I'm relatively new to cars and what not but ever since I've purchased this camaro it's been destroying my wallet LOL. I bought it for $1,000 so you could call it a project car, but ive invested in almost $800.

Oil pan's been replaced, Power steering line leak, and on Friday I had to drop it off at a garage because it kept stalling/idling horribly upon stop signs etc. Apparently it had been running on only a few cylinders, being it a v6, along with the spark plug wires/spark plugs themselves being burnt/melted to hell.

So fast forward 24 hours and my friends sitting in the passenger side seat, and goes What the hell there's antifreeze leaking under the dashboard.. Great. So somewhere I have a leak in the Heater core, I checked the two hoses underneath the hood and they seem perfectly fine - so it has to be inside the dash and Im curious what somebody would recommend. Idiotically I grabbed a bottle of Prestone stop&leak radiator/heater core fluid, but ive yet to use this.

Any help would be great, thanks.

edit: It's an 89 RS Camaro, 2.8 v6. auto

 

Best thing to do: Replace the core. Or you'll end up with a huge rust stain in the carpet like I have . Only way to do this is to remove the dashboard.

 

Yep the dash has to come out to replace the heater core. Best to do it now and not have a problem in January on a 5 degree day and have to change it out in a garage without much for heat in Michigan......... it sucked a lot, lol. and youre lucky youve only spent $800, just wait till youve dropped thousands like some of us have on our cars, then youre talkin a project car, lol.

 

Like Maverick & drdave said, best is to change the core- you really don't want to use stop leak b/c it'll gunk up the rest of the engine. (Stop Leak would be something I'd use if I was 1000's of miles in the middle of nowhere.)

I changed mine without removing the dashboard. It wasn't fun, and I think I remember (hey it was a long time ago- in 1997 I think!) that I did have to loosen the dashboard bolts on the passenger side to get some room when I pulled out the heater box cover- but it is possible. It's not fun at all, very tight spot (might want to remove the passenger seat to get more room), but it's possible.

 

I agree with TomP I didn't have to drop my dash either. Will take some time but you should be able to complete the job in about 2 hrs without dropping the dash.

 

Do you drive it in the winter? If not just plug up the hoses. Thats probably what I'd do if mine started leaking..

 

I actually did this today. I connected both hoses with another piece of rubber/tightened the clamps around and wah-lah. Decided just to bypass it for now because I wont be driving it this winter.

Crappy thing is, my floor on the driver side rusted out completely but luckily a friend of mine is great with sheet metal. Layed down a new floor LOL. Pretty ghetto but its unnoticeable.

Thank you all for your help.