DIY: Heater core replacement

[Top_Fuel]

Assuming that mystery substance is some sort of flux, I put together a little test. I'm not sure how scientific this is, but here goes nothing...


I grabbed the flux out of my plumbing kit...




Then I took a 1" square of flat steel and attached it to a wire. I applied an 1/8" layer of flux to each side of the steel...




Then I suspended the steel piece in a jar of acetone...




After 48 hours, acetone is having almost no effect on the flux. It may have softened it up a bit, but it hasn't dissolved it at all. So I'm moving on to a second test with a different solvent that might be more suited to dissolving petroleum-based products. I think I will try lacquer thinner or something similar next.


UPDATE: I just finished the same experiment with paint thinner. The results are much better. After 24 hours, the flux on the steel plate was partially dissolved. With very minor shaking of the jar for about 5 seconds, the flux broke apart and the piece of steel was completely bare. So assuming that this mystery goo is a petroleum-based substance, I think this might be the right direction.

I'm now trying the same experiment...this time with mineral spirits. I did some reading and it appears that mineral spirits is essentially the same thing as paint thinner...but just more refined and less toxic...

While both paint thinner and mineral spirits are petroleum-based solvents, mineral spirits is the more refined of the two. This increases its effectiveness while reducing odor, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and overall toxicity.

[Top_Fuel]

I repeated the same test as above...this time using mineral spirits...



The results were slightly better than paint thinner. After 48 hours of sitting in mineral spirits, the flux was mostly dissolved and it completely fell apart and disappeared with some minor shaking of the jar.

If this goo is petroleum-based (like flux) then mineral spirits should break it up and cause it to fall off of the surfaces of the heater core where it has deposited. At that point, you would still need to flush the core to remove the dissolved goo.

I will probably try this on my car once the weather warms up. Using a method similar to what Doax did, I would fill the heater core with mineral spirits and let it sit for at least 48 hours. Then I would fill a 5-gallon bucket with hot, soapy water and pump it through the core (in both directions) to clean out the residual dissolved goo.

It sounds good in theory and it won't take a ton of time, effort or money. If it works, it could potentially save replacing a heater core.

[Dodge Aries K]

I like this idea. Pulling the dashboard sucks on any car and isn't a job I like. Plus, I have three 2015's so I'm bound to run into this issue or have it already and not notice hahaha

[Fummins]

If I have one crap out at work I'll the quick and dirty method. Remove the tubes from the core and slide it out. Looks like an easy enough job as long as you can recrimp the tubes back on easy enough.

[Top_Fuel]

...Remove the tubes from the core and slide it out.

Yeah...remember the guy who posted 1 time and said he did one of these in 45 minutes or something crazy like that?!? If that's do-able, I'm all for it.

[Johnny Mullet]

Impossible. Trust me.

[pawpaw]

If I have one crap out at work I'll the quick and dirty method. Remove the tubes from the core and slide it out. Looks like an easy enough job as long as you can recrimp the tubes back on easy enough.

I read about this method in Daox's thread and thought about trying it. I even bought a test heater core to see how hard it was to uncrimp the tubes. Not too hard...the aluminum is soft. There are o-ring seals inside on the tubes but in the end I was too scared about screwing up the seal when trying to crimp them back up (while folded like a pretzel trying to work under the dashboard) or not getting the o-ring fully seated and ending up with a drip or an outright blowout in my passenger compartment.

[Fummins]

Impossible. Trust me.

Impossible to remove or reinstall? I already pulled one from a wreck this way and didn't ruin it. Reassembly would be a pita. If that's impossible, how about cut the tubes with a ratcheting pipe cutter and reassemble with a couple pieces of hose and some clamps? I did this in my 02 Dodge instead of draining the ac and removing the entire heater box to get the heater core out.

[foama]

FYI the original post with the BASF reply is number 302 in this thread:

https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...-issue)/page31



In a more recent mail from BASF (Jan 21) a different engineer answered:

In diesen Zusammenhang dürfen wir auch darauf hinweisen das uns mit Glysantin G30 (Silikat frei) bisher keinerlei Fälle von Gelartigen Verstopfungen bekannt geworden sind.
Die Gel-Problematik ist in der Industrie zwar bekannt, aber leider viel zu wenig erforscht.
Ein Kühlsystem ist eine sehr komplexe Angelegenheit und wird von vielen Faktoren beeinflusst (Kühlkreislauf-temperaturen, -drücke, - durchflussmengen, Material-Verträglichkeit, etc).
Man vermutet die Ursache u.a. in Unverträglichkeiten zwischen Löt- und Schweißhilfsstoffen (Kühlerherstellung) und dem Kühlmittel. Die gelartigen Reaktionsprodukte können sich dann
an den kältesten Stellen im Wärmetauscher absetzten. Allerdings sollte das bei Ihnen nicht mehr der Fall sein, da hier das Kühlmittel bereits einmal getauscht wurde.


Sollte der Wärmetauscher wirklich vollständig vom gelartigen Ablagerungen verstopft sein, ist das auflösen durch Reinigungsmittel eher unwahrscheinlich und der Wärmetauscher sollte gewechselt werden.

Translation:
In this case we would like to point out that with Glysantin G30 (silicate free) there have never been any known cases of gel-like clogging.
The gel problematic is known in the industry, but unfortunately too little researched. A cooling system is very complex and is influenced by many factors ( Coolant temperatures, pressures, flow levels, material compatabilities, etc).
The suspected causes are, amongst others, incompatabilities between solder and welding auxillary substances (in manufacture) and the coolant. The gel-like reaction products kann form on the coolest places of the heater core.

Since you have changed the OEM coolant this should not happen any more.

Should the heater core really be fully clogged by gel, dissolving the gel would seem unlikely and the heater core should be exchanged.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards
Ihr Glysantin Team

Find useful information on our website: https://www.glysantin.de



If I get another reply from BASF I will post it.

[Cobrajet]

Impossible to remove or reinstall? I already pulled one from a wreck this way and didn't ruin it. Reassembly would be a pita. If that's impossible, how about cut the tubes with a ratcheting pipe cutter and reassemble with a couple pieces of hose and some clamps? I did this in my 02 Dodge instead of draining the ac and removing the entire heater box to get the heater core out.

I thought about attacking it this way as well.