's chance in he!! of stopping a leaky heater core. Your other problems still sound like a stuck thermostat to me though. I had one do that in the dead of winter, and it still went to pistol hot in about five minutes or less. The only other thing I've seen cause the coolant to boil in the radiator is a blown head gasket, which will be your next problem if you drive it too long with a stuck thermostat. I ended up cracking a good head thanks to a lousy three dollar thermostat!