As others have said, it could just be the O-ring between the valve body and the core. When I got my GL, the rear heater smelled of antifreeze whenever I used it. I removed it, pressurized it with air and dunked it in a bucket of water. I found bubbles from the O-ring area but none on the core itself. So, I cleaned it up, installed a new O-ring, and repressurized it. An hour later I checked and it was still pressurized. So I thought I was good to go and reinstalled the heater. No luck, still smelled. I forked over the $$ for a new rear core and that cured it. I think the core can pass a cold pressure test but still leak a bit when they heat up. It only takes a tiny leak to create that unmistakable smell. The rear heater cores are well known for developing leaks; I hope the replacements are better than the originals in that regard. Allan -- 1991 Vanagon GL Florian Speier <groups.florian@GMAIL.COM> writes: > detected some nasty rear heater leakage in my westy.... first I thought the > core was bad, and it does have a little rust on the bottom, but now I bench > pressure tested it somewhat and it seems for sure the seal next to the valve > is gone, but saw no leakage from the core. of course a 5 min test does not > resemble a 1000 mile drive. makes me think whether the rust on the core is > just of the coolant running down and pooling up in the plastic case the core > sits in...... > so do the heater cores typically go bad at all? am I safe just replacing the > valve? > > thanks everyone > flo > |
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