Leaking Heater Core...

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Drake

Drake

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I have a question regarding my heater core leaking. It isn't the actual core itself, it is rain-water that comes in through the cowl vent. Every time I go out to the car, the floor board is filled with water (I just finished patching the floor, most likely caused by this same issue). We ran a hose over the hood area and windshield to determine the leak, and it turned out that the water is running down the drainage area on either side of the cowl, but instead of draining out of the sides of the car as it should, the water comes out of the sides and back of the heater unit.

Any schematics or info concerning the fixing of this problem would be appreciated.

Thanks
-- Drake
 
I don't think that it is coming from the wipers because we only hosed inside of the cowl vent. There was no water anywhere on the windshield or the wiper area at that time.
 
Drake said:
I don't think that it is coming from the wipers because we only hosed inside of the cowl vent. There was no water anywhere on the windshield or the wiper area at that time.
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there is a gasket around the blower motor that could be leaking..
 
If the drain holes on each side are plugged up the water will back up and overflow the lip arond the fresh air intake and flow right down into the car. Those things are bad about getting plugged by leaves and such.
 
Steve68 said:
If the drain holes on each side are plugged up the water will back up and overflow the lip arond the fresh air intake and flow right down into the car. Those things are bad about getting plugged by leaves and such.
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*Drake's dad chiming in here*....Steve, that could be the problem, because the vent cowl is packed with years of dead leaves...Question: Where are those drain holes located...near the ends of the cowl, at the fender tops? Can I see them if I remove the front fenders?
Rob
 
This is going from memory many years back. On my early A the drains were a sort of slot at the bottom of the fender behind the wheel opening. Taking off the fender should help get a bunch of crud out of there. You might just try shoving a wire up there to break stuff loose. Or maybe loosen the bolt at the bottom rear of the fender & pull the bottom of the fender out a bit to help stuff fall out. Try it while you run some water into the cowl vent. Once you get a good flow of water you can probably flush a bunch of crud out by increasing the water volume.
 
there are some drains at the ends of the cowl in between the cowl and the fender about four inches down from the top of the fender and at the front of the cowl.you cna get easier access to them with the fenders removed but may be able to dislodge the debris with an air blower and then rinse it back out but removing the fenders is the best way.the cowl itself may have some rust holes as the rain deflectors are about an inch and a half tall
 
If you open your doors you can see the drains on each side of the cowl. I cleaned mine out last summer by using a water hose in the cowl and using a coat hanger to help dislodge and rinse it out.
 
Thanks, guys...we'll try that this Friday, and we'll let you know how it worked!
Rob
 
Ghostsoldier said:
Thanks, guys...we'll try that this Friday, and we'll let you know how it worked!
Rob
Click to expand...

BaDart has it right. The cowl, vent intake, passages, etc. are all welded up. So there is no nice easy way to unbolt and dissassemble to get where you would need to for a real cleaning. But a coat hanger and a hose should get you opened up, WHen you run water into the cowl vent, it should gush freely out those drains you can see when the doors are opened. You should be able to run a garden hose full force without backing water up to run over the barrier into the car.

Two added thoughts:

1) if you have access to an air compressor, you can fabricate an extension to a blow gun with a piece of 1/4 inch copper tubing or small flex hose, a couple feet long. That can help get the crud lose and flowing.

2) If you have evil trees like that, while you are already wet and dirty, take some time and reopen the drain holes in the bottom of the doors (and under the rear quarter window on 2 doors) and make sure water is flowing freely out of those, to keep the bottoms of your doors from rusting out.

I've had several A bodies, I love them, and overall, there were not too many 'design flaws' but the way leaves can easily get past the large gaps in the vent cowl grill and plug the drains, with no way to easily access and clean is one...but manageable..a good cleaning every 10 years or so is no big deal!
 
The final solution to our problem has been achieved.

To ensure that no water ever enter the car again, we cut out a sheet of metal shaped to the cowl vents, and sealed the cowl vent. There will never be any water in the car again... ever. [-(
To further the problem, the interior panels where it drains was gone, allowing the water that was draining down the fender well to enter the car. Those have been patched as well.

Now it looks like I have a flip up cowl. 8)

Thanks for the tips.

-- Drake
 
seen another guy came up with a clever ide to keep the leaves from entering the vent area of the cowl, he took a magnetic sign and cut it to fit then sprayed and cleared it to match the car and would keep it inside the trunk when not in use, just stuck it there to the decklid
 
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