testing a heater core

John ED Renstrom

PCS Member
Super Site Supporter
ok we know we have a leak but is it repairable or not and if we replace it how do we test the new one.

as we do not have all the rubber plugs and the hose fittings how are we to test the core. you will need a container of water big enough to submerge it in to. kiddies wadding pool, that plastic sled, the wheel barrow or a 5 gal bucket. of course some air any compressor that you can adjust the air presser on will work. remember it operates at 15 psi

for our test we made a jumper hose and pushed it onto the nipples then cut a small slit in it. we left the 3/4 nipple with out a clamp for safety and clamped the 3/4 hose on the 1/2 in nibble to seal that end. then slipped the blow gun into the slot. both of the cores we could submerge in the 5 gal bucket. when you put them in rattle it around enough to loosen the taped air before blowing into the hose. fill it with air and look for the bubbles.
 

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I just had the heater core replaced on my 2007 PT Cruiser... OMG $100 for a new core and 6 hours to re and re and thats what the book say's

it took the guy 7 hours to do the job $600 later
 
there is no reason they can't be engineered to remove form under the hood with a couple screws, ford did it for a few years.
 
The reason that they are so difficult to remove, is because they are installed as a complete assembly at the manufacturing plant, and many times, they are installed prior to the rest of the dash. Everything is done to cut assembly time, and without regard for service at a later date. Most times, by the time the part needs to be serviced, the car will be long out of warrantee. Some components are so deeply buried in the vehicle, it can take 20+ hours to service them. Last summer, I saw a car that was being worked on by two mechanics taking a dash apart, just to get to a $1.00 part that was keeping the air conditioning unit from turning on. The labor bill for that repair was over $1000. Today, you don't want to own a car unless it is under warrantee. Once it is out of warrantee, you are at the mercy of the dealership to fix it. The days of your local mechanic repairing your modern car are gone for the most part. Everything is controlled by electronics, and require thousands of dollars of equipment just to service them. Mercedes uses a system, where the car is plugged into a computer that communicates with the factory in Germany, does the diagnostics, and sends back a report of what needs to be changed to make the repair. The technology is so closely guarded, that they don't even trust their own dealers to have access to it.
 
Bought a 2007 Ford Expedition from a local Police Dept , Police Chief told me Mechanic at local repair shop gave the Chief a price of $2200.00 to repair intermittant miss in motor major work needed. I put my Snap On scanner on it and many codes were present. Showed it needed O2 sensors spark plugs coil packs throttle position sensor and more. Drove it and going up a hill miss was real bad after clearing codes. Then I am looking the engine computer is mounted on firewall with the plugs facing the front of the truck the plugs look dirty and cruddy. I pulled the plugs off and cleaned the plugs and the pins on the computer with DeOxit electronic cleaner. Took it for a road test again and all was well. Point here is the scanner can't tell you if connections are dirty or open. Can only tell if the component is not working not WHY its not working. Thus you have mechanics replacing parts that do not cure the problem because the scanner tells them the component is bad. Or it does cure the problem because in the process the contacts are cleaned by plugging and unplugging.
 
bad connections and leaking vacuum lines have cost a lot of people big money. the truth is there is no incentive for the manufacture to make the thing easily repairable, after all they are in the business of selling cars not repairing them. but i wish they would produce at least one old man car.
the Ida if sitting in the car with the owners manual in your lap for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the radio on and select a station is just not appealing to me. I'm just glad this 15 sets it's own clock
 
glad you know that but that ain't the way you do it on a GMC. so which of us has the mack or apple or hp or is it del
 
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