Gurgling Sound From Heater Core
 

I've had a gurgling sound coming from the heater core for about a year. It increases with increased RPM's. My Bronco is a 95 EB, w/5.8.

Dealer wants to replace the heater core. Does anyone have expirience with this issue and is the dealer headed in the right direction? They also want to install a restricter, I don't think I want the restricter, 1st core lasted 14 years and 130,000 miles without one.

Any and all comments are greatly appreciated.

Kevin

Gurgling is air in the system. As long as you do not smell the radiator, and the passneger side is not fogging up to beat the devil, there is nothing wrong with the heater core. It sounds like you are due a decent cooling system flush, though. A restrictor? on the cooling/heating system? Not sure about that one...

Ditto to everything NWBronco said. Never heard of a restrictor in the cooling system... sounds like a bad idea anyway. Tell the dealer to quit blowing smoke and flush and fill the system like they are supposed to. DEALERS... rank right up there with attorney's and oil companies!

Thanks much. Makes sense to me. They wanted the restricor on the heater lines. I'm having a flush done.

VERY common on fox body mustangs. Help the heater core live longer from high rpm's, which blows the heater core.

Don't see how it would help you tho............???

May I ask just how higher rpms adversely affect the heater core? If the water pump developed that much pressure it'd be rupturing hoses long before it damaged the heater core. Guess it still sounds like snake oil to me.

Well its a FACT, mustangs blow heater cores all the time, from high RPM's.

Not sure exactly how, but my 97 GT is blown at 100K miles. All because I started shifting at 5500..

Happened to my 89 fox body also...............

If you still in dis-belief I can dig my mustang book out for ya :-hair

Woah, there... never said you were wrong. Just have trouble getting my head around the idea that the heater core is weaker than the hoses running to it. If it happens, it happens. Glad my trucks pull from the bottom of the rpm range though. I top out at about 4-4500 in 4-low crushing the accelerator to climb hills and rocks.

I'm with Greystreak. It's may be true for Mustangs, but, this is not a Mustang list, so we are talking apples and oranges. Truck engines are completely different from car engines. I own no cars, so I would not be able to get my head around running at 5500 RPM. Nothing I have will ever know that RPM. So, not disputing your Mustangs FACTS, just know they are not Ford Truck facts. And a restrictor on a Ford truck cooling system is a bad idea.

So the shop he took it to sold him snake oil for a Ford truck and gospel for a Mustang. Shop guy does not know the difference and should be avoided.

Funny what you can find in a search:

Ford E-250 Eats Heater Cores


yup, PURE SNAKE OIL !!!


Just sharing, cause sharing is caring :-drink :-X25

Right on. Sharing is just what this list is about. Electolysis. Wow, a battery for a cooling system. Heheheh, asking about a restrictor and getting a battery lesson.

Thanks, pro3qtr.

Electrolysis is a condition that will certainly corrode thin metals but reducing the flow of coolant through the system won't fix the problem. It is listed as a last resort if for some strange reason the condition of excessive battery voltage cannot be diminished from the coolant as it runs through the system. This is a failure point in the grounding of the engine and electrical system. The "flow restrictor" mentioned will simply reduce the amount of coolant through the heater core thereby diminishing its effectiveness and slowing the rate at which the electrolyzed coolant flows through it. Thus prolonging what would otherwise happen in this situation anyway AND will STILL happen because its a "cop out fix" for an electrical system problem. Good grief, Ford, provide solid connections to the frame for components with high ignition voltages running through them so the electrons don't bleed off through the coolant!

I agree nice lesson in electronics. And the restrictor is STILL SNAKE OIL because it will only slow down the corrosion process and won't truly FIX the issue. That would be like only licking the lollipop half as many times so the candy doesn't melt as quickly. Well duh, but if you like the candy you are gonna want to keep it in your mouth. Personally, I'd rather have a fully functioning heater core instead of some "band-aid fix" that won't correct the problem but it will slow down the corrosion rate so you only have to replace the heater core after 50,000 miles rather than 25,000 or whatever the real numbers might be. Its a dumb idea.

Thanks for clearing that up. It still doesn't explain the idea that higher RPM's are part of the equation. There is no additional voltage created at higher RPM's unless the regulator in the alternator has failed. This AGAIN, is an electrical problem!

It still doesn't explain the idea that higher RPM's are part of the equation


More pressure ??? Mustang was fine till I started to shift at 5500 rpm's

When most ever in its life was 4000 maybe, so corrosion and pressure are to blame. (cheap offshore core maybe)

looking further into...................:-tap

Perhaps, but the solution to the problem is still to eliminate the electrolysis through the coolant in the first place. The problem wouldn't exist if the engine electronics were able to disburse the energy from the ignition well enough in the first place. If the electrolysis exists, its going to have the same effect on the radiator as well but the radiator being significantly larger will absorb more electrons and not show the effects as quickly. Other metal cooling system components will suffer the same effects just not as readily since most are significantly heavier in their initial construction.

It brings up an intriguing possibility as well. Could we find a reasonable replacement for typical engine coolant that is non-conductive. It would take water out of the picture but it would certainly eliminate the potential for this to happen regardless of the electrical system's capacity to bleed off excess energy.

I'm still bothered by the idea that the engineers at Ford can't come up with a better solution than what amounts to a slow-down of a process that will eventually still cause the same failure.

The answer:

Evans Cooling Systems, Inc. High Performance Engine Cooling and Power Production.

Would like to try this in the Bronco...............

:-drink :-X25