Holy heater hose batman!

[pmschmitt]

Was replacing the heater hoses on my 300 and dove into the project before realizing what a pain in the *** it is. Needless to say my hands are cramping still as I type this from using the pliers to get those damn metal clips off the hoses.

Now on to the question, I realized that there was a bunch of silicon(blue in color) around the heater box inlet hoses, as if there was a leak someone half way fixed. Also when the hoses finally came off the inner most inlet looks a little bent inward. See pics. So do I need to take out the heater core out and inspect or should I just replace the hoses and see if it leaks when all back together.

Thanks as always in advance

 

[67Monaco]

If it were mine, I'd be swapping in a new heater core. Ymmv.

 

[commando1]

Start reading up on how to remove a heater core.

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[pmschmitt]

So I looked it up in the FSM and it seems pretty straight forward, but I have heard of nightmares with this on other cars. Is this gonna be a bit$h?

I just finished rebuilding the drivers side of the dash and instrument cluster.... Of course a simple thing like heater hose replacement would lead to this.

 

[detmatt]

Never fails! Hopefully the replacement goes off without a hitch.

 

[pmschmitt]

update- so I tore into the car tonight with plans of removing the heater core my car has ac so a little more intensive than non ac cars. I got all the way to the step where you remove the housing bolts from the engine bay side when I realized what the blue silicon was there for. It appears several of the housing bolts on the bottom are missing. So whoever last messed with the heater core ran a THICK layer of blue silicon along the bottom of the heater box housing to adhere it to the firewall. Hmmm so that being said I really hate to tear it all off as I'm sure it will be a pain to get back on correctly.

Im thinking maybe hook it up and see if it is leaky. As stated before there were no leaks prior, and it looks as though the heater core inlet outle hoses look good on the interior side of the car. Thoughts?

 

[70NPORT]

Something like that would bug the crap out of my non stop if I left it that way. A PITA yes, but spend a little extra time repairing it correctly (with bolts not silly cone). That way it won't be a shade tree fix and you'll never need to worry about it gin'.

comprende mano?

 

[pmschmitt]

Yeah. I know. Do it right once

 

[saforwardlook]

Not sure what year car yours is, but the job it a relative ***** on at least a fuselage car. I just did one on my 1971 300 but it has good sheet metal on the firewall in that area since it is a dry car. If you plan on keeping the car, which seems your goal since you did some of the other IP restoration, do it once, right. But be sure you will be frustrated at getting at some of the little nuts and bolts in that assembly if you replace it now. And then to do it right, you would probably want to weld up the metal around the bottom flange of the unit, which is not possible to do with the engine and the IP in the car along with any other flammable material in the vicinity. Or you could just test to see if the core is presently leaking and if not, keep driving it until you plan to take out the engine for a rebuild and do a more thorough restoration. Replacement of the core is easiest if you roll down the IP for easier access, but can be done with the panel in place too, just a little more difficult (the a/c ducts get in the way and it is difficult to get some of them out without breaking some of the plastic on the a/c outlets in the IP. This is always a difficult decision when you get a car to just drive and the problems just continue to mount until you decide to do a full restoration, or just drive it until you get annoyed and sell it or ???? That is why I have decided to just restore my cars completely when I have a keeper and then enjoy it without problems like this cropping up all the time to deflate your enjoyment of the car. But we each have our own circumstances that dictate what we can do. I hope you can resolve this with minimum of hassle though. Since I have done this recently, I just wanted to give you my insights. Good luck.
Steve

 

[1978 NYB]

No question...I would replace the heater core and be done with it.

 

[70NPORT]

Yeah me too. Invest the sweat equity. Git r done.

 

[commando1]

The previous hack job makes me too nervous. God knows what you haven't yet uncovered.

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[1978 NYB]

Better to find out now and fix everything than find out on the side of the road somewhere.

 

[pmschmitt]

So I kinda took a mixed approach. I agree with replacing everything that is needed so you don't end up on the road, but I also bought this car to drive. My real job doesn't allow me the time to do a full restoration at the present time. And I like to do the work myself. So I am replacing all the hoses clamps vacuum actuator and will put heater core box repair on the list for when the full restoration occurs. I hooked all the hoses back up ran it full tilt with the heater on and it is bone dry at the heater core. Looks like the silicon was just to seal the bottom of the box.

Steve thanks for the idea of waiting to repair until the motor is removed to do it right for better access.
Thank for all your input on this. Always appreciated.

 

[70NPORT]

Hope it holds up for you. Sucks getting stuck on the side of the road. I know first hand.

 

[polara71]

You can't replace everything without a full restoration. I replace what is bad or what appears to be on the edge of bad. Drive the hell out of it and replace as needed... Enjoy it man, enjoy it

 

[detmatt]

I think you've done the right thing after listening to what Steve had to say. Again this forum proves priceless.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Pull the unit, tape a piece of cardboard over the opening and drive the car. It is a heater, put a jacket on if it gets cold. Take your time and fix it, I drive my old cars exclusively and will asses a repair like this based on its criticalness. If you were in the Northeast right now I might say it is a little more critical but then again you probably wouldn't be driving the car at this time.

Like some said, do it right, do it once.


Alan

 

[67Monaco]

It is a heater, put a jacket on if it gets cold.


Alan

It's TX, it doesn't get cold.

 

[polara71]

Didn't they have snow in parts of Texas last year