Leaking Coolant From Climate Control??

[GoldCoastEVO3]

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

Hey Guys,

I have to replace my heater core, and I'm at the point this picture is, and I'm stuck.
I have undone the 4 nuts holding the heater box in, but i'm finding it impossible to remove the hoses from the engine bay. Once these hoses come off is that it?

I'm about one more sore finger away from cutting the hoses off!

Cheers
Tim

 

[EVO-00X]

Yep, pretty much. Disconnect the heater hoses at the firewall and cabling going to the heater box from within the cabin.
Here's one for the record books: Chase did a heater core swap on a mate's car a couple of months ago. He did it from the glovebox side of the dash without removing the dash! :lol: .
This is true because he did it in my driveway! lol :lol: I dont know how he did it or how much he had to push and shove his way in and out of there, but somehow he managed to swap one out! :blink:
Problem was, even though he changed it, the replacement leaked anyway so it was back to square one for the car. Maybe one of the plastic elbows cracked or got damaged whislt squeezing it in?

 

[mymidlifecrisis]

Holy Crap! You've pretty much taken everything out!
I've just removed my climate control this arvo. Bit of a pain in the butt imho. Can't remember how many screws to undo, but yeah disconnect the heater hoses from within the engine bay and undo 2 bolts at the top and same at the bottom ( I think!), and unclip the centre air ducting ( where the hazard light switch is ) and it should come out .
Btw, I left most of my dash in and basically removed everything in 3 stages down the passenger foot well.
Now I've got a climate controller to get rid of...

Cheers Dean

Sorry, btw, you have undone all the other bolts holding the fan and condensors? Mine came out in three stages, quite easily!, starting from left to right - the heater unit, the last, being the most difficult.

 

[ENGINR]

Just ditch it all - who needs a heater, fan and a/c anyway?!?

Rain-Ex on the windscreen for anti-fog - wear a jacket if you get cold - wind the window down if you get too hot!

 

[LWNSLW]

I think Angelo's heater core is stuffed rob, ill take it out and check it next time i see him and have 10mins to have a look... But yes it can be done by only removing the a/c evaporator (the box in between the fan blower and mixer unit). Then u can see the elbows they break all the time cardboard plastic lol...

 

[evo-gsr]

Just ditch it all - who needs a heater, fan and a/c anyway?!?

Rain-Ex on the windscreen for anti-fog - wear a jacket if you get cold - wind the window down if you get too hot!

LOL!! Gold Sheyne!!

 

[937EVN]

Wow glad i Searched and found this.
Yes i now have the same problem coolant pouring straight onto passenger floor and also in drivers footwell.

I did notice only the day this occurred that the bottom centre only part of windscreen started to fog up while driving.
i thought time for de-fogger to fix this.
But this was a warning sign of the high temperature leak, if this happens check your heater system immediately before it completely fails and you too have to extract your whole carpet to clean and dry your floor.

was told by Red Devil radiators when i rang them to ask, it's actually unroadworthy to bypass the heater hoses but if you get pulled over by cops tell them you've got it booked in to get fixed
in a week or so.
hope this helps.
Good thread with helpful posts thanks

 

[4piknup]

yep bypass them as soon as they start leaking. you can smell the coolant as soon as you turn fan on. also i had a core blow on me in the old valiant, it was spraying hot water into driver footwell, while i was driving, while wearing thongs. made it hard to use the brakes.

i still drive in thongs

good to know proton doesnt fit too

 

[EVO-00X]

Yep, happened to me in the meantime too :unsure: .
First thing I noticed was some condensation on the inside of the windscreen/windows and I put it down to the weather over winter...
Second thing I noticed was some misting of the windscreen whilst driving and the smell of radiator coolant - damn!
I drove the car straight home and when I shut off the engine she let go... psssshhhhh.... hot coolant spilled into the passenger and driver side foot wells :angry:
So up went the carpet and underlay, out came the rubber grommets in the footwells to release the water and out came the entire dash.
I removed the rightmost fan box (had to loosen the black one a little to make it a bit easier) and removed the heater core.

My problem wasnt because of cracked plastic pipes though, it was my actual heater core itself that had split - something I totally forgot to check during the 8 years or so my car sat dormant in the garage! :lol:
How many guys with project cars here forget about the water still sitting in their heater core pipes for months or years?? :lol: the insides of my core was fubar!!

Having seen heater cores and pipes causing members many dramas over the years I ditched the smaller Lancer core and plastic pipes and fitted a larger Evo core with custom made stainless pipes instead.
I made the pipes about 20mm longer into the engine bay too so it was easier to fit my new wire reinforced silicone heater hoses onto as well (pissed off the weak OEM rubber heater hoses)
My last line of defence is using a quality brand anti-corrosive antiboil radiator fluid.
That should do it B)