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John H · Guest

vaughan,

When your racing 924 had the heater core fail did it lose a lot of water in one go or was it a slow leak.
I've noticed on my 931 that there is a bit of fluid on the floor (same colour as the coolant). Yet the coolant level doesn't seem to have dropped. When the system is pressurised it doesn't drop in pressure or displace fluid, yet I'm still getting fluid on the car floor.

Rick MacLaren · Guest

Try turning your heater on ...

If it's the flange at the firewall it might be on the passenger side. Nice slippery greeny coolant? Sorry to intrude on this one Vaughan.

[ This Message was edited by: Rick MacLaren on 2002-09-30 21:46 ]

924RACR · Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 10:24 pm Post subject:

Hey, not at all! Sorry, been out busy winning races!!!

Yeah, it was a small slow leak onto the floor on the passenger side. Had this happen a few months ago with the 82 931 as well. Clearly busted heater core, you can see residue from the coolant on the core itself. level doesn't drop but slowly. Cools the engine fine until you run low.

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

John H · Guest

Thanks Vaughan - I thought it might be that.

and Rick it happened with both heater on or off.

Rick MacLaren · Guest

Yes that makes sense.
I just remembered when mine blew it was a cold winter day, and I had the heater on in the car. Parked it. Went inside. Returned an hour and a half later and turned it on and smelled this sickly sweet smell. Grappled for the heater dials. But now that I'm reminded, it didn't do any good.

lol

Is it at the flange or right at the core?

[ This Message was edited by: Rick MacLaren on 2002-10-01 11:30 ]

John H · Guest

Don't know yet - I going to give the car another outing on Saturday and see what pops out - think its the core as it's coming in on the passenger side (your drivers side).

Ripped out the centre console last night but couldn't find any sign of leaks so I'll see what happens on Saturday.

924RACR · Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 10:28 pm Post subject:

In my experience it leaks at the core, where the end-tanks are crimped onto the core. Sometimes you can see residue (depending on what type of coolant you're using) dribble out the bottom of the heater unit. It will leak regardless of the position of the heater valve, since the valve only controls flow on one side of the core; the entire core will be at system pressure, and be able to dump anyway.

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

Peter · Guest

I had the same problem on another car. Not wanting to remove & replace the heater core, I just used an appropriate diameter copper tube to bypass the heater core. You can also use this to diagnose whether it's the core or the heater valve or something else. Just remove the inlet rubber hoses that go to the firewall and put the copper tube to join them together. Coolant will flow to the firewall, than back to the engine bypassing the heater core. You want get any heat, but it won't leave you stranded either.
-Peter