coolant leak inside of car

[Losiracer2]

Ok today I had a pretty crazy experience. It was 116* and my DD CB7 I just got and spent hundreds of dollars in suspension stuff and mounts decided to overheat.

It made it to work fine, 35 miles, and then about 5-6 miles on the way home, I noticed the temp gauge starting to rise up a little. Then it got worse a mile later, almost to the H. So I immediately got off and shut the car off.

I heard a hissing noise on the inside of the car after I shut it down. And to my disappointment, saw coolant leaking down the pass. side carpet and steaming into a puddle at the bottom of the floorboard.

I managed to drive to the nearest autozone, about 3 miles away. Car was all the way pegged to the H, I let it coast in between lights because I was afraid of completely ruining the engine. But luckily I got to the parking lot and coolant was still coming out the bottom of the dashboard.

Now, would this be the heater core that went bad? I had to do the EX 5spd rear mount a day earlier (huge ginormous mount) and disconnected one of the coolant hoses going to the firewall and all the coolant drained out.

I was able to fix the car in the autozone parking lot with a rusty pair of adjustable pliers, wire strippers with a plier end, and a hose cutter (had to cut off D/S heater hose going to firewall b/c it wouldn't budge.

So the heater core is the only thing back behind the firewall right?

[HenRoc]

Yeah and to remove the heater core it's obvious the whole dash has to come out.

It's a pain the ass but that's the only way.

:edit:

I re-read your post. You mentioned you disconnected one of the hoses. Did you secure the hose onto the heater core?

[Gtseviper]

Yeah!!! You might want to check that heater core. I had that happened to me not to long ago. Mine had a crack on the brass piping. First check to see your inlet and outlet houses aren't installed to far in onto the brass piping.

[Losiracer2]

Yeah and to remove the heater core it's obvious the whole dash has to come out.

It's a pain the ass but that's the only way.

:edit:

I re-read your post. You mentioned you disconnected one of the hoses. Did you secure the hose onto the heater core?

yeah there was no leak at all in the engine compartment, just on the inside of the car. The brass pipe on the P/S felt loose compared to the D/S though.

Yeah!!! You might want to check that heater core. I had that happened to me not to long ago. Mine had a crack on the brass piping. First check to see your inlet and outlet houses aren't installed to far in onto the brass piping.

They were flush against the firewall. I think I might have fucked it up when I was trying to get that massive rear motor mount out. Idk why they made that so freaking huge, I nearly had to lift the engine on a hoise to get enough clearance.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Its worth paying for the tow then to drive on it and blowing the headgasket or warping something. Did u loop the lines to fix it. If so then yes you're heater core is bad. Do you even need heat in Arizona?

[Noridetoolow]

Its worth paying for the tow then to drive on it and blowing the headgasket or warping something. Did u loop the lines to fix it. If so then yes you're heater core is bad. Do you even need heat in Arizona?

x2....If nothing else, loop the lines and drive it till your ready to fix it, im sure AZ = no need for any kind of heat until January or so....like it is here in GA!

[mozzandherb]

definitely the heater core...hopefully it was just a loose connection because I've had to replace my heater core twice and it is a pain in the ass.

[Losiracer2]

Its worth paying for the tow then to drive on it and blowing the headgasket or warping something. Did u loop the lines to fix it. If so then yes you're heater core is bad. Do you even need heat in Arizona?

x2....If nothing else, loop the lines and drive it till your ready to fix it, im sure AZ = no need for any kind of heat until January or so....like it is here in GA!

definitely the heater core...hopefully it was just a loose connection because I've had to replace my heater core twice and it is a pain in the ass.

yeah I removed both lines going into the firewall and bypassed them and the car ran fine all day yesterday and all 65 miles today w/ the AC going. So its definitely that HC. Ugh, yeah its so freakin' hot now I don't even want to work on my car til november.

[Daheavyking]

That's def the heater core. That's going to suck to change. Dash must come out. Good luck with that chico!

[bobbycos]

yeah I removed both lines going into the firewall and bypassed them and the car ran fine all day yesterday and all 65 miles today w/ the AC going. So its definitely that HC. Ugh, yeah its so freakin' hot now I don't even want to work on my car til november.

i hear you about working on the car in high heat

[HondaFan81]

I'm wondering if in removing the heater hose, you were bending the heater core pipe the hose attached to far too much. Heater cores are delicate and you probably cracked the inlet or outlet pipe. Too coincidental that it leaked after you were in this area.

TIP: I always cut older heater hoses off the heater core with razor blade and remove carefully. Then, install new heater hoses while in there. If heater hoses are new, it will slide off no problem.

[GunRunner]

Same thing happened to me on my daily accord. I looped the line and am waiting til cold weather to mess with it.

[Losiracer2]

I'm wondering if in removing the heater hose, you were bending the heater core pipe the hose attached to far too much. Heater cores are delicate and you probably cracked the inlet or outlet pipe. Too coincidental that it leaked after you were in this area.

TIP: I always cut older heater hoses off the heater core with razor blade and remove carefully. Then, install new heater hoses while in there. If heater hoses are new, it will slide off no problem.

yeah I think I was too rough with the heater core hose inlet. I only touched the inlet and not the outlet hose. But next time, on a different CB, if i buy another fixer upper, I'll do as you said and just cut the damn thing off...too much effort to try and pull it off and I risk breaking things.

I think after about 4 hrs of coming up with ways to get that rear 5spd EX motor mount out, I just used too much brute force and started tugging at it, with a combo of raising and lowering the engine on a jack. So I might have fatigued the metal to its breaking point.

Has anyone done a DIY on a heater core replacement yet? Not that I'm going to do it now...today was 115 degrees. Went to the pick N pull and got a tranny motor mount though for 8 bucks! haha, but even being out there for 45 min. I was nearly to exhaustion...everything I touched, with nitrile gloves was blazing hot.