1998 V70 heater core mystery

[SonicAdventure]

Hello, my heater core is causing some issues, I think.

I'm not losing coolant, overheating or anything, but every time I turn on the heat which works fine, my windows fog up and there is that coolant smell in the car.

I take carpet back and remove panel to inspect core. NO evidence of leaks of coolant or moisture anywhere in or around the core area.

I managed to pull the sticker off the bottom and it is a Hella / Behr produced in 3/2008. So, it's def not the original core.

I happened to be at the scrap yard on Saturday and I pulled another Hella / Behr out of an S70 that also had no evidence of leaking or moisture at all whatsoever in the core area. It's manufacture date is 7/2009.

I'm debating if I should go ahead and pull mine and swap it with the newer one from the yard. Mine must be leaking or weeping or something because I can't figure out the foggy windows otherwise.

I know Behrs are usually considered good cores...I paid $15 for the 2009 one with no evidence of leaks....think it's worth swapping it out or should I bite the bullet and buy a brand new one? Thanks.

[cn90]

Ebay Estonia heater core is $40, FREE shipping.
I don't even how they make any money making such quality product!

[ferocity02]

Mine smelled like coolant too with the heater on but no visible signs of leaking from the bottom of the core. Turns out it was leaking only slightly, not enough to drip, but enough to smell. With the core removed I could see exactly where it was leaking. I'm guessing it would barely leak and because it gets so hot it evaporated before dripping off the bottom. I replaced it with the cheap Swedish one from eBay and no more smell!

[SonicAdventure]

Thanks for the feedback

I guess since I already pulled and paid for this newer Behr, I will go ahead and try removing my existing one and see if this one does any better.

When you pulled your non leaking but still smelling one out, where was it leaking from and how could you tell? Is there a common area to check? Like I said this newer Behr I picked up shows absolutely no signs of leaking or moisture.

Guess I'll try the swap and if the scrap yard one fails, I'll get a new one. Thank god they are so easy to change. Have you ever seen what it takes to change a HC in a 2001 VW Passat?? Practically the entire dashboard including airbags needs to be removed! Ridiculously bad design.

[kahl]

We are the original owner of a 02 V6 Passat with 276 k on the car. No matter what I have to do on the Vols I know it will be easier than working on the Passat.

[abscate]

I've got about 40k 3 years on my Behr replacement and it's fine. I think I paid about 80'bucks for it

[dorvin]

Even if it isn't leaking, once it's removed you may see evidence of leakage between the fins. Your best bet it to replace with new.