Overheating, Leaking, In the Shop Now...

[Soundguy01tx]

Alright, so my 91 XLT has been acting up lately. I noticed a little while back that she would get warm, so I added coolant/water to the dry resevoir. No big deal, probably a small leak... I checked the resevoir consistently after that. Not really any more leaking. No more heating up, so more overflow, etc. Monday night, I drive to the store, and I can smell that wonderful rusty coolant smell. I look at my gauge, and it says Hot... I pull over, and sure enough, bone dry resevoir. So I pull out the emergeny water jugs from the back (just in case) and fill it up. Seems to cool it down, I drive it home. Yesterday, drive 4 miles to work, no problems. I let it sit all day. I start it up to ocme home, smell that rusty smell again, and by the time I get to the bank to deposit a check, I am overflowing coolant like a mad man. Actually I don tknow if it was overflow or leak. Its bone dry again. I park, cash my check, and come back out to find the windshield steamed up. My A/C vents are steaming. I refill the resevoir and carefully watch the gauges as I drive it home and park it. I have looked in the engine, and see no wet spots, but if I look from under I see it dripping but cant see the source. All this to say it goes in the shop this morning. Any ideas of what it could be? The drippin comes from the passenger side, where it funs along the interior wheel well and drips on the ground from there.

Any ideas? Possible causes? Thanks guys, Ill let you know what they say.
--Bryan

 

[lonestar]

Heater Core!! I would change it myself for much less $$$ than the mechanic.

 

[Soundguy01tx]

How much will it run a mechanic? How hard is it to replace/fix?
--Bryan

 

[lonestar]

from Autozone
HEATER CORE for a
1991 FORD TRUCK EXPLORER
GDI 398001 LLT $16.99

seems a little low for a heater core, I was thinking closer to $50, but anyway a shop will probably charge you double for the part and around 2 hours of labor, so maybe close to $175.

I don't beleive it's too hard to change. Just disconnect the heater hoses at the firewall and pull the heater core out from under the glove compartment. The glove compartment door just pulls out, undo a few bolts and the A/C-heater plenum should come out, replace the core and install the plenum. Check out a Haynes manual.

 

[Soundguy01tx]

Yeah, sure enough... heater core... $225 to replace ( I think NOT) or $50 to bypass it... I said bypass it, and Ill fix it myself later... I dont have time to fix it myself now, so Ill just suck it up and pay for it. I didnt mention this but when I went to start my car to take it to the shop, it had a dead battery... they replaced the positive cable for me too. Nice guys they are. I trust them, I really do. I know the owner haha. Thanks for the quick, and correct diagnosis this mornign.
--Bryan

 

[Charlie's_93EB]

$50!!!! WOW at first i bypassed mine for less than $5, then a few months later is got cold.
$20 at auto zone w/life time warr. while you are at it spend the $5-$8 more dollars and get the two NEW hoses and hoses clamps trust me.

if you are big like me it will be a tight fit and 30-40 mins. (10 mins after you do it one time)

1 move the pass. seat back.
2 i think 4, 10mm bolts? are holding on a cover. near where the left foot of pass.
3 pop the old hoses off in the engin compartment
4 put a rag in the old core so you do not get coolent in your truck
5 put new heater core and hoses in and reattach
6 add 1/2 gal or so of water
7 start it up look for leaks

 

[lonestar]

$50 I wonder how they "bypassed" it. All you needed was $0.99 short peice peice of 3/8" tubing to put betwwen the heater core inlet and outlet hose.

I'm losing coolant also, unfortunately I believe mine is in the heads, hopefully just the gasket.