Heater Core? car heating up? whats wrong? :S

[Steve D.]

I think my heater core may be on the way to shitting it self. I smell a bit of coolant in side the car but it isnt dropping anything? :S Also The temerature gauge heats up abit in traffic, like around half way on the gauge then stays around there untill traveling a decent speeds (80-100), Then goes down to the normal spot when travel at high way speeds (100).

Did a bit of research and found a thread about the heater core and my dad gave me a sugestion to block the heater core off, Is it possible to do so and the car still run fine with out it? It doesnt ever get cold enough to use the heater core and I dont ever use my heater anyway and when i have tried to use it, it hasnt really worked or heated the car up much anyway.

Could the heater core be the problem to the car heating up? What could be the problem with the car heating up? I have burst a radiator hose and replaced that and also droped two small ones and fixed them back up and put more/new coolant in it. We are going to give the radiator a flush on the weekend and put some fresh coolant in it and see how that goes but if anyone has had the same problems and could tell me whats wrong i would really appreciate it.

Cheers guys, Steve.

[hako]

From your description of the way the temp gauge goes I'd say everything is normal - they usually sit on half or below when cruising but in traffic they will creep up sometimes to 3/4 then the fan kicks in and goes down to half.
Re the coolant smell it does sound like the heater core is leaking. You can disconnect the heater by joining the 2 hoses that go to the heater at the firewall - use a piece of tubing of suitable diameter and clamp. Alternatively you can disconnect the hoses at the same location and insert a solid slug or bolt into the hose and clamp.
Replacing the heater core is a bugger of a job so if mine ever goes I'll be blocking mine off.
Good Luck.

[Steve D.]

Thanks for that hako, I forgot to mentioned I crashed my car around new years time and its got a reconditioned radiator put in it.

This friday Im flushing the radiator and putting new coolant in it and tonight me and my dad are going blocking the heater core off so hope it should do the trick!

[OzJD]

Don't block it, Bypass it.

Keep the water flowing, just not through inside the car

[Steve D.]

Yeah I didnt mean block it, I was going to keep the water flowing

Will it help keep the temp down a bit with out the water going to the heater core?

Also would a 82 degree thermostat be a good idea to put it? anyone know a roungh price?

[minimefx]

i had same problom in my vx and turned out to be bottom 4 cores of the radiator being blocked with rust and dirt but if you have hed a new rad fitted the it should be ok. try and flush the heater core and the rest of the sistem before bypassing it and see how te goes.

[hako]

Really blocking or bypassing will make no difference - the heater tap controls the bypass if you block the hoses. Bypassing or blocking the heater will not help to keep temperatures down....you will notice no difference unless the heater was leaking coolant.
A 82C thermostat may slightly delay the point where the engine overheats but if your cooling system is in good order the standard one will be OK.
Your first post mentions "bursting a radiator hose and also 'dropped two smaller ones' - can you explain further?

[Steve D.]

Well I one of the large radiator hoses that goes from the bottom of the radiator to the motor burts and I replaced that. Then One of the smaller ones that goes to the heater core came lose and come off so we trimmed it back and put it back on for the mean time.