Having smelled coolant and with the windscreen fogging up worse and worse on the left side (especially since I applied defogger spray. Wiping the glass is also not like wiping off mere moisture), I removed the glovebox, then the access hatch thing by the coolant pipes, and... yeah, I don't think it should look like Fungus the Bogeyman's armpit in there....


Not too nastily bad here. Bit greenish, mind....


Argh! Kill it with fire! Take off and nuke the site from orbit!


Scraped this off the heater core....

However, I didn't see any signs of an actual leak from the gaskets where the pipes join. So, based on how extensive the muckery was that I could see, I took a look downstairs....


Hmm....

The sniff test showed it wasn't water that was slowly dribbling out the footwell vent. What I suspect has happened is that there's a leak in the actual core, and the coolant is dripping down through the aircon box and to the lowest part, the footwell vent. Only checked the passenger side one, but this probably isn't a relatively simple gasket o-ring replacement, but will require a whole new core.

On the plus side, I think I know why my left dash vent was so anaemic: the vent outlet wasn't fully connected with the circulation duct. Pushed those together firmly, and will test later today. There's also a floppy bit of rubber on top of the pipe that looks like it needs gluing back onto the top part under the dash.


Floppy rubber mat thing flopped onto the vent duct.

 

Does appear to be a leaking core, yes.

On the bright side, replacing it isn't all that bad as heater cores go.

At the opposite end of the heater core there's another 'window' with a plastic cover. After draining the system and disconnecting the pipes the core slides out thru the window.

Well, that's the gist of it, at least. There are other details but it's quite a few years since I've done one so others will fill in the rest

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks, Doug. I was wondering what to do about those pipes for removal, but yes, now that you mention it, I do remember talk of a window it just slides through.

Getting it out might involve removing the instrument panel, which will require care, but shouldn't be too bad. Mainly worried about snapping delicate connections. Good time to clean some contacts, too, though everything there is working as it should. Even the erratic speedo with the lights on seems to have fixed itself/been fixed.

 

Some of the memories might be coming back

On the couple I've done I think I removed the cluster and the glove box for easier access....and the steering wheel as well. The steering wheel bit probably isn't needed. Just something I often do when working in and around dashboards on many cars; makes the job more comfortable.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks. Is removing the steering wheel (non-airbag) hard? I seem to remember reading someone saying it was basically a five-minute job.

 

Non airbag is easy. From the backside there will be some pozidrive screws, you'll probably need a stubby screwdriver to remove those, and then the horn pad comes off. Then you'll be looking at a large nut (1"?) You'll probably need a breaker bar to get that moving. Don't take the nut off, just loosen it a few turns.

Then from behind give the wheel a hard thump from both sides as evenly as you can. The idea is to give an impact straight out towards you, when you're sitting in the driver's seat. The wheel sits on 2 tapered collar pieces, the idea is to break the hold of the taper. Might take more than one thump to break it free. The reason for not removing the big nut all the way is that when the steering wheel does come free it will hit the nut and go no further. If you had removed the nut you'd probably end up smashing the steering wheel into your face.

 

Thanks, Jagboi. I think I have some posidrive drivers around when I bought a set to remove the seat with the idea of shifting it back a bit on the rails (foiled by wrong-sized holes).
While it's a non-airbag, it's also the airbag design, if you follow me--the large central pad. But I'll take a look behind it and see. And try and avoid smashing it into my face when I do try and remove it....
I think one tool I want to buy sooner rather than later is a sort of dentist's mirror, ideally with attached light.

I drove the car today to test the left dash vent, and there's plenty of air there now, so at least that was an easy fix.