Coolant in the Passenger Footwell ...

[dgs]

Not a good sign. Last time I drove it, there was a small about of coolant on the passenger side floor mat. Guess it's time to change the heater core. Or maybe just bypass it for now.

I'm guessing that this is not a fun job, eh? I haven't dove into the shop manual yet.

[Guest]

Not a fun one .time consuming not too difficult.
By pass it til you have a chance to repair it and have the valve sealed and install a new one under the hood.
done it to Guapo and I'm shure Chiquita's will have to be done soon.

[JohnG]

hi John

Your heater is probably leaking and either needs recoring or replacing at some point.

The quick fix is to disconnect it completely and simply couple the two hoses together.

The harder part is cleaning up the darn coolant from the carpet.

John

[Anders]

Ruth do this from time to time. Yesterday was the latest, but before that, she have holding the liquer since May.Winter project.....

[byersmtrco]

If it's a Non AC car it's cake. I've done mine a few times (1st time I was 17) Pretty much do that one in my sleep. Try a 72 El Camino w/factory AC. They pretty much took a heater core & built the car around it.
Lotta screws !!! LOTTA screws !!! Guys that work on the Space Shuttle look at it and say *#%@ Thats allota screws !!!!

[dgs]

By pass it til you have a chance to repair it and have the valve sealed and install a new one under the hood.

Not sure what you mean by "have the valve sealed and install a new one under the hood". I was simply going to pull the heater hoses and run the loop back to the engine. Do I need to do anything else?

Thankfully, the leak was all on the rubber floor mat, I don't think any got on the carpet. Not that the carpet is all that great anyway ...

It'll be a bummer to not have heat for the last cool evenings in the fall, but I've got other projects to do. Materials for refinishing the basement arrive in a week or so, the van needs a new AC condenser ...

[tbird430]

Yes, just loop the hose together so they go back to the motor for now. I think what EG was saying is the original heater core water valve is bolted to the side of the heater core with a rubber seal (which fails often). There is a new heater water valve that is now out the uses a cable to open and close the water flow to the heater core which is now mounted outside in the engine compartment. There are a few NOS thermal heater control water valves out there, you just have to look if you want to stay original (which is what I did). Open up the service manual and check it out.

My car is a hardtop w/ AC. I removed the right front seat and laid on my back upside down to change my heater core, thermal water valve, and seal out back in 1993-ish. It wasn't too bad...

[orwin]

Same thing happened to me. It was not the heater core. There was a thermostatically controlled valve under the dash that leaked.
I was impossible to find an NOS replacement for this valve, so I bought the "under hood" type valve that just uses a bowden cable. Most of the various T-bird suppliers have the valve.

I would check this out before you replace the heater core. It was not that big of a job to take the heater box all apart - also gives you a chance to de-rust and paint all the parts.

- John
1960 430HT

[JohnG]

If you get it out, perhaps take the unit as is (valve and heater) to a radiator shop and have it both flushed out and pressure tested. If you give them the new gasket, they can put it in to rule out that as the point of failure. I simply hate the idea of coolant running into my passenger comparment so I would try to "do it once, do it right". In my case the core was junk but in many other cases on this website, the valve was the issue.

[Guest]

The exterior valve I used was for a 73 F 150 I believe.
and had a radiator shop weld the valve on the heater core.
and had the heater re cored.
It was about $100