I was driving my 1965 F100 the other day and in the cool weather the windshield began to fog up. I've got the basic heater/defroster. I slid the lever to defrost and turned the knob for the blower. The cab filled with a greyish haze. Probably lots of dust, but it looked smokey, but didn't smell smokey. Obviously I shut the blower and defroster back down and rolled down the windows.
Later on I noticed occaissional pillars of whitish mist wafting out of the defroster vents in the dash. These were very faint and at first I thought they were shodows from outside on moving across the windshield.
Anyone ever see this before? I'm concerned that I might have a small leak in the heater core. I did not smell coolant or anything else while observing the mist.
Unfortunately, I think you're on the right road, a heater core leak would be my first suspicion too. I'd check your coolant level and see if the level is down. Run an errand with the truck to bring the coolant up to operating temperature. When back home, with a wheel blocked and the engine running, up look under your dash near the heater for any dripping or wet spots, try to repeat and observe the misting condition again. I wouldn't want to ignore this & not find the cause and remedy the situation....
Good Luck & keep us all posted with your progress!
Thank you, Gentlemen, for the investigative procedure. The manual is silent on this. I searched the forum for similar posts and found nothing, but it does sound as though there are replacement cores for not a lot of $ for the '65 and ups. I should probably start looking for one.
SWS,
If you determine that the moisture is coming from a cracked or leaking heater core, it will resulting in you draining the coolant system and replacing or repairing it. If you do end up draining the system and pulling the heater core, I'd also plan to replace the heater hoses and clamps with new ones and give a serious eye to the radiator hoses and the condition of the radiator.
Depending on how long it's been since any cooling system work has been done, it might be a good time to go ahead and pull the radiator out and have it pressure-tested while the system is down & drained. I'd also wiggle on the fan a bit looking for any play in the water pump bushing/seal.
I usually don't like having too many things torn apart, but in this case, they aren't that big of a deal nor expensive - and once all the 'wear-able' parts have been inspected and/or replaced, fresh & new coolant mix - you'll be ready to feel the heat again without the humidifier effect!
Thanks for the advice on redoing the hoses, etc. I just checked for play in the fan last weekend...probably messed up the heater core (kidding). It seemed okay.
I took the truck up to my polling place, it being election day, and noticed a small trickle of coolant on my floor mat. Windshield steamed up but is was warmer out, so not as pronounced.
I couldn't find a new heater core on the NAPA site. Autozone has one for $19, $25.76 delivered. Rock Auto has one, but lists it as starting in 1966, not 1965. It costs 40% more, too. I thought I'd read here that the same core was used 1965-1979. I'll search some more. Looking for a reason to avoid the Autozone, maybe I'm just paranoid.
Depending on how exactly you want to do it, sometimes other heater cores will work ok...
When I was a poor college student, the heater core let go on my 64 Pontiac.
I went to the parts store to order a new one. It was something like 250 bucks 10 years ago. The clerk then said, "hold on a second."
He came back up to the desk with 5 or 6 different ones and we looked and compared each one (to the old one that I already took out).
We were able to find one that was nearly identical, except the inlet was about 1/4 of an inch higher on the new one. I had the room to work, so it wasn't a huge deal.
The replacement was for a mid 80's buick... Out the door was $21.67. I just looked a the receipt the other day (I still have the car with that Buick heater core....)
If I were able to find a donor in a yard with the fresh air (deluxe) heater system in it, how practical would it be to replace the standard heater system?
Anyone ever do this upgrade? I understand the risk in buying a core from a years old wreck, but if I've got to have a shop modify one to fit properly, I might as well add some value if possible.
There was one on evilbay a week ago with the fresh air package (C1TZ 18A594-A) for $25... I know someone is a happy person that bought it. The guy was chopping 1963 truck for parts and didn't want to trash it. Unfortunately I do not have his email anymore in my messages.
__________________
Mark J. Covill
"I'm not handicapped, I'm handicapable!"
'64 F-100 Shortbed 460/C-6
Author of the disc brake article for 57-64 F-100's
There was one on evilbay a week ago with the fresh air package (C1TZ 18A594-A) for $25... I know someone is a happy person that bought it. The guy was chopping 1963 truck for parts and didn't want to trash it.
Unfortunately I do not have his email anymore in my messages.
Someone is not a happy person if he/she bought it for a 1965/66, because...
A heater from a 1961/64 F100/1100 (which is the same) will not fit a 1965/66 F100/250 (because it is not the same!).
The heater water valve or shut-off valve is the same, the 5/8" heater hoses are the same, what else is?
LOL Thank god only the 65/66's are the red headed step children of the 61-64 trucks. I believe the guy added the info I sent to him letting him know they didn't fit on anything past 64.
__________________
Mark J. Covill
"I'm not handicapped, I'm handicapable!"
'64 F-100 Shortbed 460/C-6
Author of the disc brake article for 57-64 F-100's
Last edited by airharley; 11-04-2009 at 04:32 PM.
Reason: content
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