LT TDCI Heater core $$$$$

fbvisitor · 24-10-2012, 11:49 PM

Oh dear,

SWMBO complains a couple of days ago about a poor performing heater. Now I know her car has a poor heater so I don't think too much about it.

So yesterday, I take her car to town and back (25k's) and on the way home the cruise starts to lose speed and I notice the temp gauge starting to rise. I immediately pull over just as a red light illuminates on the dash and a warning beeper and written alarm appears on the display (which I forget) and put the heater on flat out with max fan and the gauge returns to normal. As I'm almost home, I sneak along quietly keeping an eye on things.

I put in a couple of litres (at least) of demineralised water to get back to the max mark on the coolant header tank then it hits me, I remember what that smell was I smelt when I first took off in her car, coolant leaking from the heater core, happened to me in my first car 27 years ago, BUGGER.

After a quick search on this site I see it has happened before, although not too often, and it appears I'm up for some big coin.

I've had a quick look through my Haynes manual and its a big job. I just hope it goes all back together rattle free as this is a very impressive car and when I update I'll use it as mine and she can have the new one.

Has anyone else had dramas with leaking heater cores and know the current day costs????

Cheers

Neale · 25-10-2012, 12:24 AM

I have herd of the Focus having problems with the Heaters & a lot gettign taken back under warranty, not exactly sure what part but the heater core rings a bell.

marg99 · 25-10-2012, 09:30 AM

Most commonly in cars you must remove the dash to get at the heater core so lots of labor costs.

Loris · 26-10-2012, 10:44 AM

my car is at bayford now for the same issues (2008 LT TDCi).. waiting for a call back on price $$$

might be time to say goodbye if its too pricey

Yellow_Festiva · 26-10-2012, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loris

my car is at bayford now for the same issues (2008 LT TDCi).. waiting for a call back on price $$$

might be time to say goodbye if its too pricey

A trick I saw on a few cars that had a busted heater core was to just run a pipe out and back into the engine, totally bypassing the heater.

Means you had no heat in the cabin...

If you did this, then perhaps it's something you could try to repair yourself???

I got to do the whole cooling system on my Fiat soon.... that God I found instructions on how to change the heater without removing the dash.

Loris · 28-10-2012, 09:37 PM

So got quoted $1770 with ford employee discount.. $2300 without discount..
12hrs of labour at $120/hr.. Rip off or what???? Dash needs to come out.. What a pain

Taking car to local mechanic tomorrow, i might bring up the bypass trick.. Thanks yellow festiva

Loris · 30-10-2012, 09:09 AM

My car is now back on the road again after replacing the heater core, it cost me $990 at local mechanic.. he pretty much worked on it all day.
Extremely happy I was able to get it done for less then half then bayford quoted, they are such a rip off!

fbvisitor · 05-11-2012, 06:28 PM

Job done and all back together.

$1015 all up with OEM heater core and even expensive ford coolant to avoid any dramas there. Definately the right move to keep away from the dealers cost wise.

No rattles and it all works well. Lets hope I never have to see that again.

Cheers.

Yellow_Festiva · 05-11-2012, 06:33 PM

Just shows that it pays to shop around ;)

KenN0898 · 05-11-2012, 09:46 PM

I bought a 2009 Focus with less than 42ooo kms. in early Sept and 3 weeks later the heater core started leaking. I took the car back to the dealer for warrenty repair and asked that they send it to Ford. They told me their workshop was very capable and would be able to do the job so I left the car with them. Three days later when I checked on progress they said they couldn't do the job and had booked the car into Ford who could'nt do the job for 2 weeks so I asked them to transport the car to my local Ford dealer in Christies Beech SA which was done without further delay and I had my car back 24 hours later. Fords sent the bill to the car dealer so I don't know what it was but it was very expensive because they had quoted something like 11 hours. Before this happened I was very happy with the car but now I am not so sure and will probably trade it next year.

kevino · 06-11-2012, 06:55 PM

What kilometres did the heater core fail on the 2 TDCI,s?

I have done 110,000 now and have used the heater maybe half a dozen times. Is the failure related to useage or is it a dud part?

fbvisitor · 06-11-2012, 10:45 PM

Hi kevino ,

My LT has just ticked over 70k and I'm a Tassie bloke so the heater has a good workout over winter (temps in the minus reguarly of a morning).

Ken, harden up mate. You know they are good little car, just take it as a bit of bad luck. I'm sure you'll have many more happy k's in front of you. This is the first core I've had start leaking in 27 years and 100's of thousands of k's.

Cheers.

KenN0898 · 06-11-2012, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fbvisitor

Hi kevino ,

Ken, harden up mate. You know they are good little car, just take it as a bit of bad luck. I'm sure you'll have many more happy k's in front of you. This is the first core I've had start leaking in 27 years and 100's of thousands of k's.

Cheers.

Yes agreed, it is a great little car but I have heard of a few leaking heater cores and I'm concerned that the failure of the one on my car is in some way connected to the reported poor manufacturing standards of the cars manufactured in Sth. Africa,....I have owned many cars in my 60 years of driving and now for the first time in my life I have thoughts of "lemon" in my mind so I will now look around to see what is on offer and if I can get a reasonable price I will trade it for a later or even new model which I believe are currently made in Germany.

marg99 · 07-11-2012, 10:12 AM

Of course those more elderly amongst us recall the bad heater cores in the Aussie made falcons of the early/mid 1990's must be a Ford thing.

fbvisitor · 07-11-2012, 11:28 PM

Hi Marg,

I must have been lucky there. I had a 91' EA S-pak for 10 years and dodged any leaks. I also had an EB S-XR6 for a few years which also dodged any leaks.

Maybe I was due.......

Loris · 18-11-2012, 04:31 PM

Mine failed at 67000km, i dont use it that often only when really cold.. Definately not overused at all

sd1800 · 19-11-2012, 11:13 AM

Is this common only on the Sth African built ones or does this effect the Belgian built ones too?

drez · 18-12-2012, 06:04 PM

Just to share my experience.

Mine failed at 101000kms, start smelling some funny smell from aircon not knowing that it was the coolant smell.
Took it the mechanic to get pressure tested and definetely comes out from heater core drain under the car. Quoted around $1000-1200 to replace it.

So went to buy the new heater core from Ford Campbellfied parts super store for & 5 ltrs concentrated coolant and small length of heater hose from supercheap auto all up costed $340.

Tackled the hard work myself in garage for 10-12 hrs with help from Bentley manual book.
Now all done and no more leaks and no more funny smell from the car.
Had to admit wasn't an easy job but glad now its all done.

Vicusj · 30-04-2013, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drez

Just to share my experience.

Mine failed at 101000kms, start smelling some funny smell from aircon not knowing that it was the coolant smell.
Took it the mechanic to get pressure tested and definetely comes out from heater core drain under the car. Quoted around $1000-1200 to replace it.

So went to buy the new heater core from Ford Campbellfied parts super store for & 5 ltrs concentrated coolant and small length of heater hose from supercheap auto all up costed $340.

Tackled the hard work myself in garage for 10-12 hrs with help from Bentley manual book.
Now all done and no more leaks and no more funny smell from the car.
Had to admit wasn't an easy job but glad now its all done.

Hi Drez,

Just happened to my 2008 Sth African built Focus with 98 000km - smelled the coolant, and a few days later my driver side carpet swimming... Had to bypass the core for now as the car is in daily use by my son in Uni. We took out the carpet tonight and thoroughly hosed it out until it did not foam anymore & then vacuumed it until only damp. Will bake it in the sun for the next couple of days.

Just curious how your heater core replacement went, what model Focus you have? I was hoping to replace the core without messing with the AC lines 7 refrigerant, were you able to work around that OK? I see the AC refrigerant pipes are very close to the heater pipes going through the firewall / bulkhead.

Any tips / tricks will be greatly appreciated, I will try to get hold of a new core in the next few weeks after an upcoming business trip o/s. Local Ford dealer (Central Coast region, NSW) quoted $380 for the core alone, and about $110 for 5 liter of the Motorcraft coolant Ford recommends for the Euro version fords (I think its red / pink??) Sound extremely exxy to me, or is that pretty much the price? The car has yellow coolant in now, so Im not too sure which way to go. Would like to use the correct stuff, and will flush the cooling system real well.

Thanks, Vic

drez · 01-05-2013, 06:11 PM

Hi Vicusj,

The deal with the AC lines refrigerant is I had to cut the existing heater core line from inside the car using Dremel cut off wheel and join the new heater core line using proper heater hose with S/S clamp on both end of connections. That is the easiest way without having the remove the AC line and clutch assembly (mine is manual tranny).

I spent around $350ish all up for new heater core from Ford and concentrated coolant 5ltrs(red/pink colour) from Repco.

But you'll need to remove the whole Dashboard assembly, middle console, lower front console left & right side, upper tachometer dash and all. Basically till you see the front bone inside of your car to get into the heater core. Yes it was very annoying, but you'll get there with patience.

Then I simply placed the new heater core and joint the old line and new line with rubber heater hose like I mentioned above and job is done. You'll need to drain the cooling system first but before start doing any of this job.

My Focus is the 2008 TDCi manual model.

Good luck.

Vicusj · 01-05-2013, 10:51 PM

Hi Drez, Thanks heaps for your quick response, really appreciate your assistance here!!

I had a good look under the dash tonight after work, and saw what you mean by cutting the core lines then the core should slide out without removing clutch and AC lines.

Obviously you have cut the new core's alum lines at the same spot as you did the old one, and then joined them with the rubber hoses?

I have drained the whole coolant system, and will flush it well then use red Nulon, which apparently comes highly recommended. at a 3rd of the cost of the Motorcraft stuff I wont complain!

I saw an ebay seller selling the focus cores for $270 - apparently a revised updated version.... (item number 121040144968)

Thanks again, i will check back when Im done!

Vicusj · 08-05-2013, 08:24 PM

Sorry to the OP to hijack this thread, but I thought it best to keep all this info together, hopefully it could assist the next person.

So my progress: I managed to remove the old core WITHOUT stripping down the dash. (The seats and carpet were already removed to get the coolant out of the carpet)

I had to chop off the old core's aluminium pipes with the Dremel as Drez mentioned in his post. I then merely removed the support that bolts the whole HVAC unit to the floor on the driver's side, the bracket in front of the core, and merely slid it out.

A colleague today got me a new heater core in South Africa for ZAR 1400 (about AUD150) from a Ford dealership in Sandton, JHB, he is flying to Aus this coming Saturday so I plan to install it on Sunday. Of course I will have to chop off the new unit's pipes at the same spot as I did the old one, slide it into position & join the new core to the old one's pipes with rubber heater pipe using a couple of screw hose clamps on each connection, just to be sure.

By the way, the part number of the new core is 5M5H18B539BB, apparently an upgraded type, so I hope it will last a bit longer than the 90,000km like the old one did!!

I will upload some piccies shortly.

drez · 09-05-2013, 01:19 PM

That's great to hear that you don't need to completely remove the dashboard assembly Vicusj.
But don't forget to wipe clean the plastic housing where the heater core sits so you won't get the coolant smell after you installed the new core in.
Yes send us some pics when u can, it'll help others when they need to do this task next time.

Vicusj · 17-05-2013, 04:43 PM

Thanks Drez, I cleaned the inside plastic housing with metho as much as possible, and did not get much of a smell on my test drive after completing the install.

So an update: I managed to complete the installation (of the new South African sourced core) in about half a day last Sunday, that included a trip to SCA to get a heater pipe and SS hose clamps. I reckon if I have to do it ever again (hope not!!), I will be able to remove the old one and install a new one in 2 to 3 hours tops!

This is my 1st time posting piccies, hope it works out OK and that it will help someone down the track...

Here some descriptions of the piccies:
1.jpg - Undoing the bracket holding the HVAC unit to the floor, note there is an electrical earth connection on the top as well to undo.
3.jpg- The old core, you can see the foam were kind of dissolved and stained on the bottom corner where the coolant dripped out onto the carpet.
4.jpg- Getting ready to chop off the pipes with the Dremel
5.jpg- Was quite a pain to cut through the pipes, I just took it very slow, and bent some of the pipe out of the way with pliers as I went to make way for the Dremel disc to reach.
6.jpg- Sliding out the core, only had to push in the clutch a bit, and manipulated the harness to get it out.
7.jpg - Gone with the old
8.jpg and 9.jpg - The culprit; I removed the foam & you can see the darkened area where the leak is.
10.jpg - Got in there again to clean up the pipe ends with the Dremel, then de-burred & sanded the edges a bit.
11,12 &13.jpg - the new core after I lopped off the "excess" pipe to match the old pipes. Took me a few goes to get it to the correct lengths right, i chopped off a little bit at a time & test it until it was able to slide past the clutch etc as i really did not want to screw up the new unit. I thoroughly flushed the core to get rid of all the aluminium dust.
14.jpg - the heater hose i got from SCA ($12) that fit real snug over the core's pipes. Cut 2 x approx 80mm pieces out of this hose.
15.jpg - Used some soapy water to lube the pipes, I slid the heater hose all up on to the old pipes, not too easy laying on your back and can only fit in one hand!
Then lined up the new pipes and slid the hose til center with the joint of the aluminium pipes.
16.jpg - Popped on some SS hose clamps.
17.jpg & 18 jpg - Job done, got brackets back, filled up the coolant and burped the system whilst engine idling until no air bubbles in the expansion tank.

Took it for a good test run, no leaks, all good!

I had visions of the rubber hose start to leak, or even burst, blowing scalding water on my sons feet whilst driving to / from Uni, so i will ASAP get a larger hose, slice it open to wrap around this joint with a coupe of hose clamps, just for that extra peace of mind!

marg99 · 17-05-2013, 05:43 PM

the heater hose sections should be good for about 8 years or more and with luck they will take any stress of the long connectors away from the heater core. I suspect the stress of the long pipes may contribute to these failures Great Job!

drez · 18-05-2013, 12:27 PM

Well done vicusj,this definetely helps with others when they need to undertake this task next time.

stevz · 22-05-2013, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marg99

the heater hose sections should be good for about 8 years or more and with luck they will take any stress of the long connectors away from the heater core. I suspect the stress of the long pipes may contribute to these failures Great Job!

The downside to this is if those hoses ever failed, the driver would end up with scalding hot coolant all over their legs.

Vicusj · 22-05-2013, 11:56 PM

Not wrong stevz, thats why I now have wrapped a larger heater pipe around these two smaller ones, just to get rid of my paranoia after i woke up one night thinking of scalding water on my son's legs on his way to uni!! Im a believer of rather safe than sorry :-)

interaddict · 16-11-2013, 01:12 PM

Just had this happen to me, two months after I bought the car (2008 LX). $1800 to fix after I bargained with the mechanic for a while. Absolutely destroyed the metaphorical new car smell for me. :(

hazrd · 18-11-2013, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KenN0898

.I have owned many cars in my 60 years of driving and now for the first time in my life I have thoughts of "lemon" in my mind so I will now look around to see what is on offer and if I can get a reasonable price I will trade it for a later or even new model which I believe are currently made in Germany.

Hey Ken,
Just an FYI. From memory, I think it is only the ST that is made in Germany where the rest of the models are made in Thailand (Still an exceptional build quality though IMO)