Heyas, Yet another hiccup with my z... green liquid is coming from the air con vents at the passenger footwell... it seems like coolant from the radiator.. first thought it was green paint... luckily I had a rug for it to stain rather than the actual flooring.. Anyone know what this is? Found traces of green stuff in the vents, and radiator still seems very full... Has me baffled.. I tried the tech section but didnt come up with much.. any help appreciated. Tim
Heater core Hi , I am pretty sure that the problem is that there is a leak in your heating core. The coolant (i believe) goes into this heater core thus transfering heat and making hot air. So when this unit gets worn out the heater leaks and coolant ends up on the passengers floor. People have been talking about this recently on the forum and I am pretty sure that there is a tech article on how to remove the heater core. I had this happen to my g/f 1990 lancer. Ended up taking the heater out and not replacing it Thats why I love Sunny Queensland........... Hope this helps
yup your heater cores gone buddy... you can bypass it for the time being from the back of the engine....if you dont bypass it you will have continous coolant leaking into the footwell... at the back of the engine you can see two hoses coming out of the firewall into some metal pipes....you will have to continue the coolant circulation by eliminating the firewall hoses.... then prepare yourself for a big job, to get the heater core out you need to litrally pull out everything holding your dash back....
your heatercore is leaking the coolant in your engine goes into your heatercore and provides heat. When the core leaks, you get coolant into the cabin. Firstly, do you have an auto or manual?? these are your options: 1) You can temporarily bypass the heatecore byfollowing the tech article in the tech section. But your heater wont work. 2) To fix it, depends on whether you drive an auto or manual. If auto, you can get away trying to replace the core without removing the dash, but this is still quite difficult. If manual, its dash out time. Its time consuming and a bitch. A mechanic will probably charge you about $1000 to fix it. Cheers
Just read through the tech article on it.. yesterday just pulled apart majority of the car.. centre consol and back (was fun putting it all back.. time to find out how much fun we can have with the dash haha thnx all, problem solved... to an extent.. Anyone in syd done this before? tips n stuff would be appreciated. Tim
best tips you can get is patients....there will be many times you will get the shits becuase it wont budge and you'd want to smash it....***patients*** there will be screws everywhere lol.
She's auto, think ill be doing it myself.. sounds quite interesting actually. can't fork out too much $$ atm aswell Do you have the link to do the auto job? Cheers, tim
Out of all recommendations, who thinks replacing the heater core is a good idea? or just bypassing it and having no heater? (And trying to forget about this problem) (I don't mind this option as I rarely use the heater). Think ill be pulling the dash out and cleaning behind there too... (Any recommendations of things to do while the dash is out?)
Temp. bypass, I think an AU Falcon heater hose( 19mm with a Uturn) its not particularly difficult, will give time to plan a longer term repair. Some people do the by-pass before the core blows for added reliability (Zed4life)
Do the bypass first,(fairly easy) then do the heatercore at a time of your choosing(difficult) Expect it to take you up to 2 days the first time you do it maybe more.(seriously) The dash must also come out to replace the engine harness (if your harness is also very brittle, now is a good time to change it as this will eliminate most cases of hesitation,again a common problem in Z's. I would also drill or locate a vacant firewall hole on each side for the easier installation of future modifications. ie,digital water temp gauge,oil gauge,radar detector,etc Goodluck with it.:zlove:
Could also be the A/C evaporator Is your air con working? If not the air con evaporator is behind the glove box and if the green stuff coming out is oily not watery then it's coming from the evaporator. The green stuff is lubricant in the A/C system.
Thanks all for your responses there all very informative and after reading the tech section over a few times, and reading previous posts on this, it doesnt seem so bad.. exciting is more the word I would use now =) Will be doing the temp bypass till im ready to take the dash apart and put perhaps a new one in, screws, bolts, nuts, frames and all =) Found alot of clips broken when I pulled the centre console out yesterday. Once again thanks all! Cheers, Tim
Remove it from under the dash The easy way. I did mine i a coulpe of hours, just get your head done and up side down near the brake pedal lol And then you can remove a coulpe of things and you there you can see it and remove it.
I did a heater core bypass as a preventative measure easy enough done with the existing heater hoses between the engine and the firewall. You just a need a $3 nylon barbed elbow of the suitable size. Don't worry, these are designed to work with the cooling system (they don't melt or shrink or bend). Got mine at autobarn, I'm sure supercheap and repco should have them too.
Clean all the air ducts behind the dash You will see a lot of dust inside. Washing only would not easily get rid of 15 years old dust. Please put the screws back where they were, once uncrewed. Do not leave them anywhere else. Otherwise, you will have some leftover screws when the dash is put back. Also, check your air mix door is working ok if you get the air only thru the demister vents.
heater core ... source of supply ... phillip radiator service in the ACT ... around $175 plus delivery (o/night) .. also do a search for method's post .. he did a much cheaper "alternative" deal... if doing a "dash in" r and r, remove the driver's seat, easy job, to give yourself much more room... :zlove: :zlove:
Dude this job is a real PITA to do and I swore I would try to help out the next poor zedder to suffer from the heater core leak with this advice. After bypassing the heater core, remove the controller/plastic cover to expose the side of the core as per tech article, then wipe as much slimey/crumbly foam from side of core and clean it up with a rag. Once done get an assistant to fill the core with clean water via some hose attached to the hard pipes on the fire wall and then get them to seal one hose with their thumb and blow into the other to create some pressure while you look at the side of the core with a torch. With any luck the core will have a pin hole leak on the side tank just like mine did that you can reach, and if so you can apply some metal mend and seal it (after assistant removes thumb and blows water out of heater core), and thus avoid a hell of a lot of work. If the core fails again the worst that has happened is that you have wasted an hour of your life and $10 on metal mend.
Some very good advice there, will have to try that, esp cause its winter and heater is needed for de-fogger... now I just have to find someone good at blowing haha =) thnx again all!
