Heater Core Leak

eburrows

Well-known member
Seems like my truck is one-after-another making it's way through the list of standard failures. Now the heater core is leaking.

I have neither the time nor money to do or get this done, so my question is: Can I stop coolant flow into the core easily? Either by clamping the supply/return tubes, or by connecting the supply/return together?

Being in So. Cal, this time of year, I have VERY little use of the heater anyway!

Secondly, has anyone out there done a heater core replacement on a D2? Is it truly necessary to completely remove the HV/AC unit (requiring a dump/recharge of the AC system)?
 

eburrows

Well-known member
Ok, I gave in to the instinct to fix, instead of procrastination. I got enough of the trim removed or loosened for me to remove and replace the heater matrix, but the damned little pipe connections are driving me mad!

The factory procedure is to remove the whole heating/cooling unit, and replace the heater matrix while it's on your bench, and you can get the little pipes perfectly lined up. Doing it in place, the pipes are not positioned perfectly, and so the maddening tiny pipe clamps won't make a good seal.

(These are not normal pipe clamps, like for flex-hose. Both ends here are hard aliuminum pipes, flared at the end, and a cupped ring goes around to clamp them together.)

I don't think I'm going to be able to manhandle these things into position, without removing the unit as a whole. Who's idea was it to use the damn hard pipes instead of flex hose?!

Maybe I could bridge them together with some standard heater hose and a couple pair of standard hose clamps? Any ideas?