water in cabin (from heater?)

[Quiggers]

Hi guys,

I was hauling up a long hill near home (115ks indicated, 25 degrees sunny day, light load) and about 2 ks into this haul steam hissed out from all the vent holes and fogged the windscreen. I shut down the aircon, initially thinking this was the problem (but not).

Looking out the rear view mirror I could see a trail following me up the hill so I pulled over as the temp gauge was climbing.

Outside and underneath coolant was running out of the passenger side floor and coolant was also running down both sills to the back arches (and quite a lot).

Parked it for a while to let it cool a bit and it took the five litres of water I carry, which was enough to get home without boiling it.

At home, same as above but no apparent sign of what let go (not the aircon thankfully). On further inspection water was seeping onto the floor from the forward centre console under dash area, I suppose this is where the heater is....
and also running down the sills, inside underneath, and another drip eminated from about the centre near the bellhousing (off a cross member).

(And yes, all these hoses were changed about three months ago, but they're the more external ones).


Without wasting too much of your time, fellow LRs, got any clues, ideas or experiences before I start taking things apart?

Thanks

GQ

[camel_landy]

Yep... It's your heater matrix!

As a quick work around, you can bypass it by taking the hose that runs from the bottom of the 'V' and goes into the bulkhead and double it back on itself to the other pipe in the 'V'.

Make sense?

Mark.

[Quiggers]

Thanks Mark, it does

water goes to and from the unit

just an absolute bugger to get to...

...for now I don't really care about the heater as it's rather warm around here and the air con is the order of the day

cheers, GQ

[DEFENDERZOOK]

do they just blow up like that?


i thought they just slowly and secretly wet the carpets without anyone knowing...

[camel_landy]

Originally posted by DEFENDERZOOK
do they just blow up like that?


i thought they just slowly and secretly wet the carpets without anyone knowing...

Oh yes!

On my '91 RaRo, I pulled into a service area, parked up and as I was getting out of the car she let go!!!! Torrents of coolant came gushing out....

Mind you, the '95 RaRo started very slowly & I changed it before it became a drama.

Mark.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

and you will notice it always happens when you need it most....


winter....

[Quiggers]

Hi there zook, this one let go in a big way, and I'll correct my earlier statement, it was a mist rather than steam, and there was lots of it!
and it's still dripping and it smells, water in the carpet, hmmmmm.

My 13 daughter who was in the passenger seat was a bit freaked out and really annoyed her new netball shoes got covered in green stuff. Makes me wonder what I'm going to find when I start digging....

It was a bit of a worry as the green stuff was steaming hot.

The funny part of this saga was when I saw the line from behind. It looked like a continuous skinny tyre mark on bitumen, (this long hill is dead straight) and I initially didn't think it was me, so I did a small swerve, and behind me so did the line on the road, green water everywhere.

I was going to go home and hook up the boat and go for a run as its been a while, but that was the end of that. An omen maybe, the boat can be a bit testy at times.

Cheers, GQ

[Quiggers]

While your about Mark, whats the story on repair? A fix up or chuck the incumbent and get another?

GQ

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i hope you got a big air compressor at home....

that coolant is like an oil......ie. it refuses to dry out...

a good way to get it out of the carpet is with compressed air....this will aerate the carpet at the same time and remove the smell...you will need to have the carpets and underlay raised up to allow the coolant to blow through it with the compressed air.


i havent used a wet vac yet so cant say how good that works....

[Quiggers]

Hi Zook thanks for that, I was looking for an excuse to by a big compressor as the one I have is pitiful.

Yet another job to do.

Maybe I'll just pull out the interior fix the tc gearbox selector properly, put in a new heater, which gets about a weeks work a year up here, get the carpets done professionally, refit the door trims, put in some new speakers, re wire the back so the kids can have their own sound system, and the headlining is a bit grubby etc etc etc. And the bonnet is going off and needs a repaint.

Then there's the X1/9 which has been waiting for a clutch for a while.

So many bloody jobs to do, I should just stop working and be the full time house janitor, funny how the bloke is the house fix it man.

I'm in Syd in mid July, where's your shop? I'll drop in and say g'day, if that's okay...

Cheers, GQ

[JohnE]

Graham
I thought the only big hill we had around here was the one coming up from the shops at Tintenbar, thats the one my cars don't like.
Good luck with the heater core, sounds like a major operation to me.

john

[camel_landy]

Originally posted by Quiggers
While your about Mark, whats the story on repair? A fix up or chuck the incumbent and get another?

GQ

Bin it & get another.....

I tried fixing mine, it lasted for a few mins and then let go again! As the part is only a few $, it's not worth the agro of stripping down the dash twice if your fix doesn't hold.

Also (just to throw in an extra bit of doom & gloom) when you get it all re-assembled, it might be worth checking if the sudden failure was caused by excess pressure in the system from a blown head gasket :!:

Mark.

[Quiggers]

Hi Mark: this heater is used maybe once or twice a year, motor seems to be running as per normal....

I suspect its lack of use may have some bearing on the prob and it's 12 years old. But I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

Hi John: I was 'steaming' up to Perrys Hill Alstonville from Ballina and it let go about half way up.

Cheers GQ

[camel_landy]

Originally posted by Quiggers
Hi Mark: this heater is used maybe once or twice a year, motor seems to be running as per normal....

I suspect its lack of use may have some bearing on the prob and it's 12 years old. But I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

Hi John: I was 'steaming' up to Perrys Hill Alstonville from Ballina and it let go about half way up.

Cheers GQ

It may only be used once or twice but it's still part of the cooling system.

Mark.

[loanrangie]

When mine blew about 9 years ago , i removed the front floor to get the heater out as it seemed easier at the time. Mine only split where the in/outlets are on the core and i soldered it myself - still good after all this time.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I had to clean the aircon filter once,, about 8 hours to tear everything out, throw the filter away and reinstall,,
maybe thats why the heater still doesnt work,,, :roll:

LR must hang the heater core from a skyhook
and build the disco around it style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

[JohnE]

Graham your lucky you had to slow down for the speed camera. It could have been worse if you had been coming up from Tintenbar.

john

[Quiggers]

If your about Mark and others, is this wise?

A rubber water hose comes from the back of the water pump (i think its the water pump), joins up with a metalpipe over the drivers side cylinder bank, then to another rubber hose which disappears down the back of the block.

Ditto second hose except it comes from the middle (manifold area) of the 'V'. Can I loop these before they join to the metal pipes. I 'assume?' these two metal pipes are the ones which send to the heater and return to from the heater?


For now I'll go the bypass route. I've removed the centre console and the centre dash fascia and am not even close to the problem, just wires and crap everywhere.

Thanks

GQ

[camel_landy]

Yep... Go for it.

The 2x pipes that sit in the 'V' are the flow & return for the heater matrix. Just loop the hose around from one pipe to the other where it comes out at the back of the engine.

Mark.

[Quiggers]

Thanks for that Mark, but I might have a slightly different layout as the two metal pipes sit on top the drivers side rocker cover... however I expect these are the heater hoses.

Cheers, GQ

[Quiggers]

Further to last:

I had my plumber neighbour (and that's a story or two!) make up a 'u' shaped pipe from 20mm copperpipe which I've installed. Only took him about a beer.

Did a quick trip about 10ks and everything seems to be in order, temp gauge never rose above one quarter.... (which now I'm monitoring this, makes me wonder if it has a thermostat...)

Cheers, GQ

[Pedro_The_Swift]

yea, nice neighbour quiggers!!!

I played around for about trying doifferent layouts for the hose,,trying to get it not to "kink" up against the firewall,,

cold its fine,, hot it just kinks,,,

after a few years,, doesnt seem to be a problem,,,

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

[Quiggers]

G'day pedro. This neighbour had an old troopie that always seemed to have probs. Biily would see me about these and at times we'd fix 'em or I'd send him in the right direction. (One time a local repairer said the big old diesel was stuffed but all it needed was a new air filter, work that out).

So, basically knowing what my prob was, I opened the bonnet, showed him what I wanted and asked him if he had a pipe that would do the job. Not off the shelf.. so he cut a few bits of pipe, fitted two right angle joints, brazed the connections and, keep your fingers crossed, no leaks.

He's a top bloke, funny as and for such a talent, illiterate, (and extraordinarily worldly).

So, prob (hopefully) solved with a few bits of plumbers pipe. But I looped it at the front of the block, from the pump and manifold.

Now one day, I've got to actually fix the heater (or not....) Personally I'd rather ditch it and put in an electric device for those few days when I may need one.

Cheers, GQ