Greetings from Scotland

[Michal]

Hello everyone,

I bought a 2014 Mirage last week during a one-day hunt for a car replacing my wife's Suzuki Swift.
We've viewed three other cars that day and the Mirage seemed to be in the best condition among them.
As a not very experienced cars' buyer, who make a purchase every seven years on average, I've manage to miss the fact of the heating's malfunction. Driving back home, my wife made the unpleasant discovery: vents on the right hand side of the car blow cold air while on the left - hot.
By browsing the web for an explanation what can cause such symptoms, I found this forum.
I have some additional questions regarding the mentioned problem, and it'd be great if someone could advise me where should I ask them - in a new thread or existing one? I've read two or three of them and as a new user am not quite sure what's the best way to proceed.

Ta,
Michal

[Fummins]

Welcome!
Nobody cares if threads go off topic here. It happens daily.

Lots have complained about the heater not putting out much heat on the rh side caused by a partially plugged heater core, but haven't seen a problem first hand. To replace the heater core with an original design is a pita but there at least one mfg that I believe is available on that side of the pond that makes the job quick. They designed the lines to be removed and re-attatched to the heater core easily rather than "permanently" crimping them on. I'll look for that thread in case you haven't seen it yet. I believe Foama posted about it first?

Edit: Found it https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...acement-easier

[Michal]

Thanks!

Noticing the symptoms made me feel very uncomfortable to say at least, as my wife's Suzuki kicked the bucket after I ignored its strange heating behaviour.
Is there any other explanation for Mirages' air temp difference in left and right vents? Can it be something else, a head gasket for example? That's what my regular mechanic (who is not a Mitsubishi specialist) suspects and he wants to check the engine for compression.

Michal

[Fummins]

Some people opened up their heater cores and found some shmooh in there. I think foama sent some shmooh out to BASF to get tested(or I'm mistaken because I drank too many barely sandwiches over the weekend again)...
I'm pretty sure the shmooh ended up being just left over flux that didn't get washed out of the heater core properly after it was soldered together when new. Don't worry about a head gasket.

[Ares]

I, too, had a 2014 mirage with the partially blocked heater core. Since I live in Texas, I didn't care much about it; we do have about 30-40 "cold" days here so it wasn't a big deal for me.

As the thread would end up telling you, there isn't a real fix other than replacing the heater core. To do that, one must remove the entire dash. IIRC, the instructions were posted pretty detailed by someone on here - hopefully on the same thread.

Something you can do is perform a coolant flush to ensure the coolant is as clean as possible so the heat transfer between the engine, coolant, and heater core is at the best possible scenario.

Though, after 8 years (120k miles) of using the mirage without changing the coolant it seems the clogged part of the heater core gave up as the last time I used the heater even the passenger side vent was getting warmer compared to back in the day.

[Wallythacker]

Welcome!
Nobody cares if threads go off topic here. It happens daily.

Lots have complained about the heater not putting out much heat on the rh side caused by a partially plugged heater core, but haven't seen a problem first hand. To replace the heater core with an original design is a pita but there at least one mfg that I believe is available on that side of the pond that makes the job quick. They designed the lines to be removed and re-attatched to the heater core easily rather than "permanently" crimping them on. I'll look for that thread in case you haven't seen it yet. I believe Foama posted about it first?

Edit: Found it https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...acement-easier

That's the thread I would have directed you to. Foama, (hats off brother), found an incredibly simple way to replace the heater core. My 2014 has exactly the same problem and I'll use his guide to make my fix this summer.

ETA: Sorry, I forget to offer a welcome to here! You'll love it.

[Johnny Mullet]

The goo that clogs the core cannot be flushed out. I have done several of these and had to remove the entire dash to do it. Some say the tubes can be un-crimped from the core and dash replacement is not needed, but I tried that once and it leaked.

[Fummins]

The goo that clogs the core cannot be flushed out. I have done several of these and had to remove the entire dash to do it. Some say the tubes can be un-crimped from the core and dash replacement is not needed, but I tried that once and it leaked.

You can buy a heater core with removable tubes. They're built differently than the oem and most aftermarket cores. There's no need to remove the dash anymore if you buy the heater core that Foama found a while back.
No uncrimping or jerry rigging necessary. Though if I were to try to install one with the oem style, I'd just cut the tubes and splice them back together with heater hose and decent clamps.
Attachment 25075

[7milesout]

Welcome Michal! It seems you did find a good Mirage. The problem it has is typical, so I'm guessing the rest of your car is good to go. Keep us informed about what, if anything, you wind up doing about it.

[Michal]

Welcome Michal! It seems you did find a good Mirage. The problem it has is typical, so I'm guessing the rest of your car is good to go. Keep us informed about what, if anything, you wind up doing about it.

Hi everyone,

Due to the warm season, I left the heating problem unresolved.
A few weeks ago I noticed a very unpleasant smell in the cabin, but could not find the source.
About a week ago, the radiator fan started running virtually continuously, regardless of the outside temperature.
The radiator was topped up with water, but during a short drive, the coolant temperature light turned red several times and I noticed a leak (a stain under the car).
My mechanic said that the heater core is leaking (also into the cabin, hence the smell).

Question 1:
Are aftermarket heater cores (Thermotec or Nissens) universal for both LHD and RHD cars, or do I need one designed specifically for the RHD version?

Question 2:
Is the Nissens heater core in any way better than Thermotec and worth the price difference? It costs about £100 more than Thermotec, which is the equivalent of about two hours of a mechanic's work.

Question 3:
Is there any 'how to' on the forum for replacing the heater core relating to an RHD car?

Thanks,
Michal