Leaking Coolant From Climate Control??

[evo-gsr]

As the title suggests, I have noticed a smell of coolant within the car and tracked it down to the passengers footwell SOMEWHERE up/behind the climate control boxes... Now-to save me from crippling my back by getting headfirst into footwell, has anyone else had this happen or have any idea where the coolant could be leaking from??:huh:
I haven't actually had the chance to look myself so any advice in advance or what to look for first would be greatly appreciated....:thumbsup:

Oh- I forgot to add that this is in a CC Gsr with evo 3 motor and climate control

 

[DOUGMO]

it will be the heater core
or the little knecks off it than go through the firewall and connect to the heater hoses.
if you go second hand you can use a ce lancer one which will obviously be alot newer and the knecks wont be as brittle-its not really a massive job but it will take a good few hours to do

 

[bazeng]

If you want a quick fix, just loop the heater hose in the engine bay and fully disconnect the heater core.

That way, you'll quickly identify if it is the core or not (about 99% sure it'll be that!!, unless somebody ran some water lines into your cabin!)...

Not a fun job to change either.

 

[evo-gsr]

Excuse my ignorance George and bazeng- but what exactly goes wrong with the heater core and why does it leak?? Am I hoping for a miracle to get away with it being one of the necks you mention or is it more likely to be the core??

 

[DOUGMO]

its no more work to change the whole core mate. in a lancer you take out the glove box and go in from the lhs- the core can corrode but as i said more often than not the knecks fail as they are plastic and with the heat generated buy the coolant they get brittle and break up.

 

[EVOCPE]

It works just like a radiator, sometimes it may get blocked and spring a leak.... then again it might even be the neck as they are piss weak and crack

 

[evo-gsr]

Ok ok... I'm beginning to get it!! So I get to it thru the glovebox-bit more info on what to remove to get the core out would be very helpful!!

Would I be best to drain as much coolant out of the engine and radiator as possible first too??
Never touched any of this before so I may sound dumb but i assure you I do understand and once I look at it in daylight all of your advice will come in very handy...

 

[EVO-00X]

I found that I always had to remove the entire dashboard and the white rightmost fan box to remove the heater core and change the plastic elbows. God those plastic elbows suck.
Usually have to loosen up the black centre aircon box as well to pull it back a little and give you a bit more room.

 

[DOUGMO]

you need to pull the whole heater box out of the car and then remove the core from the box.
you will need to undo the hoses under the bonnet-unplug the climate control plugs and also which i did forget about until now is the ac evaporator box which will require the gas to be removed and then once refitted you will need to get it regassed.

 

[evo-gsr]

I found that I always had to remove the entire dashboard and the centre heater box to remove the heater core and change the plastic elbows. God those plastic elbows suck.

Jesus... Now you've thrown a spanner in the works, haven't ya!!?!?:w00t:

 

[DOUGMO]

with an electric drill it should only take about 45 to pull the whole dash out- but then again i have had a few goes at it in the past

 

[evo-gsr]

Ahhhhhhhh Fuck.... That's what I didn't want to hear!!
There goes my Sunday arvo of relaxation!!! Once it's all out can the car be driven if I just use bazeng's quick fix method of looping the hose from block??

 

[DOUGMO]

yes- make sure it seals properly but make sure you have a way of looping(joining the hoses) first before you go too far.

 

[EVO-00X]

Ive lost count of how many times I've had dashes in and out lol. Can probably remove them in a CC in under 20 minutes depending on stereo gear to undo lol. The fan box however is a c*nt to remove because its such a tight squeeze in there. Its easier when you remove the vertical bars which bolt to the floor up to the cross bar. You'll need to undo the bolts on the driver's side box also where it joins the middle airbox.
Its the one circled in yellow in the pic below

 

[boostboy76]

I'm going to have to undertake the same thing before winter comes.

My GSR had the heater hose workaround bazeng mentioned in place before I even bought it!

What a head f*ck, all because mitsubishi couldn't be bothered using quality parts!!

 

[EVOCPE]

Im pretty sure you can replace the plastic elbows with some good quality Proton ones....

Rob will know more about this

 

[EVO-00X]

NOTE

Ah man, rewind a little. I was a bit on the 'la-la' side last night, the heater core lives in the rightmost white box (closest to the driver and directly behind the stereo). Dont pay attention to the black middle one which has the aircon shit it in lol... You still need to undo the bolts that join the black box to the white heater box together though. Dont touch your aircon lines, leave them intact, dont remove the black centre box at all as you dont need to. Just undo the 2 heater hoses from the firewall and remove the white box in order to get the heater core out. (Ive edited my post on the previous page with the thumbnail pic in it)

Nope, the Proton uses different elbows as its located in a slightly different spot in their heater boxes, their heater cores are a rectangle shape different to the CC LAncer so they cant be used, and THEIR heater boxes are black in colour (thats where I got confused with the black box as I have also done Proton heater cores and the heater core box in them is black... Mitsu CC heater core box is white).

Anyhow, the UF Nimbus has alloy heater core lines and elbow. The squre bases of them where they mount to the heater core is same size as a CC Lancer, just that you would need to cut and turn the pipes a little and alloy weld them on to get the right angle. I got pics somewhere as I sussed it out before when trying to figure out an alternative to the dreaded plastic Mitsu CC Lancer plastic crap lol

*Edit 3zercrowd*

Removed posts 15-20 as per Robs request. Wrong information entered that would dick some people around and confuse.

 

[evo-gsr]

Thanks for clearing up the confusion.. So far I've managed to loop the hoses back together with a brass fitting I had laying around from remote oil cooler(pics later)
now as I post this I'm sitting in the car looking at it all and the fucking thunder has signalled the start of a big storm!!! So I gotta pack up all my shit and leave it for another day before I get pissed on from above... My garage isn't wide enough to work with the doors of car open so it looks like I'm off to the bottle shop!!!! At least I have stopped the flow of coolant into the car which is a BIG start considering the whole passenger side carpets are completely drenched from front to back in coolant!!!

 

[EVO-00X]

lol yeah completely bypass going into the firewall altogether as a temp fix OR permanent fix, depending on your slant lol. Your heater wont blow any hot air into the cabin now though so it'll be something you'd want to fix before the cold weather sets in.

 

[evo-gsr]

Yeah it will be a temporary fix for now... Will fix it one day!! First thing I gotta do is get the carpet out, wash it down and let it dry it is soaked!! Not too worried about the heater side of things it rarely gets cold in the car due to the heat generated from the engine...