Yeah, so thae heater core is gone which is why I am having steam come through my vents with the smell of Antifreeze. I'm lookin somewhere in between of $500-$700 .

Any ideas from anyone before I start to look for the funds I don't have to pay for this.....

 

Jeff might still have a spare one (eitherway he will reply saying he does not envy you for having to do the work).

 

Is that just for the part? For that kind of money I would try to do it myself and just take the whole dash out.

 

when i took my car to the nissan dealer for an airbound flush, they insisted my heater core was bad...they gave me a quote of $798 for the whole process. parts and labor and all.

the estimate also said they would have to take out the AC evaporator for the process too. and have to recharge the ac system as well.

 

The best price I have found it for is 575 with labor and parts. I'm hoping someone might around the northwest area has done it before and we could try doing it ourselves, then it wouldn't be as bad. 575 is a lot of money and I want the cheapest way out of this haha.

Any Northwesterns (Mr. Gone, Jeff92se.....) wanna make it a project, let me know.......

I'm stuck

 

If your going to do it yourself have fun. I did mine about 2 yrs ago and took me 8hrs. Was not a difficult job but time intensive.

 

Did I call this one right, or what?


I wish I'd been wrong, though.
Good Luck.

 

If you dont have the time or money to do the job, then just get a couple of those tablets that put in your radiator, they will definitly do the trick since it sounds like you only have a pin hole. You might want to put fresh antifreeze/water along with the tablets. It will definitly work and saves you the cash.

 

Yeah, and you can rebuild your engine back to original condition by pouring a can of that goop into your oil.........

 

Those stop leak tabs do work
But, you have to be very careful with them.
I've clogged my heater core before using those tabs

 

TO remove the heater core you need to remove the whole dash? My volvo is doing that, vapor coming out of the vents, smelling like anti freeze, and the windows get all fogged.

 

You're screwed by the volvo

 

Damn Swedes, and damn Japanese. Why the hell wouldn't they put the heater core outside the dash??

 

No kidding.

Ok, I'm planning on working on it with about 4-5 of the northwest maxima guys next week. I actually went to my local auto parts store to pick up some of that leak fix (it was called like bars I think), it was a silver mettalic liquid substance nut the guy that worked there insisted it wouldn't work and that I need a new heater core. Now I know this wont work forever but is it worth getting and putting in untill I get my heater core in?

 

if it works, (the bar's leak) it'll last until the next flush and fill.
BUT, you may lose your heat completely

 

I have no heat anyways haha........

 

OK, here's the update on this lil situation. Like I said I realized that the heater core is gone and so I went out and bought one from the dealership for $200 and so guys and I are going to install it on Sunday. Untill then, I am curious if there is a fuse or a hose that I can unplug or take off to keep any and all air that is coming from the vents which is by the way all steam (I haven't had heat for 2 and a half weeks so i'd rather have no heat and no steam then no heat and steam as well). I really would like to get it done just untill I get it fixed soon cuz I think it's getting worse. Help me out guys haha . Thanks!

 

I wouldn't drive the car at all. Several people have had their blown heater core leak on the ECU and fry it. Very expensive!

 

Just pull both hoses going into and out of the heater core and connect them with a plastic tee ($2 at autozone). That is the poor man's solution.

 

I am very engine bay illertate so I posted some pix real quick to see which one it is cuz I know it's one of these (hopefully). Just let me know the whole tee thing again or whatever to cut off all air into the car temporarily....
Figuring out my heater core....

 

those are the two hoses. I believe the top one is the 'in' and the lower is 'out'

 

so if you smell antifreeze when the heat is on, there is a big problem???? The heater core is broken???

 

Is it ok, just to take the "in" one and disconnect it?

 

No***********

 

Ok. So, disconnect both of tubes and the connect them some how if I even have to connect them together after disconnecting??

I'm curious, could this do anything with my engine/enginebay temp going up. Does that mean the thermostat has something wrong with it?

 

Bump.......

Could someone let me know asap.....

I have to go outside and it's getting cold asap....

Thank you.....

 

you unplug them from the firewall (thats the metal part between the engine bay and cabin), then you find some kind of connector or something to connect them together with.

I'm not sure if you can unplug the wiring harness and vacuum lines to get the same thing to happen. There is that control valve thing on the upper line, about a foot down the line from where it goes into the firewall.

 

Shawn is right -- you can connect the two together.

I did this with my Mustang. I got a U shaped hose from NAPA that was 1/4 size bigger than the hose, cut it to fit, then tightened on two hose clamps. It was kind of messy to do, but I had to wait two months until I could get the new heater core put in. Lots of Mustang guys do this, especially in the South, since they don't need heat and the Mustang heater core is notorious for failing.

This basically bypasses your heater core and keeps everything on the engine side running properly.

You need to keep the antifreeze flowing (can't disconnect/clog them) or your car will lose coolant (disconnect) or not be able to cycle fluid (clog) and it will overheat.

 

out of curiosity, what causes the heater core to go bad? also, is the hardest part of the job tearing the dash apart?

 

Probably old age and or failure to properly maintain the cooling system. (regular system flush and refill)

 

Yup! usually rust / oxidization from not changing your antifreeze every 2 years like you're supposed to.
Too much pressure in the system will do it too

 

Actaually, the hose on the bottom is long enough to go strait into the thermostat (i think it is) without having to connect the two hoses...........................THIS ALL DOES NOT MATTER CUZ I AM GETTING IT FIXED TOMORROW............YES!!!!!!!!!!