Is this symptoms of a broken Heater Core?

[Jonas_R]

Well,

After it has gotten a bit colder in Denmark, my windows seems to steam up. Also sometimes I have a smell of coolant inside the car. Really smells like crap .
It does seem to be worst if Iam using the A/C. Also the car does not seem to use that much coolant if I dont have the A/C on and smell does not seem to be there. But if i turn the A/C on it does seem to use more coolant and smell comes back.

Normaly I just drive with the windows down but it is getting a bit cold.

Is this symptoms of a broken heater core? I cant see any leaks on the ground and the oil is fine, does not look like mayo also head was done like 1½ years ago.

Anybody took out the dash on a LHD car? Because Iam hoping that the A/C does not sit in front of the heater core on the LHD cars?

/Jonas R.

[mcandmar]

I had a bust core before, any time i parked the car with the engine fully warm windscreen would be dripping wet within 15mins. Had to disconnect the element it got so bad.

[pastures16]

ask paulgo its a rhd but he might be able to help you out

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18023

[newsh]

If its the core the windows get greasy and are difficult to clean.

[hiltoa]

My core was rusty at the bottom, so not quite a full leak, was ok on cold, but got little vapour clouds out of the vents when switching to hot.
Also had nasty coolant smell in car, and greasy windows.
No aircon on mine, so was 'relatively' straightforward to fix...

[Jonas_R]

Actually yes the windows gets kinda dirty and seems foggy.

I think it is the heater core

/Jonas R.

[Graham]

Has there ever been an in depth write up about removing these?

[Paulgo]

Has there ever been an in depth write up about removing these?

Hows it going matey! I was thinking about doing a write up actually! Forgotten a few things from the last time i did it so a guide wouldve been useful. Mines back together again - after pulling the dash out and swapping the heating system back to non aircon (it was completely borked) absolute whacked, hands shredded and covered in bruises but feeling a good sense of achievement! Pretty straightforward job but there are loads of stupid snags such as hidden and inaccessible bolts that don’t help, especially on a 3B. Might be more straightforward on a LHD!

From what I can see of my dealer fit aircon isn’t it a separate system and as such wouldnt directly affect the level of the coolant? The aircon pumps chilled air to a separate core up by the blower which is then blown through the system. Could be leaking somewhere and thats why the smell is worse with the a/c on?

If the cores leaking I would have thought you'd also see some evidence on the carpet from the little footwell vents look on the sides of the transmission tunnel under the dash. Might not be enough to leak down there tho. I guess the other worry is that at some stage it will just blow as mine did on the 80 – depositing what felt like two kettles worth of boiling water on me feet!!

Trouble is to fix it you’ll have to remove the dash as has been said. Any help on that bit let me know – its fresh in my mind!! (wots left of it!!)

Cheers

Paul

[hiltoa]

feeling your pain, fellah!

Looks pretty scary when the dash is on the roof, and you get the full wiring spaghetti on show.

Must say it wasn't as bad as I had feared, putting each nut and bolt on a piece of paper, drawing round it (in case of sudden earthquake, or dog invasion) and noting where it was from helped loads.