Heater core AGAIN?!???

[EWC88]

Well I noticed my passenger side carpet was wet, now it rained here the past two days so I am going check the door weather **** first because that's a common thing, BUT when I was under the dash looking around I saw coolant, not a lot a little drop but in two spots. With a flashlight I tried looking up from there and saw nothing. I'll get pictures where it's at, but is this the heater core again?! I had it replaced 2-3 years ago and now this happens again?!!!

 

[usaf2006]

Did you replace hoses when you did it? Could it be dry rot hoses hopefully? I've never changed a heater core personally so I'm just guessing here.

 

[EWC88]

I didn't do it, someone I knew did it. If I was guessing he did not change hoses because I supplied him with parts and I didn't have hoses. I'll have to ask him because I know he didn't charge me for hoses.

 

[JPT]

The hoses do not go inside the cab. The heater core itself has tubes that extend into the engine compartment, the engine hoses attach there.

The ends of these tubes stick out past the firewall



Sorry... Will be the heater core.

 

[EWC88]

Wonderful! Well I think this time I'm not buying OEM because obviously their **** fails with this...are there any aftermarket reliable heater cores people used out there?

 

[SilverStreak88]

What brand core did you go with?

 

[EWC88]

Straight from dealership..

 

[SilverStreak88]

That's what I was hoping to hear, lot's of issues with the aftermarket crap. Do you have an exact area that's wet? I found my core to dump out high left on passenger floorboard and it just went downhill from there.

 

[EWC88]

Yea I can get a pic exactly where it is, didn't wipe it up yet so I can get pic. There are no puddles, yes that carpet on that side is wet but when I smelt it, it didn't smell sweet like coolant, then when taking panel off I see the weather panel behind door is issue, butyl tape pulled away and wasn't much there. I'll get a picture up in couple mins

 

[EWC88]

You can see in pic where the coolant now dried up, that's were I notice a small amount of coolant. As mentioned above, when I look up with flashlight I see no coolant coming down from anything. Where this was spotted is passenger side all the way to left basically by the center dash.

 

[SilverStreak88]

The guy pulled the whole box? The only real possibility that I could think of is a bad part or he didn't know what he was doing and broke your new part.

 

[EWC88]

I'm assuming her pulled whole thing apart. He replaced at the time blend door, heater core, and a/c evap. He has the truck for 7.5-8hrs the day he did it, and it was done at his work which was dodge dealer lol, so I hope he did it right lol.

So you think get another OEM heater core instead of trying a aftermarket?

 

[Notthatlow]

let your truck warm up and kick on the heater and then look to see if it leaks in the floor. Ive seen a ton of heater cores go out with in a few years of replacing them.

 

[EWC88]

Well I let the truck warm up and after it getting to the temp I let it run on heat for a good 10-15 mins, changing from defrost, to floor, to floor and defrost, to floor and top vents...I saw nothing lol. I took out glove box too just to see what I can from up there and feel around (which was hard) and nothing.

Last time when it went bad I smelt syrup badly, I don't get that this time.

 

[SilverStreak88]

If he's a Dodge mechanic and spent a whole day working on it then I would think that it's done right. It took me 2 days for mine because I pulled off more than I needed to, the heater hoses will not make it leak inside the cab. OEM is the only way to go on that stuff, I've seen to many failures of the "parts house" ones to trust it. I honestly don't see that part being a dud like that unless it got boogered up during install and created a fracture or a pinhole somewhere.

You said you don't smell the Antifreeze smell?? Did your floor become wet over night or does it start dripping when you turn the HVAC system on? Another possibility is that when he pulled it apart the drain got plugged up. The foam that goes on both sides of the blend/mode doors is notorious for flaking off and going everywhere ( I have pieces fly out the vent's at me from time to time).

Edit: I just read your original post and saw that you had it replaced 3 years ago... I was under the impression that it was JUST replaced. I'm leaning more to the plugged drain theory, but as stated about it's not uncommon for one to crap out like that - but it's also unlikely given that the OEM is higher quality and will last longer than 3 years when installed properly.

 

[EWC88]

Well I notice the floor was wet because I lost a debit card lol. Now it was raining the past two days so I knew it came from the door, plus I smelt the carpet and it did not have coolant smell, and when I took door panel off the weather vinyl strip was coming off door so that was obvious were the leak came from. I just happened to be looking around and that's when I saw two little spots the size of half a pea of coolant on that plastic piece. Yes I do NOT smell coolant at all.

 

[SilverStreak88]

Well I notice the floor was wet because I lost a debit card lol. Now it was raining the past two days so I knew it came from the door, plus I smelt the carpet and it did not have coolant smell, and when I took door panel off the weather vinyl strip was coming off door so that was obvious were the leak came from. I just happened to be looking around and that's when I saw two little spots the size of half a pea of coolant on that plastic piece. Yes I do NOT smell coolant at all.

Edited my post above.

 

[EWC88]

Should I get my system flushed or reverse flushed to see what happens?

 

[SilverStreak88]

Should I get my system flushed or reverse flushed to see what happens?

The flush will not do anything to fix it, but if you have a heater core leak, it's likely to find it when they pressurize the system.

 

[EWC88]

Well I didn't know if it could be clogged like you said and see if the flush will push that out?