Coolant leaking from under the dash. And it aint the o-rings nor the heater core!!

[redandy3575]

Yep she's a weirdie. I saw coolant leaking onto the carpet as would be the case with o-ring failure, except upon closer inspection the o-rings are not what is leaking. My second thought was the heater core, however it too seemed to be ok. But when carefully tracing back the leak, it seems to be oozing ever so slowely out of the plastic elbow past the o-ring towards the heater core in between the two pipes. As access is a bit of a bitch to get to, i assume there might be a fine crack in the plastic casing.

Has anyone else had this? If so, what would be a quickfix for this without dismantling the dash? Superglu?

[TheTree]

Andy

Opps, re reading, I have heard of the plastic bits getting cracked, time for an Audi heater core maybe

Steve

[Gippslander]

That is exactly what failed on me the last time, 12 months ago i replaced the "O" rings and noticed the plastic looked a bit stressed but thought it would hold. It lasted a year and dumped water all over the place the plastic had failed patching may work for a bit, i would make up a bypass tube and keep it handy in case it ruptures when you are out. There is a picture of the bypass i made and keep in the car for such occasions in an earlier post regarding heater core change out.:)

[Hoges]

Thought I read somewhere that Ron a.k.a. P38arover had a similar problem at one stage when the plastic cracked after he'd replaced the O-rings...

[TheTree]

Hmm Heater bypass, Melbourne, winter :wasntme:

[p38arover]

Thought I read somewhere that Ron a.k.a. P38arover had a similar problem at one stage when the plastic cracked after he'd replaced the O-rings...

Yes indeed, as did JSP of this forum. In my case, I suspect using an Allen head cap screw allowed me to put too much torque on the screw - torque that couldn't be applied with the original PoziDriv

[benji]

The same thing happened to me too. I spent so much time getting the Philips head screw out I put a bolt on there. I thought I was careful doing up, but it was to much and it cracked where yours is leaking. Was not a happy chappy that day!


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[FANTOM P38]

Apart from bad design must be an age thing (Landrover End Of Life Manufacturing )
As I recently bought an Audi unit to replace original as same issue, my one is currently bypassed until I can do swap!

[redandy3575]

I ended up adding a stop leak to the coolant which seemed to have stopped the leak. Its only a band aid fix i know, but if the problem comes then ill contemplate replacing the heater core.

[TheTree]

Hi

All the bits of plastic which have been exposed to heat for roughly 15 years are hard and brittle sadly.

I recently replaced the clip which holds the expansion tank in place and the old one was like metal, no wonder it broke!

Windscreen washer jets broke as soon as I looked at them etc

Probably a good idea to replace those plastic clips when doing o-rings unless you go the Audi route

Steve