Well, I have searched the forum posts and found some good information on what might be causing this very strong antifreeze smell inside the cab when the heater is on. I imagine the worst case would be a bad heater core. Assuming that is the problem, how hard are they to replace and should I try it myself or take it to the shop? I can do the basics and have some excperience with changing the heater core in an old jeep, but this will likely be a little different.

If I have the Chilton service manual, would that help any? What do you all think?

Thanks for any advice you might have and...

Merry Christmas.

 

I did some looking though the forum and yes it is a pretty big job. I have to do one myself soon I asked the guy a mobil how much to do one when i was getting gas and he said 600 and up for labor and parts around 100

 

Hey, thanks for the reply. I kind of figured it was going to be a $500+ job. I was going to check all the hose connections and look for any coolant leaks, but I'm afraid of the worst. Oh well...what can you do.

Thanks again.

 

I am assuming you have a f250ld which would have the same dash as the F150? If so, it is definetly a (insert cuss word here) to do!!! I would reccomend using a brass unit from advance auto or autozone. also buying some new heater hose clips for the hoses under the hood $7-10 at Ford. First one took me about 8-9 hrs with only two or three of the 7mm screw left over, second one i did was 6-7 hrs with only one screw left over. If you do it yourself, you will find out which screw it was that i purposly deleted Also do a collant flush before you start and only replace with distilled water (no anti freeze). this will keep any of the old stuff from traveling thru the new unit, its not life or death, but every little but helps!! Best of luck to your patience if you decide to takle yourself, best of luck to your wallet if not!!

 

That is what I thought...I checked a couple of shops and it looks like a $500-$700 job. I'll spare you all the profanitiy. However, an interesting thought occured to me and maybe you can tell me if it's just plain stupid. Would "stop leak" help fix the problem in the short term until I can start my second job to save up for the repair bill? I've never been a fan of the stuff, but I was wondering what kind of damage can result from trying. Any input is appreciated and feel free to mock me to get the point across.

Cheers.

 

if it is a pinhole leak then stop-leak would probably work. Either way I would steer clear of that stuff unless you were getting ready to trade the truck in and didnt want to spend the $$ to do it right. Just remember that that stuff circulates throughout the entire coolant system and gunks it all up. For a short term solution, you can undo the heater hoses from under the hood and hook them together. this would involve cutting the hoses therefore resulting in having to buy new hoses once the new core is installed or just having to do without the quick connect clips and go with an oldstyle heater hose clamp. the decision is up to you. Also if you attatch the heater hoses together, then you will have no heater!!! Just some brain food for thought!!!

 

In the summer I've connected the heater hoses together to avoid having to work on a junker car - so it is a viable alternative. (Down here in Florida I might even be able to get through a winter, albeit not happily, without a heater core. )

 

not a wise alternantive unless you are not so gifted (at all) mechanical person or your time is so strapped that you have absolutely no time what so ever! A heater core is going to run you about $50, the rest is just time and patience! So its completely up to you. new hoses are going to run about $60-$75 so if you do decide to put the hoses together, its probably going ot cost you more in the ong run unless you end up just "rigging" it together which you probably wont be happy with overall.

If I were you, spend $75 on heater core, $10 on new heater hose clips from ford, and spend the rest on some miller lite. turn the radio on and prepare your 7mm socket for a day of torture!

All i needed for mine was 7mm, 8mm, 10mm, couple extensions, drop light, maybe a screwdriver. I took my seats out which required a few extra tools but its not required to do!

 

hmmmm......I never thought about taking the seats out but I will look and see how hard-easy that would be! I'm a big guy and the extra room might prove to be the differance in a fun job and a real mother fer. As for the miller light I'm gona have to go with the coors.

agian....this board rocks

 

I agree - when I read about taking out the seat, it made perfect sense! Thanks!

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice - I really appreciate it. I think I have enought to get started. I got the heater core on order and working on the rest of the parts list. Should be a fun weekend in the garage. I hope the kids stay out of earshot because the profanity might get out of hand. As you all said...have plenty of patience on hand.

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Cheers.

 

These pics are from a 99 but may help
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...?albumid=25451

 

Wow, those are great pics okterminator. I guarantee I will use them...Thanks for the help and I might take you up on the offer for tips. I really appreciate the forum for what it has to offer...

Cheers.

 

Well, I wanted to report back that the job is done and it appears everthing is working great. I even managed to put all the screws back where they belonged. I didn't lose anthing or break any of the plastic molding clips/parts - what a relief. All in all I had about 10 hours into it. I really made sure to bag and document everything. The hardest part was wrestling with the dash and all the wiring harnesses - those evil plastic clips that push in and don't come out. I'd like to thank everyone that helped out on the forum...I owe a lot to all of you. Until the next job...

Cheers.

 

A form of stop leak is actually used during production.Ive had good luck with the store bought stuff on my winter cars.It wont hurt it but mucks up the system,turns everything brown and will defenatly turn off any buyers if you try to sell it.For this reason i won't use it in my good vehicals..