heater core pinhole fix

[wbedwards]

I know its been bantered about all over the internet so pls don't flame me. I had a very small weep in my heater core. I really didn't want to rip all I have done out to put a new core in even if I could find one.
I put 0.8 oz/22G of ground ginger root (from my wife's kitchen) pre-mixed with a lttle 50/50 antifreeze in my radiator Sunday and drove and then idled the car with the heater on for about 40 mins. Fixed the leak right up. I am impressed with it. The GM pills called for a little more and Barrs Gold pills called for nearly twice as much but I tried as little as I could then figured I would add more if it didn't work.

 

[paul2748]

I have heard of pepper being used to stop small leaks.

 

[wbedwards]

I have heard that too. Probably would have tried that also to keep from pulling the heater core.

 

[RCM]

Never heard of that solution over at this side of the water. I've heard of bread, sawdust, but never tryed.
I had the oe radiator leaking recently. Soldered it a couple of times, but since the weak spots were on the top pressed steel tank that is rusted on the inside, it just came through at various locations over time. I replaced it with a new allu one (Champion cc4348ch)
If it leaks again you could try soldering it, if it is accessible.

 

[bobss396]

First off, try finding a new heater core for a '59-ish Ford or Edsel. Most of the time they can be repaired, but you have to drop the whole heater box out. I pressure tested mine while the heater was out earlier this year.

Less is more if you need to try a stop-leak method. Those packets of silver seal work well too and won't clog anything up. They used to come in little cardboard tubes the size of a 12 gauge shell.

 

[wbedwards]

When you drop the heater box, is it just bolted straight through the fire wall? Undo the cables and hoses, take the nuts off the engine side and pull it straight out?

 

[parklane]

I have heard of pepper being used to stop small leaks.

Actually, pepper will stop a fairly large leak. Have used it several times, and on one in particular, was still in there when the truck went down the road four years later.

 

[Lanny]

Years ago, I had a scruffy old Pinto. One day a little white smoke started
comming out of the tailpipe, my dad brought out out a small container of
pepper, and dumped a little bit in my radiator (I thought he'd lost it), but
soon the exhaust started smelling like hot pepper, and the white smoke
stopped.
I drove that Pinto two more years before the ****** went out, so then
I sold that rusty pile to the scrapyard, still running pretty good tho.










.

 

[RCM]

When you drop the heater box, is it just bolted straight through the fire wall? Undo the cables and hoses, take the nuts off the engine side and pull it straight out?

On the 56 yes, basically, plus the housing.
Mine was recored.
Be carefull when pulling it out. If you still have those spring type old clamps for fixing the hoses theyr hard to remove due to difficult access. And dont do like I did, pulling and twisting one of the hoses led to breaking the whater inlet neck.
Good luck

 

[bobss396]

When you drop the heater box, is it just bolted straight through the fire wall? Undo the cables and hoses, take the nuts off the engine side and pull it straight out?

I'll attempt to post up a picture of the assembly removed from the car.

I disconnected the heater wires from under the hood, removed the heater motor. The control cables have to come out... take pictures! There the ones at the ends for the fresh-air ducts, others come off the heater dash control.

There is a rubber boot on top of the heater box that goes to the defroster plenum, this fell apart as I took it out. There is no replacement available. I used a Jeep hose. On the passenger side, there is a seal that goes to the fresh-air intake, this I made a new one from an old tire tube I cut up.

Aside from that, the pal-nuts accessed from the engine compartment are the only things holding the heater in place.

 

[bobss396]

Another couple of shots. Here's one showing the defroster plenum under the dash. The oval hole is where the Jeep hose connects to the heater box. We also pressure tested the core to make sure it was good.

 

[wbedwards]

Thanks for the pics bobs396. That doesn't look too bad. I had to make a defroster plenum already for mine. I will see if I can come up with the jeep rubber boot. I used the metal duct tape, not the regular kind for my boot when I did it and painted it black. I didn't have anything but a pic to go by on the defroster plenum and that was a job.

 

[bobss396]

The defroster hose I used was for a Jeep, bought it from Barney's Jeep parts on eBay. I actually bought 2 and sent one back. It was rectangular in shape but was able to be shaped into an oval. I imagine most parts stores would have them.

Looked it up, it was a defroster hose for a 1978-1986 CJ5, CJ7.