I bought a 95 ex a short while ago. since i live in florida i didn't bother to check the heat cause ac was fine. it got a little cool so a i tried the heat and found none. i found out that the heater core is bypassed. i know people do that when there is a leak in the core. is there a way to check for leaks?

can it be repaired without removing entire dash to get to it(maybe stop leak)?

if i get used on ebay about how much replacement run at a shop?

basically i'm looking for cheap solution since anything too expensive wouldn't be worth it due to the temp. but it's nice to have when the temp takes a dump for a few days or if i venture up north.

 

Put a garden hose in the one inlet, if water leaks from where its not suppose to then it has a hole in it.

 

it may not leak with a garden hose you might have to have the car running to build pressure in the system to cause it to leak. chances are if its unhooked its bad. there is no reason to just unhook it. you dont want to but a used heater core (bad idea). check a local parts store they arent a ton of money. and if you have some tools they arent terrible to change. its basically just a small radiatior inside a plastic box under your dash. if you have a chiltons it will probably tell you exactly how to change it in there. if not just take the covers off that block access, oprn the box it sits in, unhook the two lines (yours already are unhooked),remove the core,and reverse to put it back,then hook up your lines and make sure the coolant is full. hope this helps.
eric

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by urnotfast &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it may not leak with a garden hose you might have to have the car running to build pressure in the system to cause it to leak. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Very true, but most leaks I have seen in heater cores are pretty dam big. Pressuring testing it would be a better method buy finding a fitting would be tough.

 

the core is not that hard to get to i paid $95 for mine in my hatch from pep boys. the bad part is you have to take the dash out. not hard just requires a little bit of time. i just did my core last week , the only thing that will give you a problem is taking the two plugs that go into the heater controls.