Why is coolant leaking under the dash?

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Dakota Smith

Dakota Smith

1976 340 Feather Duster
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
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Georgia
I just noticed today that coolant fluid is leaking from under the dash of my duster. It’s right beneath the radio, above the floorboard. There’s a black square box that liquid is coming out of. I can see it dripping out of the box from the driver seat. I don’t even have to bend down. It drips when I’m going slow, but really starts dripping a lot when I’m going over 45. I read that someone had a similar problem and they needed to replace their heater core. My car doesn’t have an air conditioner at all. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Dakota Smith said:
I just noticed today that coolant fluid is leaking from under the dash of my duster. It’s right beneath the radio, above the floorboard. There’s a black square box that liquid is coming out of. I can see it dripping out of the box from the driver seat. I don’t even have to bend down. It drips when I’m going slow, but really starts dripping a lot when I’m going over 45. I read that someone had a similar problem and they needed to replace their heater core. My car doesn’t have an air conditioner at all. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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Your car does not need a AC to have a heater core. It is like a little Radiator in the "black box" that has warm coolant flowing thru it, and the heater fan blows across it to heat the interior of the car. Replace the heater core.
 
Mopar Tim said:
Your car does not need a AC to have a heater core. It is like a little Radiator in the "black box" that has warm coolant flowing thru it, and the heater fan blows across it to heat the interior of the car. Replace the heater core.
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Sweet, thanks!
 
So one of the issues of upgrading the performance is the old girl may not be able to take it. If you rev your motor to a high rpm it puts a lot of pressure on the heater core. There is a restrictor you can install on the outlet from the water pump to reduce the pressure.
 
Dakota Smith said:
I just noticed today that coolant fluid is leaking from under the dash of my duster. It’s right beneath the radio, above the floorboard. There’s a black square box that liquid is coming out of. I can see it dripping out of the box from the driver seat. I don’t even have to bend down. It drips when I’m going slow, but really starts dripping a lot when I’m going over 45. I read that someone had a similar problem and they needed to replace their heater core. My car doesn’t have an air conditioner at all. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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If you need or want to drive the car without heat for now, you can loop the heater hose back to the water pump.
This will disable coolant coming into the cabin until you can get the heater core done.
(Which is pretty easy on these cars by the way)

One way is to remove the larger of the two hoses that run from the front of the engine/water pump to the firewall at the firewall end and attach it to the intake where the smaller hose connects making a loop.
 
Can I get a heater core with AC or do I have to get one that says without AC? My parts store only has the one with AC, but I don’t have AC.
 
Dakota Smith said:
I just noticed today that coolant fluid is leaking from under the dash of my duster. It’s right beneath the radio, above the floorboard. There’s a black square box that liquid is coming out of. I can see it dripping out of the box from the driver seat. I don’t even have to bend down. It drips when I’m going slow, but really starts dripping a lot when I’m going over 45. I read that someone had a similar problem and they needed to replace their heater core. My car doesn’t have an air conditioner at all. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes, drain your coolant at the radiator . And the drip will go away.
 
Mopar Tim said:
Different, need without AC.
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Once I got the old heater core out, the one I bought without AC looks completely different. The guy at the parts store said I can use the one with AC. I don’t think the one without AC would even fit into the box correctly. What do you think?
 
I have one listed for sale on this site . came out of a 67 barracuda, non A/C . Look it up and see it if it looks like it matches what you need.
 
Did your car have A/C? can you post a pic of your firewall? If your car HAD a factory A/C it'll still have the A/C box under the dash and the firewall is different than a non A/C car.
 
1994redram said:
Did your car have A/C? can you post a pic of your firewall? If your car HAD a factory A/C it'll still have the A/C box under the dash and the firewall is different than a non A/C car.
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I’m guessing it did because there are hookups for AC.
 
So you have an A/C box, firewall, etc. You need a heater core for a car with A/C even though its been removed.
 
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