bratman18 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 So I was just in my Brat and I noticed green liquid (coolant) running down onto the floor on the drivers side. I assume this is the heater core? Could it be anything else? And if it is the heater core, how do I go about fixing/replacing it? Thank you! Oh yeah and it seemed to be skipping/running rough at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 could just be the heater valve. they are easy to change sort of and Ebay can be had for 49.99 new. the green gator-aid looks like coolant, but it sure tastes better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 could just be the heater valve. they are easy to change sort of and Ebay can be had for 49.99 new.the green gator-aid looks like coolant, but it sure tastes better. Ok so where is it located, how do I get to it and how do I replace it??? And yes coolant tastes wonderful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 on the drivers side near the gas pedal, there will be a black plastic cover, it snaps into and outta place, kinda trick to get it out. then you can see the levers, and rods and valve, up by the footfeet near the center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 on the drivers side near the gas pedal, there will be a black plastic cover, it snaps into and outta place, kinda trick to get it out. then you can see the levers, and rods and valve, up by the footfeet near the center. Okay I just went and looked and I got the black cover off no prob, and I can see the levers etc. but I can't see where it is leaking from! There was a small drop of coolant on the bottom of the duct that is right there. So I can't see up in there to see where it would be coming from! There isn't a lot of coolant leaking out but it's never done it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 small drop on the duct eh? i say the valve is where you leak is. get the car to temp, and with the temp selector, change it from cold to hot and back and forth, see if you can see the drips while changing temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 small drop on the duct eh? i say the valve is where you leak is. get the car to temp, and with the temp selector, change it from cold to hot and back and forth, see if you can see the drips while changing temps. Okay will do! I'll do it tomorrow though cause its getting dark out and its hard to see! But thanks and I'll let you know what I find!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SUBARU-HEATER-VALVE-ASSY-1800-MODELS-80-84_W0QQitemZ230254483426QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item230254483426&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A64%7C66%3A4%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318#ht_547wt_0 when you replace it, forget about trying to reuse the subaru hokie clamps, get a couple regular hose clamps and it will be eeasier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Ok thanks for the link! But I did just go out and tried what you said and it didn't seem to make a difference when I was switching back and forth from hot to cold. I switched it fast, slow, and in between. The whol time I was out there I got one teeny drop but that was it. And it came out when it was still on hot. So I dunno? Maybe I won't worry about it. I don't use the Brat in the winter due to salty roads so maybe I'll just loop the heater hose under the hood so it doesn't even come into the heater core. Unless you have any more suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 (edited) Alright so I now have no heat what so ever. The coolant is full. So I'm guessing the heater core is failing. What do you guys think? Yeah and When this all started it started skipping as well. It skips at low rpm's. When you push the gas it goes da da da da da rapidly of course:lol: and then comes out of it. So what do you think that is?? Please help with any opinions of both! Thanks! Ok I just went back out and I had heat again! So it's right back and forth! AHHHHH! Edited December 9, 2008 by bratman18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Alright so I now have no heat what so ever. The coolant is full. So I'm guessing the heater core is failing. What do you guys think? Yeah and When this all started it started skipping as well. It skips at low rpm's. When you push the gas it goes da da da da da rapidly of course:lol: and then comes out of it. So what do you think that is?? Please help with any opinions of both! Thanks! Ok I just went back out and I had heat again! So it's right back and forth! AHHHHH! anyone?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Alright so I now have no heat what so ever. The coolant is full. So I'm guessing the heater core is failing. What do you guys think? Yeah and When this all started it started skipping as well. It skips at low rpm's. When you push the gas it goes da da da da da rapidly of course:lol: and then comes out of it. So what do you think that is?? Please help with any opinions of both! Thanks! Ok I just went back out and I had heat again! So it's right back and forth! AHHHHH! No one has any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Alright so I now have no heat what so ever. The coolant is full. So I'm guessing the heater core is failing. What do you guys think? Yeah and When this all started it started skipping as well. It skips at low rpm's. When you push the gas it goes da da da da da rapidly of course:lol: and then comes out of it. So what do you think that is?? Please help with any opinions of both! Thanks! Ok I just went back out and I had heat again! So it's right back and forth! AHHHHH! Come on any body have any opinions???? Please help!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rch10007 Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 If it is the heater core, it's a huge PIA to replace. Have you checked to make sure the hoses aren't leaking where they meet the firewall? If one of the hoses is loose, it may leak inside the cab. Not too likely, but a possibility! Also, search the boards more...I have seen a write up with pics on how to replace the core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 If it is the heater core, it's a huge PIA to replace. Have you checked to make sure the hoses aren't leaking where they meet the firewall? If one of the hoses is loose, it may leak inside the cab. Not too likely, but a possibility! Also, search the boards more...I have seen a write up with pics on how to replace the core. I looked and no the hoses aren't leaking. I actually can't see where it is leaking. I can just see a few drops on the floor and when I look up under the dash I can see a little on the bottom of the duct. I know that it is a pain to replace the heater core, I was looking in my Haynes manual and yeah you gotta pull the whole dash off! If I gotta do it I will but I was hoping for some opinions on anything else it might be or anything else I could do. But my man concern is why it started running like crap at low RPM's. If I have to I can fix the heater core but I can't figure out why its skipping and going dadadadada until a higher rpm! So again any ideas would be great! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 So I guess that no one knows so....I don;t drive my Brat in the winter so what if I loop the heater hoses? Will this work? I know I obviously won't have heat but at least it won't leak anymore. So what do you guys think? And also any suggestions on why it started skipping etc. would be great too! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominical1 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 '... you gotta pull the whole dash off!" here's shortcut that works from the repair manual section - it's no fun, finicky and it does help to have a warm dry work area but it does the trick http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49964 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 '... you gotta pull the whole dash off!" here's shortcut that works from the repair manual section - it's no fun, finicky and it does help to have a warm dry work area but it does the trick http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49964 Yeah I saw this. I'm not sure if I want to do it this way. It sounds like I'm still going to have a rough time fighting with everything that's in the way. I think that if I'm going to do it I might as well do it the right way and pull the dash. But we'll see. Is it really that hard to pull the dash? I looked it up on here and it sounds pretty time consuming but other than a lot of plugs and getting to bolts that are in hard to reach places it doesn't sound that bad. Am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NV Zeno Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I've used the "shortcut version" on my '83 wagon, and it worked fine. I don't know if it saved any time, but I was almost guaranteed to know that what I took apart went back together correctly. I didn't have very much confidence that the dash and all the other components would be exactly as before..that's a lot of small parts, nuts, bolts, and screws. Just my 2 bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 the valve is about a hour job with things going right, give or take I would start there. would hate for you to replace the core, and then find out it was the valve instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 the valve is about a hour job with things going right, give or take I would start there.would hate for you to replace the core, and then find out it was the valve instead. I honestly have a hard time seeing the valve itself. Is there anything I can remove to see it any better? And how exactly do I change it. I've never done anything like this before...Never had too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman18 Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 Ok so I took the duct out and I think I found bad news!. The foam that you can see from where the heater core is, is soaked. It looks like it is the heater core. It appears as though the coolant is actually coming out of the box that the heater core is in!. But now that I look at it, it looks like changing it without removing the dash won't be so bad. And I don't have my computer on that side because of the SPFI conversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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