Pulling the boat to Richland Chambers this morning we noticed a strong sudden smell of antifreeze that seemed to be coming from the AC. It has not gone away and is very strong. Have not noticed any antifreeze on the floor and no noticable leaks under the hood.
Also the fluid in the platic tank seems rusty looking. Had not noticed this much before but changed it in the past prettty close to the guidelines. Truck has 122K miles.
Anyway from everything I've researched it seems like the heater core. I read about a temporary fix to unhook the hoses under the hood from the heater core and use a same sized copper tube to connect them together for a temporary bipass.
Although I'm pretty handy the heater core replacement seems quite involved. From online research it seems like the part is about $50 and $500-$550 in labor to replace such an item because of labor.
It can be tough if you have never done it, but hell, some of them are tough with experience lol 500 is alot but it does take several hours to do, see if you can find a friend in your area who knows how to do it, may be able to get a good deal that way. I do mechanic jobs on the side but i am about an hour away so I would be no help to you I am afraid. good luck.
_________________________
Keith Morgan Forney Bass Club Triton TR 22, Merc 225 EFI Firefighter, City Of Garland
Yeah I looked it up....quite an involved procedure. Not sure if I want to try it. Anyway I bypassed the heater core with a small pipe and two clamps. After cutting the heater hoses I flushed it with water and then blasted it out with compressed air. That fixed it for now and the antifreeze smell has almost gone away.
if it has leaked into the carpet, might wanna pull it back and see it there is any under the padding and get it out, and place a few towels on top with a couple heave phone books or something to help soak it up. sucks for is like that, why cant they be like the early 90 gm trucks a couple screws and a cover and bam its out.
Yeah I looked it up....quite an involved procedure. Not sure if I want to try it. Anyway I bypassed the heater core with a small pipe and two clamps. After cutting the heater hoses I flushed it with water and then blasted it out with compressed air. That fixed it for now and the antifreeze smell has almost gone away.
I've PMed Lite-Liner.
Yep this is very labor intensive if you can find someone to do it for $600 go for it. Bypassing the thing buys you some time hopefully any leakage went down the a/c condensate drain. These are some links I have saved over the years pertaining to accessing the a/c evap/heater core/blend door. The 97-03 F150's, Expy's and Navi's are simular so this sort of covers them all. Good luck, hope this helps.
It does not surprise me. Ford engineered everything on these trucks to be hard to work on. Hopefully my 01 will hold up for a while longer. It took me less than a hour to fix my 87.
I have a tech that works for me and his Dodge heater core went out and his dash has got to come out too. The more sophisticated and all of the amenities, whistle's and bells these trucks come with now the more complex they become. It ain't grandpa's ol 67 ya know.
In doing some research online. A lot of folks say to go ahead and replace the blower motor and blender since you are in there. They say this is a place you will not wish to return if at all possible.
Wow that's a lot of work. I'm even more amazed the more I learn.
The heater cores on some of the older models were tough too. I do not think it is the bells & whistles in this case. My 2001 F150 is such a piece of #*&% that I cannot wait until the day I can get rid of it. I just hope that I do not have to sink a few more grand in to it before then.
thats my all time favorite job lol. have replaced alot on dodge vehicles since i was a mechanic for dodge. never replaced a ford but probably still is pain. dodge vehicles you have to remove the dash. so its a pain
now thats funny hope my wife and daughter don't see that.
Previous Topic
Index