heater core
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You are currently reading a thread in /o/ - Auto
can someone explain to me some heater core meme i heard about.
i was with my friend riding in his car and he had is heater on even tho it was the day was hot as fuck. he said he heard how if he doesnt have coolant flowing constantly through the heater core it can clog and it wont work for the winter and he would either have to flush or replace it. i dont understand how can a heater core clog?
>>15236176
calcium deposits, rust
the vaccuum switch on mine actually cracked in two once; drained all my coolant
>>15236176
some cars don't have a bypass valve
Saab for instance, the coolant always flows through the heater core
so if the vent door is leaky you can end up with constant heat
>>15236176
>constantly
your friend's a dummy. It's not a bad idea to flow some coolant through every so often, but constantly is just dumb.
Literal car cancer. When these fail they dump coolant into your interior and make the car unsafe to drive thanks to making your AC vents become smoke machines. When the one in my C4 broke I had to take the top off and stick my head over to drive home.
It doesn't end there.
These are one of the first things put on when a car is being built most of the time, deep at the base of the firewall. Changing them out in any car is a long job. Usually to skip removing half the accessories in the bay people just work through the dash to the firewall.
Had one go on 91 Nissan maxima fixed it with stop leak powder put it in the hose. And ran it worked for a few months and then I had to flush and repeat
>>15236176
Wow.
Why don't you ask your friend how many people he knows that have had their matrix replaced?
i completely bypassed mine at the water pump so it would cycle into itself, i dont need a heater i have a jumper
>driving really shitty neglected car
>heater works perfectly
>>15236885
Yup, one of my cars is 18, the other is 26. AC don't but the heat do. Magic.
Change you're coolant on time and it won't be a problem
>driving in snowstorm
>Bypassed leaking heater core, blower motor siezed also
>literal ice starts forming on my windshield
>my wipers tried their damnedest, but just couldn't keep up
>eventually my wipers start slowing down and actually freeze to the windshield after getting caught on said ice
>Have to pull over and attempt to scrape ice off
>as I'm doing this more snow is falling, freezing to the ice
Heater cores are always in that special spot where you have to take the entire fucking car apart to get to it.
>the entire winter I drove like this
>I'd also have to drive with my window down, or else the windshield would fog up and create an even worse situation than the ice.
>buy shitty $12 cigarette lighter ''''defroster'''' / heater
>duct tape it directly to my dash, aimed right at my fucking hands
>it's so god damn cold the heater doesn't even work, just blows cold air onto them and makes the matter worse
>my face riding to and from work that entire fucking winter.
>>15236885
>install thermostat that's 15 degrees cooler than the OEM one
>still plenty of heat
>>15236935
For what purpose?
>>15236176
>have 80's truck
>coolant flows nonstop from top of block to heater core, back to radiator if heat is on or off
>core decides to shit itself last week
>ignore it, route coolant from block to radiator, bypassing heater core, spilling antifreeze all over parking lot at work
>it's summer, i'll fix it whenever
>rains all fucking day today, supposed to this weekend, can't see out windows for shit without wiping them off with a rag
Welp.
if you want your heater core to stay in good shape change your coolant as recommended, or even a little before recomendation. I cut my coolant change intervals in half because its easier and cheaper than changing the heater core.
![1393975028227[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/sBWxqCn.jpg "1393975028227[1].jpg")
>>15236930
>summer in socal
>no AC
>windows don't go down
>mfw
I am finally going to get around to taking off the door panels and seeing what went wrong
>>15236176
There are two types of heating systems:
The first is a direct loop of coolant from the engine, it means coolant is always flowing in the core regardless of how hot you set the temperature from the dash. When you want cold air what you actually do by setting the temperature is moving a flap so air doesn't go through the core before getting to the vents. Everything hotter than 100%cold is just a mix of cold outside air and air that is routed through the core, the hotter the temp, the higher the percentage of hot air is put in the mix.
The second type is exactly like the first, but it has a bypass valve before the heater loop that blocks the passage of coolant through the core when the temp is set to cold. The valve could be a simple on-off valve (so coolant flows freely once it's open and the temperature is regulated with a mix just like the first type) or some kind of stepper motor that regulates the amount of coolant passing through the core depending on the temperature you set on the dash.
If you or your friend have the first type of heater core, then your friend is an idiot, if he has the second, then he may have a point although I could argue that if there are sediments flowing in the coolant, letting it flow in the core once in a while wont do shit about clog prevention.
