Heater Core Total Failure Quick Fix

[callahanoffroad]

As it tends to happen, right at the end of my shift my car's heater core completely failed. when I say failed, I mean dumped half of the radiator fluid onto my floor boards.

So I just thought I'd post this quickie emergency fix for anyone else that this happens to in the future.

You will need:
11" of 5/8" ID Heater Hose & a bottle of premixed antifreeze
a 6" flat blade screwdriver

How to Do It:
pull off the feed and return hoses from the block to the heater core by loosening the clamps with the screwdriver
remove the old clams off the old hoses
push the heater hoses out of the way
Pop the temp hose in its place with the clamps on the new hose
tighten down the clamps very tightly
Fill the radiator reservoir
start the car,
let it get up to temp with the cap off feeding fluid into it and it starts to gulp it down.
replace the reservoir cap and get it wherever it needs to go.

Technically, you could drive your car like this indefinitely. But, you wouldn't have any heat in the winter.

Luckily for me, I have a brand new heater core sitting in my storage bin and brand new heater hoses that I just didn't have time to do when I replaced all of my other radiator hoses back in January.

So now at least I know how I get to spend my day off tomorrow!

[abscate]

Well done having parts on hand!!

[j-dawg]

i had this happen two days before i had to drive to an interview. pittsburgh to detroit in october with no heat.

don't forget to pull all your carpets and squeeze the coolant out of the padding underneath. it won't just dry out. i pulled the rear carpet a year after the core popped and it was soggy with coolant.

[WhatAmIDoing]

Sounds like me when I was checking for leaks. Placed white paper towels under the heater core and drove around for 4 days with the side cover off. No spots on the paper towels. Decided to leave them in one more day with the side panel off. On the way home from work felt something hot running down my leg, heater core had sprung a leak about the size of a pin head. Put some duct tape on it, drove home, ordered a new heater core and some Volvo coolant.

[callahanoffroad]

Sounds like me when I was checking for leaks. Placed white paper towels under the heater core and drove around for 4 days with the side cover off. No spots on the paper towels. Decided to leave them in one more day with the side panel off. On the way home from work felt something hot running down my leg, heater core had sprung a leak about the size of a pin head. Put some duct tape on it, drove home, ordered a new heater core and some Volvo coolant.

Yeah I had been meaning to do this over the winter. Since I'm on my 2nd 850 nothing is really a surprise repair, guess that's what its like to have a second kid! I knew it needed to be done, and I simply ran out of time during the radiator hose/pcv repair nightmare.

i had this happen two days before i had to drive to an interview. pittsburgh to detroit in october with no heat.

don't forget to pull all your carpets and squeeze the coolant out of the padding underneath. it won't just dry out. i pulled the rear carpet a year after the core popped and it was soggy with coolant.

That's funny that you say that, because I have to drive about 400 miles on Monday morning to teach a class! I'll be headed up to the local car cleaning place that has a rent a carpet vacuum after I replace the heater core.

Well done having parts on hand!!

I actually had to go grab the parts at a local auto parts store, who after about 5 min of looking for the part number of the heater hose just gave it to me for free! My buddy at work had the flat blade screwdriver, and I had the coolant. It was quite the blessing.

The funniest part is I had a chevy guy and a honda guy looking in my engine bay with me. The honda guy says "wait thats your a/c line not your heater core." and the chevy guy says "where's the 6th spark plug at?" Guess I never realized volvo's look weird to other people! hahahaha